It’s something most people do everyday, often without really thinking about it, but how you wash your hands can make a real difference to your health and the wellbeing of those around you.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that a record 32.54 million people are in work in the UK¹; a statistic that looks fantastic on the surface and one that many will celebrate, particularly from a political standpoint. However, mental health issues in the workplace and presenteeism because of mental health is also at an all-time high, with 22% of employees going into work in 2018 despite feeling mentally un-well – up from 18% in 2016². It is possible that there is a correlation between an increasing workforce and an increase in workplace mental health issues; but there are numerous confounding influencing variables which pose a challenge for companies.

Ageing is inevitable and is influenced by many things – but keeping active can slow ageing and increase life expectancy. Evidence shows that ageing alone is not a cause of major problems until you are in your mid-90s. And strength, power and muscle mass can be increased, even at this advanced age.

The world of work is fast changing. As life expectancy lengthens and labour markets shift, our working lives have become more complicated. The old expectations about how we work have become unsustainable – not least the expectation that we religiously travel to and from a fixed location ten times a week during rush hour, with all the knock-on effects that this has for carbon emissions.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term “post-traumatic stress disorder”? When I ask this question in public presentations, the answers are along the lines of “the military”, “soldiers” and “war”. Then, when my next slide displays military themed images, it seems as if I have ingeniously predicted the audience’s response.

Deloitte has announced that Patrice Plouvier has joined the company as Partner, Human Capital, Actuarial, Rewards & Analytics, effective October, 2019. Plouvier will be based in Paris. Plouvier was previously Head of Employee Benefit Consulting with ADDING SAS, and Head of International Group Pension Development for AXA France. He also served as Head of Investment Solutions and International Retirement for AXA. Prior to that, he was with Mercer as

Discovery has announced the promotion of Hannah Naude to Director, International Compensation & Benefits, effective October 2019. She will remain based in London. Naude was previously Senior Manager Manager, International Compensation & Benefits. Before joining Discovery, she was a Human Resources Advisor at inVentiv Health Commercial, and worked in HR for the Save the Children foundation and Viasat Broadcasting. She started her HR career in Human Resources and Quality

AXA has announced the promotion of Elise Ganem to International Employee Benefits Manager at AXA’s Group HR department, effective July 2019. She was previously Head, Inter-governmental Organizations. She is based in Paris, France. Prior to her employment at AXA, she was Director, International Organizations & NGOs for Groupe Henner. Prior to that, she was Head of the International and European Department for CNAV – the French National Pension Organization,

Fidelity International has named Ken Gulick as Commercial Director, Pan European pensions, effective August 2019. He is based in Luxembourg. Gulick was previously with Fidelity Investments, as Vice President, Global Benefits Solutions, and based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was previously Vice President, Product Portfolio Strategy. Before joining Fidelity, he was Principal for PRTM Management Consultants; a manager for American Management Systems; and a Technical Trainer for the U.S.

Alta Actuaries & Consultants has named Douglas Carey Principal and Global Consulting Actuary as of October 2019. He will be based in the greater New York City area, USA. Carey comes to Alta after being a managing partner of Global Strategy Consultants. He has also served as past Chair, AWB; Treasurer PBSS, IACA, with the International Association of Actuaries since 2014. Previously, Carey was Director, Human Capital, for Deloitte

First Actuarial in October 2019 announced the appointment of Martin Leigh as D.C. Consultant, based in Tonbridge, UK. Leigh joins First Actuarial from EQ Investors where he was a Corporate Pensions & Risk Benefits Manager. Previously, he was an account manager for Creative Employee Benefits, and Intermediary Relationship Manager with B&CE Benefits Scheme. He was also Client Relationship Manager for Aviva plc. He holds a Certificate in Marketing from

Danone has announced the promotion of Öyküm Güneygül to the position of Global Benefits & Equity Senior Manager, based in Paris, France, and effective September 2019. Güneygül was previously Global Benefits Manager, and Compensation in Paris, and Benefits Manager based in Istanbul, Turkey, with Danone. Before she joined Danone, she was HR Rewards Manager for Adidas group in Istanbul. Prior to Adidas, Güneygül was an HR Generalist with Accenture,

Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced that Zayda Hammond has joined the company as a Global Mobility and Human Resources Professional as of September, 2019. She isbased in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Hammond comes to Thermo Fisher from Merck, where she was most recently Global Mobility/Human Resources Manager for the U.S. & EMEA. Prior to that position, she held the title of Senior Global Mobility/Human Resources Specialist, Learning & Development Specialist,

Mercer has appointed Sam Johnson as a Global Consultant effective September 2019. Johnson is based in London, UK. Johnson comes to Mercer from Fidelity Investments, where he worked in International Benefits. Prior to that he was a Global Benefits Consultant for Aon Risk Solutions and a futures trader for H2O Trading LLP. He holds a Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, 1:1 from the University of Warwick.

Walmart has named Steve Reeve as Senior Manager, Global Mobility as of September 2019. Reeve is based in Bentonville, Arkansas, USA. Reeve joins Walmart after being employed as Client Services Manager for MSI Global Transformation Solutions in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Previous to that he was a Senior Expatriate Assignment Consultant with Cartus, and Wholesale Account Executive with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, after serving in the same role for Vertice

Vodafone Ireland announces the promotion of Adriana Madajewska to Reward Specialist, effective October 2019. She has been a member of HR Operations in Ireland, specializing in organisational effectiveness & HR analytics. Adriana was previously with Ernst and Young as a Global Mobility Tax & Remuneration Specialist for Key Accounts. She has a diploma in Business Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services from Griffith College, Dublin.

The 12th Annual Transatlantic Conference will take place in Brussels, Belgium on 27-29 May 2020. The 2020 conference is hosted by the European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP) and is co-organized jointly with the U.S. National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP); the Multi-employer Benefit Plan Council of Canada (MEBCO); and the World Pension Alliance (WPA). The event brings together experts in pension and health benefits, as well as

Mercer France has announced that Maud Sebenne Fagundes has joined them as Account Manager, Global Benefits Management, effective October 2019. She will be based in Paris. Fagundes comes to Marsh France from Mercer Marsh Beneficios in São Paulo, Brazil. Previous to that, she was Senior International Account Manager for Sciath Benefit Solutions in São Paulo, Corporate Business Manager for Grupo Segurador Banco do Brasil e Mapfre, and Administrative Operations

Generali UK’s new service aims to fill gap in mental health care for employees Generali UK in October 2019 announced it has added a mental health navigator service to its current group income protection (GIP) policy. Available at no extra cost, the Best Doctors Mental Health Navigator from Teladoc Health offers expert assessment and signposting to services by mental health clinicians. This aims to reduce pressure on line managers

Does pay parity equal gender equality? New research commissioned by MAXIS Global Benefits Network (MAXIS GBN) and published in October 2019 reveals that two-thirds of global workers think men and women are in a position of gender equality if they are paid the same. The research involved employees in ten different countries including the UK, US, Germany, Japan and Australia. The United Nations, however, states that the issue goes

The Future of Work addresses megatrends transforming the labor market The 2019 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook released in October 2019 takes a look at new evidence of changes in job stability, underemployment, and the share of well-paid jobs globally, and discusses how policy creates implications with respect to how technology, globalization, population ageing, and other megatrends are transforming the labor market in OECD countries. The report discusses

Global immigration services firm Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy (Fragomen) in October 2019 released the 2019 edition of its Worldwide Immigration Trends Report. Among the key takeaways of the report that covers Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America: Migration has fueled a resurgence of nationalist political movements and anti-immigration policies. Many countries will continue to struggle to develop the technology necessary to

To understand how healthy a food is, we generally look at its components – carbohydrates, fats and proteins, or the vitamins, minerals and other substances it may contain. But this purely “nutritional” vision overlooks one property that’s a key part of a food’s health potential – its structure. For example, serving a child a breakfast cereal made up of whole wheat or rice may seem like a good idea, but research shows that processing can significantly impact its nutritive qualities. Extrusion-cooking or puffing can transform wheat and rice into primarily a source of sugars that the child’s body rapidly absorbs, and many of the nutritive values of the original grains are lost.

The human body needs a tiny amount of sodium to function properly and this is typically found in salt (sodium chloride). But today most people consume way too much salt, increasing the burden of cardiovascular disease around the world. Health professionals have been trying to tackle this problem for decades, but face several barriers, including research that muddies the water about what safe levels of salt intake are. This has cast unnecessary doubt on the importance of reducing intakes. But our latest research has found flaws in these studies and suggests that salt intake should be reduced even further than current recommendations.

It isn’t surprising that employers are looking for ways to improve the health and engagement of their employees when their challenges are so evident: Medical inflation rates continue to be high globally, with the 2019 global average being 7.8%, reported by Aon1. Indeed, in many countries, this is much higher, even exceeding the local inflation rate by double-digit percentage points.

Brussels-based lobby CBBA-Europe in October 2019 announced its Annual Conference, to be held on November 13 and 14, 2019, in Brussels, Belgium. This year’s conference theme is “The New Social and Employee Benefits’ Environment between Challenges & Innovation”. November 13 is about Pensions and Investments (9am – 5pm) November 14 will deal with Healthcare, mental health and other benefits (9am – 12 noon). Participants include E.U. Institutions, EIOPA, OECD,

1967: IGP was founded with Ford as its first Client In the 1960s, Ford began to expand globally, and Ford of Europe was established in 1967. At the time, Ford was the largest domestic client of John Hancock’s Group Insurance Division. The concept of multinational pooling did exist at the time, though it was not widely practiced. Ford and John Hancock collaborated on the possibility of reinsuring and pooling the employee benefits plans of Ford’s overseas operations.