It’s OK to ask for help is a lesson I’m learning very gradually.
While I do lean heavily on my immediate family, particularly my parents, who have both been crucial in helping me survive — and thrive, I hope — as a solo parent to two young kids, I’m not usually a person who regularly seeks out support. However, I’m starting to understand — and appreciate — the African proverb ‘It takes a village,’ as I increasingly rely on friends, our daycare provider and even my son’s school bus driver and sometimes handyman to lend an occasional hand.
While the proverb’s origin emphasizes the importance of community in raising children (and this is obviously the part that’s currently resonating with me), it’s also very relevant in the human resources, benefits and pension communities. For example, more plan sponsors are leaning on their consultants in a true partnership model rather than a one-way relationship.
Read: 2025 Consultants Report: How are employers leaning on consultants during uncertain times?
In our annual Consultants’ Report, we spoke to a few consultants to understand how their relationship with employers — and subsequently their employees — is evolving, especially as the past few months have become increasingly marked by economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.
Given everything going on in the world, both employers and employees are feeling a level of hesitancy. Employers are rope-walking the delicate balance between enhancing their benefits or pension programs or deferring these changes until more stability returns. And when there’s a sense of uncertainty, employees are likely feeling anxiety and stress as they anticipate some type of change in their workplaces. So both employers and employees are facing multiple pressures and their consultants are stepping up to help.
During uncertain times, it’s also more important than ever for employers to make sure employees know what’s available to them — and keep evolving their offerings to help their staff meet the current challenges. But it’s also imperative for workers to understand the value of everything they receive from their employers.
Read: Back to basics on total reward statements
In this month’s Back to Basics, we look at total reward statements, which allow employees to see a visually engaging break-down of their base salary, bonuses or commissions, health-care benefits, pension programs, learning and development costs and other workplace perks. At a time when people are struggling with economic uncertainty and the rising cost of living, providing employees with total reward statements is both a low-cost way for employers to communicate their offerings and a concrete way to show their support.
Another way employers are assisting their employees with financial challenges is through workplace savings programs that stretch outside the traditional boundaries of retirement plans. We’ve written about this quite a lot at Benefits Canada, but this year, we also incorporated the shift into our annual retirement and savings survey. Previously known as the CAP Member Survey, we rebranded it to the Employee Savings Survey and discussed the results at the inaugural Employee Savings Summit.
The survey found three-quarters (73 per cent) of Canadian plan members ranked paying for day-to-day expenses among their top three financial priorities, followed by mortgage or rent (60 per cent), personal non-mortgage debt such as credit cards (50 per cent), saving for retirement through personal or workplace savings plans (42 per cent), personal emergency funds (39 per cent) and saving for a specific purpose (36 per cent). And while retirement (85 per cent) continues to top the list of employees’ financial goals for their workplace registered savings plan, emergency funds (81 per cent) aren’t far behind.
These findings demonstrate the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on Canadians’ personal financial circumstances, showing employers can really step up and help by expanding the types of workplace savings plans they offer.
While it certainly isn’t the sole responsibility of employers to help employees understand their financial priorities and prepare for bumps along the road, they do have a role to play, alongside providers and consultants.
After all, it takes a whole village.
Jennifer Paterson is the editor of Benefits Canada and the Canadian Investment Review.