Latest news in Benefits Canada Archive

How Rolls Royce Canada is reducing drug plan costs while maintaining benefits offering

As innovative medicines become more widely covered in workplace drug plans, employers are tasked with finding new ways to control costs while ensuring members receive…

  • By: Blake Wolfe
  • October 15, 2021 October 19, 2021
  • 08:58

2021 Top 50 DC Plans Report: Refreshing pension plans to boost engagement, outcomes

While renovation shows on television tend to take a sledgehammer to every surface in a house for dramatic effect, there’s another way. Defined contribution pension…

Employers leveraging benefits, flexibility to prevent pandemic surge in disability claims

During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ottawa Community Housing Corp. battened down the hatches and focused on addressing any absence management issues before…

Focusing on TDF glide paths as migration from DB to DC plans continue

The selection of a target-date fund glide path is more crucial than ever as the migration from DB to DC pension plans continues. Since its…

Helping employees understand the benefits of delaying CPP/QPP

The old adage “good things come to those who wait” is especially true of Canada and Quebec Pension Plan benefits. A $1,000 monthly CPP/QPP benefit…

  • By: Blake Wolfe
  • October 15, 2021 October 14, 2021
  • 08:54

Supporting employees with chronic conditions amid pandemic-fueled delays to care

As the country began shutting down to focus on beating back the coronavirus at the height of the pandemic in March 2020, people with chronic…

Q&A with SAP Canada’s Megan Smith

SAP Canada Inc.’s vice-president and head of human resources talks embracing flexible working, keeping the “human” in HR and winter sports. Q. What top challenges…

Editorial

Editorial: Digital inclusion, employee support, flexibility key in return to the workplace

With restrictions gradually lifting across the country this summer, employers started to turn their attention to their return to the workplace plans. Now, the fourth…

Head to head: Should provincial governments require employers to provide minimum paid sick leave?

Eighteen months into the coronavirus pandemic and counting, one of its hottest topics is still up for debate. Jim Stanford, economist and director of the…

A look at Kraft Heinz Canada’s ‘work anywhere’ program

In the old days, many employers served up one option for employees: work 9-to-5 in the office. Then the pandemic hit. For the past 18…

Do large public pension funds need more third-party investment reviews?

When the coronavirus pandemic shook up the investment landscape last spring, Canadian pension funds were also jostled by the shock wave, with the Alberta Investment…

  • By: Blake Wolfe
  • September 17, 2021 September 16, 2021
  • 08:56

Women in Canada’s benefits, pension industries discuss gender equity, reversing pandemic-fueled ‘she-cession’

Early in Shannan Corey’s pension career, many of the boards she worked with were dominated by men over the age of 50. Corey, now executive…

How can pension plan sponsors help women hit their retirement readiness stride?

Preparing financially for retirement is a marathon filled with many obstacles along the way to a constantly shifting finish line. Even in 2021, female employees…

UPP building on jointly governed pension model with a pandemic launch

When the University Pension Plan officially launched in July 2021, it did so with Barbara Zvan as its inaugural president and chief executive officer. Fresh…

How Poland’s new DC program was designed using behavioural science

Like many other countries around the world, Poland’s aging population is increasingly highlighting the topic of retirement savings. “Each year, the number of pensioners increase…

  • By: Blake Wolfe
  • September 17, 2021 September 16, 2021
  • 08:53

Q&A with the Saskatchewan Pension Plan’s Katherine Strutt

On the eve of her retirement after more than 30 years in the pension industry, the SPP’s former executive director talks women in pensions, decumulation…

Editorial

Editorial: Pandemic just the latest challenge facing retirement readiness

Last year, Benefits Canada hosted its 2020 CAP Member Survey webinar just a few weeks after the World Health Organization declared the global coronavirus pandemic.…

Head to head: Should private drug plans require biosimilar non-medical switching?

While one side highlights how plan sponsors can contribute to biosimilar sustainability, the other touts the benefits to patients and the health-care system. Durhane Wong-Rieger,…

L’Oréal Canada using onsite daycare to support working parents, essential staff

Mélanie Perreault knows firsthand how hard it can be for employees to juggle raising children while simultaneously building a career. The onsite daycare at L’Oréal…

2021 Consultants Report: Pandemic changing plan sponsor, consultant relationships

The past year and a half has been characterized by marked change. The move to remote work, industry layoffs and the desire for more robust…

  • By: Leah Golob
  • August 13, 2021 August 11, 2021
  • 08:56

2021 CAP Member Survey: How are CAP members faring during coronavirus?

For the past 15 years, Benefits Canada’s CAP Member Survey has taken the pulse of capital accumulation plan members’ retirement readiness, their knowledge, confidence and…

More standards required for pension funds using ESG data, indices and scores

Michel Charron has had a front-row seat for the revolution in the Canadian investment industry’s approach to environmental, social and governance issues. Following the foundation…

CAAT leverages risk management to outperform in 2020

At the end of 2020, a year of exceptionally volatile and unpredictable markets due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology…

Are retail investment trends impacting institutional investors?

From the rise of cryptocurrency DogeCoin and non-fungible tokens to Reddit members beating hedge fund managers at their own game, 2021 has been an eventful…

Tips for offering wellness days that work for all employees

Telus Communications Inc. recognizes that all employees manage their health and well-being in different ways, so it allows staff to choose how they use the…