The good news? Salary budgets are increasing. The bad news? Employees won’t be pocketing as much as they thought. Employers project base salary budgets will increase by 3.1% for next year, according to Mercer’s 2012 Compensation Planning Survey. This is a slight improvement over 2011’s projected increases (2.9%), but well below increases planned before the […]
Employees in Canada are more likely than their global counterparts to call in sick if they feel stressed, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for The Workforce Institute at Kronos Inc. According to the survey, employees in China lead the way when it comes to calling in sick when they’re not actually feeling […]
We’ve seen consolidation across a range of service providers in recent years, including insurers and custodians. Now it’s the consultants’ turn. Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt joined forces to form Towers Watson (14,000 employees globally), completing the transaction in January 2010. And in October 2010, Aon Corporation completed its acquisition of Hewitt Associates to create […]
Pension, health and welfare reform in many countries has created significant challenges for multinational companies looking to manage the cost, risk and competitiveness of employee benefit programs, says Mercer. According to Mercer’s latest Benefit Plans Around the World Report (BPAW Report), pension and health reforms, prompted by an aging population and the growing cost of […]
Recent market volatility has dealt a severe blow to U.S. pension plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies, this according to the latest figures by Mercer. Aggregate funded status decreased by US$191 billion to a funding deficit of US$496 billion and an aggregate funded ratio of 73% as of the market close on August 8. The […]
The U.S.’s credit rating was downgraded from AAA to AA+ by credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s late Friday, raising the question of what effect this will this have on Canadian pension plans, many of which are required to hold a certain percentage of assets with AAA ratings. For now, it appears the effect may […]
Mercer recently released its 2011 What’s Working—Inside Employees’ Minds survey on employee engagement. The survey asked more than 2,000 Canadian workers for their views on various aspects of the employment deal, including pay, benefits, careers, leadership, performance and engagement. The survey analyzes differences by workforce demographics and includes a conjoint analysis to determine what employees […]
In 2007, the Canadian division of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) underwent a significant change, revamping its business culture and employee benefits. It was an enormous task, and the corporation faced a number of challenges along the way. Change of direction According to Lynda Newcomb, vice-president, HR, BMS Canada wanted to create an entrepreneurial culture in which […]
What’s the next big trend in fixed income (FI) investing? “The big issue for bonds right now,” says Dave Makarchuk, a partner with Mercer who leads the investment consulting business for Western Canada, “is that many plan sponsors believe rates will rise soon, so they’re tending to put off investing more in longer-duration bonds. However, […]
While pension plan sponsors continue to use their fixed income (FI) assets primarily to meet liabilities, there’s been an unmistakable shift over the past few years in the types of FI holdings found in Canadian plans. Many are moving away from the “vanilla” government bonds that have typically made up the majority of FI portfolios […]