Rising living and health-care costs continued to weigh on workers in 2025, even as employers increased spending on benefits, according to a new survey from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. The survey, which polled more than 2,400 U.S. employers and more than 2,500 employees, found fewer than half of employees reported feeling holistically healthy, while […]
Health Canada recently approved the first disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, which is a long-awaited milestone that carries significant implications for private drug plans, employers and working Canadians. “Leqembi’s approval is a turning point after two decades of no new treatment options,” said Dr. Sarah Mitchell, cognitive neurologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and director […]
Since the only treatment for type one diabetes is insulin, there’s only one option for treating the condition, according to Andrew Muirhead (pictured right), territory manager at Insulet Corporation, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2025 Healthy Outcomes Conference. Around 400,000 Canadians require insulin multiple times a day with type one diabetes cases growing about 4.4 per […]
Among the 21 million Canadians in the workforce, eight million are women over the age of 40. “We have a large workforce that’s going through the journey of menopause,” said Shawna O’Hearn, co-director and founder at Menopause Society of Nova Scotia, in a session sponsored by Astellas during Benefits Canada’s 2025 Healthy Outcomes Conference. A 2023 […]
Inconsistency in public health care and private benefits coverage for vision care could be keeping many Canadians from getting their eyes checked regularly, according to Tracy Weng, an optometrist and clinical consultant at Specsavers Canada, during Benefits Canada’s 2025 Toronto Benefits Summit. About 60 per cent of Canadians have private insurance and, among that group, […]
An article on why Canadian retirees are withdrawing less income from their workplace savings plans was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the top five human resources, benefits, pension and investment stories of the last week: 1. Decumulation shift: Canadian retirees withdrawing less from workplace plans in recent years, says expert […]
Employers can mitigate the impact of seasonal influenza on the workplace by taking a proactive approach through flexible work policies and supporting preventative measures such as vaccination, says Peter Smith, president and senior scientist at the Institute for Work & Health. “For most workplaces, the impacts will be increased time off work from employees to […]
With more than 70 per cent of individuals who use alcohol or illicit drugs actively employed, addiction is present in the workplace and has consequences for these individuals, their colleagues and their employers, according to Stephanie Ipavec-Levasseur, director of product development and group insurance at Desjardins Insurance. During a session at Benefits Canada’s 2025 Mental […]
Despite offering generous benefits packages, many Canadian employers are seeing key benefits go unused or remain effectively invisible to employees, say several experts. A recent report by ADP Canada on employee satisfaction found compensation and benefits scored just 6.1 out of 10, the lowest-rated workplace satisfaction factor among Canadian employees. The gap between what’s offered […]
When Lisa, a 46-year-old marketing manager, started experiencing perimenopause, her career took a hit. Dealing with brain fog, sleep disruption and hot flashes, she shifted to a four-day workweek, cutting her income by 20 per cent, and also started to contemplate an early retirement. Her doctor dismissed her symptoms as just a part of aging […]