American Express Canada is supporting employee well-being with onsite counselling and enhanced mental-health resources. Employees can register for free in-office counselling sessions with a registered psychotherapist or virtual sessions with licensed counsellors. The company also upgraded its digital mental-health resources, including access to meditation and breathing exercises via a wellness app. Annette Kingsley, Amex Canada’s […]
More than half of generation Z (56 per cent) and millennial employees (65 per cent) say their current benefits package makes them somewhat more likely to remain with their employer, according to a new survey by LIMRA. The survey, which polled more than 4,000 U.S. employees, found 54 per cent of workers said they view their benefits […]
The median solvency ratio of Ontario defined benefit pension plans rose during the first quarter of 2023, from 112 per cent at the beginning of the year to 115 per cent at the end of March, according to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario’s latest pension solvency report. During the quarter, pension fund investment returns averaged […]
Once rooted in mental-health support, employee assistance programs have evolved exponentially in recent years to meet the changing needs of employees. During the coronavirus pandemic, the use of virtual care exploded as most people were forced to stay at home, so EAPs had to adapt quickly to provide virtual support to many struggling Canadians. “By […]
The Alberta Investment Management Corp.’s chief human resources officer discusses the evolving employee life cycle, autonomous working and competitive weightlifting. Q: What top challenges do you face in your role? A: The talent environment is complex right now. There’s an increase in retirements and workers are more transient than before. To ensure we’re rebuilding for […]
Factors such as population demographics, productivity and geopolitics impact economic growth and, by extension, the retirement outcomes of defined contribution pension plan members over longer-term time horizons, said Jon Knowles, senior investment analyst at Fidelity Canada Institutional, during a session at Benefits Canada‘s 2023 DC Plan Summit. Ageing populations have traditionally been viewed as a dis-inflationary force due […]
Employers vastly underestimate the impact of workers leaving an organization on the staff left behind, leading to even more turnover, according to a new study by the University of British Columbia. “The research sends a clear message to organizations that they should be extremely careful when they make exit decisions or they risk destabilizing the […]
Roughly 40 per cent of generation Z employees say they’re at a mental-health “breaking point,” according to a new survey by Boston Consulting Group. The survey, which polled more than 1,300 young Canadian employees, found twice as many millennials and gen Z workers said they want a workplace culture that prioritizes mental health and well-being, […]
Sun Life Financial Inc. is supporting employees working in a hybrid arrangement with its new activity-based, people-focused workspace in Waterloo, Ont. “We’ve been on a journey of rethinking work since before the [coronavirus] pandemic,” says Helena Pagano, executive vice-president, chief people and culture officer at Sun Life. “We knew with changing employee expectations, increasing competition for […]
The agreement on remote and flexible work between public sector workers and the federal government could set the stage for future union negotiations, according to labour experts. “We’re basically entering a brand new phase of what we talk about in collective agreements, which includes workers’ autonomy over their time,” says Armine Yalnizyan, an economist and […]