As SAP Canada Inc. gradually reopens its workspaces across the country, the design of its new office space in Montreal will serve as a model for its other locations. Earlier this year, SAP pledged to embrace flexible working permanently, meaning that employees can currently continue to work remotely from home until mid-2022 or adopt a hybrid […]
A range of employers across Canada are starting to deal with some worker shortages as a result of a small percentage of employees not meeting deadlines for getting vaccinated against the coronavirus. Air Canada suspended more than 800 employees for not being fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, in line with federal rules. The vast majority of the airline’s […]
A majority (83 per cent) of Canadian benefits plan members have at least one concern regarding returning to the workplace, including commuting time (44 per cent), people who don’t follow public health safety measures (42 per cent) and working/interacting with co-workers who aren’t vaccinated against the coronavirus (38 per cent), according to the 2021 Benefits Canada […]
The shift to remote working due to the coronavirus pandemic is helping 77 per cent of employees with chronic conditions and/or chronic pain miss less work, according to the 2021 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. Just over a third (34 per cent) of plan members said remote working definitely helped them miss less work due to their […]
The deadline for employees in the core federal public service to declare their coronavirus vaccination status was Oct. 29, but unions say there are still many questions about how requests for accommodations will be handled. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat said late last week that 240,000 employees have filed their attestations of their vaccine status to the government, out […]
More than 19 months into the coronavirus pandemic, employers are focusing on enhanced mental-health offerings and streamlined communications for their benefits and pension plans. During a virtual roundtable on Oct. 14, the 2021 Workplace Benefits Awards finalists discussed the changes brought about by the pandemic and how they’ve adapted their benefits and pensions offerings, while looking […]
An evolving program that’s holistically supporting employees during the coronavirus pandemic led to LifeLabs’ win for its mental-health program at the 2021 Workplace Benefits Awards on Oct. 14. Within the organization’s wellness program, which was launched in 2019, the emotional pillar includes: a separate annual maximum for mental-health practitioners through its flexible benefits plan; an expanded […]
Three-quarters (74 per cent) of plan sponsors described the quality of their health benefits plan as excellent (22 per cent) or good (52 per cent), down from 80 per cent in January 2020, according to the 2021 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. It found employers with more than 500 employees were more likely to describe their plan […]
Risk managers consider cyber attacks and data breaches as the biggest threats to businesses, including those in the financial sector, according to a new survey by Aon. The survey, which polled more than 2,000 respondents in 16 global industries, also found that cyber security and data breach risks are rated as the most significant risk […]
Roughly two-fifths (41 per cent) of plan sponsors reported offering virtual health-care services through their benefits plan, according to the 2021 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. Among these plan sponsors, 33 per cent said they paid extra to add virtual care to their plan, while 67 per cent said it was part of their standard plan at […]