The pandemic changed our world and our jobs overnight and stretched compassion, empathy and flexibility to the limit. There has never been a better time to reconsider everything about employee benefits. For me as a benefits consultant, the crisis has highlighted how unprepared the typical benefits plan is to truly support the needs of employees in […]
Fujitsu Ltd. is introducing permanent remote working for 80,000 global employees in a bid to boost innovation and work-life balance. The Japanese multinational’s campaign, which it calls ‘Work-Life Shift,’ relies on three core principles: smart working, borderless offices and culture change, marking “the end of the conventional notion of commuting to and from fixed offices, […]
While 87 per cent of Canadian employees who started working remotely for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic believe it will have a long-term impact on the way they work, just 22 per cent said their employer has confirmed working arrangements will be more flexible permanently, according to a new survey by technology solutions […]
More than three-quarters (77 per cent) of Canadian benefits plan members agree their workplace culture or environment encourages health and wellness, according to the 2020 Sanofi Canada health-care survey. “We want to maintain and build on that,” said Andrea Frankel, national private payer lead at Sanofi Canada, during a webinar highlighting the annual survey on Thursday. […]
Slack Technologies Inc. is offering its employees the option to work from home permanently, along with extending its coronavirus-related office closures past Sept. 1. In a blog post, Robby Kwok, senior vice-president of people, said the company plans to hire workers who are permanently remote. It’s also looking to revamp the design of its offices for the eventual return to […]
The coronavirus pandemic has been disruptive for all and sadly, devastating and difficult for many. In the pandemic’s early days, we saw a great deal of change and upheaval very swiftly — both for organizations and our communities. The way in which we live our lives day to day changed very quickly. And for many Canadian employers, […]
While 72 per cent of Canadian employers said they’ll make minimal or no changes to their benefits coverage in 2021, 21 per cent are planning some plan design changes around health coverage, according to a new survey by Arther J. Gallagher & Co. Eight per cent said they’re looking at plan design and contribution structure […]
If employee productivity increases by two per cent per year for the next decade, Canadians could enjoy a four-day workweek without giving up income or sacrificing their living standards, according to a new study by the Fraser Institute. “In light of the COVID-19 lockdown, there’s been a lot of talk about a possible four-day workweek […]
In the group benefits world, the first rumblings of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic came when plan sponsors started asking, as early as January, about their travel insurance provisions. “Clients were worried about their business travellers and expatriate employees, in China mostly, and afterwards for their employees travelling for their winter vacations,” said Daniel […]
With the expectation that most of its workers will be working from home for the rest of 2020, Google is giving all of its global employees an allowance of US$1,000, or the equivalent in their country, to purchase necessary equipment and office furniture. In a letter to employees on Tuesday, Sunder Pichai, chief executive officer […]