Balancing benefits plan sustainability against meeting the evolving needs of employees continues to keep Canadian plan sponsors up at night. “I think since COVID we’ve seen such a shift in expectations [around] work-life balance, a focus on [diversity, equity and inclusion] and mental health,” said Laura Carter (pictured left), associate director of benefits at the […]
More than half of Canadian women say they feel unprepared for menopause and nearly 60 per cent are unaware that symptoms such as anxiety, depression and memory issues are linked to this stage of life, according to a new report by GreenShield and Mental Health Research Canada. The report analyzed survey responses from more than […]
Canadian plan sponsors are consistently underestimating the share of their employees living with at least one chronic condition, according to the 2025 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. While three in five (59 per cent) plan members reported having at least one chronic condition, plan sponsors estimated that an average 38.5 per cent of their workforce had […]
Amazon.com says it’s investing more than a US$1 billion to raise wages and lower the cost of health-care plans for its U.S. fulfillment and transportation workers. The Seattle-based company said the average pay is increasing to more than $23 per hour. Some of its most tenured employees will see an increase between $1.10 and $1.90 […]
A record number of benefits plan members are dealing with extreme levels of daily stress, according to the 2025 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. The 27th edition of the survey, which polled 1,000 Canadian group benefits plan members and 500 plan sponsors earlier this year, found two in five (39 per cent) members said they experience […]
A third (29 per cent) of Canadian workers say that they don’t have enough emergency savings to cover basic needs, according to Telus Health’s latest mental-health index. The survey, which polled roughly 3,000 employees, found the average mental-health score was 64, up from 63.1 in March. Anxiety (57) continued to be the lowest mental-health sub-score, […]
While just a quarter (24 per cent) of Canadian small- and medium-sized employers say they’ve seen an increase in employee absences due to mental-health issues over the last 12 months, eight in 10 (80 per cent) say they aren’t confident that employees would disclose mental-health issues, according to a new survey by Peninsula Canada. The […]
The financial health of working Canadians may finally be improving after years of decline, according to a new survey by the National Payroll Institute. The survey, which polled more than 2,320 employees, found the proportion of workers who described themselves as financially stressed has decreased from 41 per cent in 2024 to 36 per cent […]
Beyond the noticeable changes in the new National Hockey League collective bargaining agreement — like expanding the regular season to 84 games and implementing a playoff salary cap — is an investment in caring for former players that hasn’t existed until now. The league and union will contribute US$4 million annually to the newly established […]
The Human Rights Tribunal of Alberta has ruled that termination of employment on the day an employee returns from a year-long mental-health leave doesn’t, in and of itself, support a discrimination complaint. “In this case, the employer had valid grounds for termination before the medical leave started, and the fact that the complainant’s case had […]