One employee touts the benefits of an ESOP, while an academic notes it depends on individual financial circumstances and plan design. Morgan Zirul, store manager, Starbucks Corp. When I joined Starbucks in 2017, I was 18 and not really thinking about retirement or long-term financial planning. During onboarding, I learned about the company’s benefits, including […]
PepsiCo Canada may be known for quenching thirst and satisfying snack cravings, but the organization’s leadership recently identified another kind of demand: clearer, more personalized financial guidance for employees. The organization already had a comprehensive suite of financial benefits, including savings programs and educational resources, and employees were using them. “We already had strong engagement […]
In its sophomore year under its new branding, the Employee Savings Survey (previously known as the CAP Member Survey) reflects the changing landscape of workplace savings programs as plan members face competing financial priorities and employers step up to expand their offerings. Going even further, some of this year’s results were broken down into different […]
As millennials become a dominant demographic in Canadian workplaces, employers are rethinking how they communicate their savings plans. Indeed, that shift is reshaping how EllisDon approaches communications and engagement with its savings program, says Marie-Lynn Bromilow, the construction services company’s vice-president of total rewards, noting millennials make up a significant portion of its plan membership. […]
Language barriers are undermining employees’ access to workplace benefits, reducing enrolment and engagement and increasing the risk of errors and misunderstandings, says Parbudyal Singh, professor of human resource management at York University. “In many cases, employees will default to not enrolling or underutilizing benefits because they’re unsure how they work or whether they apply to […]
Canada is launching a sovereign wealth fund designed to help finance significant infrastructure projects. On Monday, Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed the Canada Strong Fund will invest in strategic Canadian projects and companies alongside other investors including individual Canadians. Read: More alignment needed between governments, institutional investors to fund coveted infrastructure projects: expert While the […]
With Bill C-15 receiving royal assent, the federal government is moving forward with pension reforms that allow thousands of frontline workers to retire after 25 years of service without penalty, according to a press release by the Public Service Alliance of Canada. This reform was first confirmed in the 2025 federal budget. The changes amend the Public Service […]
Financial stress is an ever-present concern for many employees — among women, it’s even more pronounced. A survey by the Financial Resilience Institute found almost two-thirds (72 per cent) of women said money worries cause them emotional stress, eight percentage points higher than men, while 71 per cent of Canadian women are stressed about not […]
Employers can remove friction from benefits and pension plan design by encouraging ease of use, communications and reducing decision fatigue, according to a panel discussion at Benefits Canada’s inaugural Women’s Health & Wealth Summit. According to the 2025 Employee Savings Survey, women were less likely than men to describe their financial health as excellent or […]
The federal government is proposing amendments to pension regulations aimed at increasing flexibility for plan members and improving retirement security. The proposed changes would allow members of federally regulated defined contribution pension plans who receive variable benefits to unlock up to 50 per cent of their pension funds within the plan. This would align their options […]