The National Quality Institute (NQI) is an independent organization founded to improve performance and results of organizations. For 10 years, Delta Hotels has been a member of NQI, and through its excellence program, Delta Hotels has taken a strategic approach to a healthy workplace. One benefit Delta Hotels has had in using the NQI criteria […]
If an employee needs to take time off for chemotherapy sessions, an employer is usually obliging. But what happens if an employee is diagnosed with depression? Can that employee take time off or be excused for missing deadlines, being irritable or blaming others for problems? According to a new Ipsos-Reid North American survey on depression, […]
Hedge funds are still an alternative asset class for the majority of institutional investors, said Pawel Piesowicz, a consultant with Mercer Investment Consulting in Toronto, speaking at the Alternative Investments & Absolute Return Strategies for Institutional Investors conference. But according to a 2006 Mercer survey on funds of hedge funds, Piesowicz says interest in this […]
The reasons for investing in private equity are twofold, said Thomas Kennedy, managing director of Kensington Capital Partners, speaking at the Alternative Investments & Absolute Return Strategies for Institutional Investors conference in Toronto. First, private equity can produce better returns. Consultants suggest that private equity returns should surpass public market returns by 300 to 500 […]
An employee is considered truly engaged in her work if she says good things about the company, has a desire to stay with the company and will strive to “go that extra mile,” said Hewitt Associates consultant Tim Clarke at the HRPAO Conference and Trade Show in Toronto last week. A number of key drivers, […]
Cancer Care Ontario’s(CCO)latest initiative will have an impact on private drug plans, said Ellen Aquilina of ESI Canada at The Ontario Club in Toronto today. Under CCO’s New Drug Funding Program(NDFP), created in 1995, drugs were administered and funded by the CCO. In 1997, the program was expanded to include newer, more expensive IV cancer […]
Pension plans, whether defined benefit(DB), defined contribution(DC), hybrid or multi-employer, are affected by corporate transactions, said Mitch Frazer, senior associate with Torys law firm in Toronto, at the Ontario Club today. Whether it’s a share or asset transaction, safeguarding pension plans through the transaction is paramount. In a share transaction, the purchaser buys all the […]
It’s good news for some defined benefit(DB)pension plans. According to estimates from Towers Perrin, Fortune 100 companies are just over 100% funded in aggregate at year-end. This increased from the 91% aggregate funded level at year-end 2005. The firm estimates that the 79 Fortune 100 companies that have DB plans hold an aggregate pension funding […]
Canadians will expect to take various medications throughout their lives, but they’d rather not cough up to pay for them. In the Pollara-Health Care in Canada Survey, released before the end of last year, 89% of Canadians agree “employersponsored plans should pay for any drug that patients and their healthcare provider agree is the most […]
When a shareholder obtains a stake in a company that is not performing to its potential, that shareholder has entered the world of activist investing. The company may be rundown, mismanaged and/or undervalued, but as a stakeholder, that shareholder can typically influence managements and boards to effect change and increase value in the company. “We […]