Kristy Dickinson woke up on a recent Monday unable to move her body. The delay waiting for medication and a heating pad to kick in threw off her morning routine and a flare-up of gastrointestinal symptoms forced her to reschedule back-to-back work meetings. She wasn’t able to get her work done until later in the […]
People living with multiple sclerosis can continue to thrive in the workforce with early access to specialists in the disease and accommodations that give them control over their work environment. “MS really has a pretty broad impact on affected individuals’ health system and [on] society,” said Ruth Ann Marrie, professor of medicine and community health […]
Defined contribution plan sponsors are facing a world of disruption, from artificial intelligence and big data to the Great Resignation and the shifting of power from employers to employees. The ones that thrive will be those that flip old narratives to move forward, said Shawn Kanungo, a disruption strategist and partner at Queen & Rook Capital. […]
KPMG Canada has seen firsthand the benefits that environmental, social and governance investing can have on employees’ retirement savings and the wider world. It recently introduced an environmental leaders fund into its defined contribution pension plan lineup. In the month it was launched, contributions into the fund from the organization and its employees played a […]
When a 46-year-old woman was diagnosed in early 2016 with stage-two triple-negative breast cancer, she started planning her return to full-time work at almost the same time she began treatment. “It’s interesting because when we think of return-to-work planning, we think of starting to talk about this toward the end of the treatment phase,” said […]
The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan’s struggles when the dot-com bubble burst planted the seeds for the liability-driven investing strategy it’s so well known for today. At the time, the plan had a traditional 60/40 portfolio of equities and bonds, and saw its significant funding surplus quickly turn into a deficit as equities took a […]
Defined benefit plan sponsors are undoubtedly familiar with scenario risk analysis, but applying that concept to their portfolio’s climate risk is a whole new ballgame. Plan sponsors will need to use these risk analyses to get a handle on how exposed they are to climate change risks and opportunities decades into the future, said Alyson […]
Central banks slowing their quantitative easing policies and economic improvements off the back of wide-scale vaccination efforts should both provide bond yields with a modest boost in 2021. But that won’t give defined benefit pension plan sponsors much relief. “You hear the phrase ‘low for long’ and I would agree we’re in an extended period […]
When the City of Toronto switched benefits plan insurers in 2017, it changed its coverage for biologics and biosimilars. Under its previous plan, the City reimbursed employees for the drugs their doctors recommended and prescribed; now, it follows its new insurer’s mandatory biosimilars policy, while grandfathering any plan member who was already taking a biologic […]
Defined benefit plan sponsors are undoubtedly familiar with scenario risk analysis, but applying that concept to their portfolio’s climate risk is a whole new ballgame. But plan sponsors will need to use these risk analyses to get a handle on how exposed they are to climate change risks and opportunities decades into the future, said […]