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2023 Top 40 Money Managers Report: Using tools, technology to improve asset allocation, risk management

Large and small, pension plan sponsors are adopting in-house tools, partnering with technology research institutes or relying on investment managers for technological support with asset allocation, risk management and other aspects of investment management. The growing interest coincides with an increasingly complex investment, demographic and regulatory landscape. A 2020 Deloitte report on the importance of […]

  • May 12, 2023 May 15, 2023
  • 08:56

2022 Healthy Outcomes Conference: Centering employee well-being in return-to-office plans

After two and a half years of coronavirus pandemic-induced remote work, employers are attempting to bring employees back to the office, but many are failing to do so in a way that supports employees’ mental well-being and takes their desire for work-life balance into account, according to Linda Duxbury, a professor at Carleton University’s Sprott […]

  • December 16, 2022 December 12, 2022
  • 07:59

2022 Mental Health Summit: Examining the connection between gut health and mental health

Nutrition is a major factor in gut and digestive health, which impacts brain and mental health and overall well-being, said Heather Barnes, a registered dietitian at Shoppers Drug Mart, during Benefits Canada’s 2022 Mental Health Summit in November. Making healthy eating less stressful and more accessible to employees could help reduce stress and improve their […]

  • December 9, 2022 December 6, 2022
  • 07:55

2022 DCIF: How Saskatchewan’s PEPP is adding alternative investments to its DC plan portfolios

When Saskatchewan’s Public Employees Pension Plan decided to make investments in alternative assets, it took a defined benefit approach to its defined contribution pension plan, giving its members access to private equity and infrastructure while still offering daily liquidity. The strategy was fitting, given the PEPP’s companion DB plan, the Municipal Employees Pension Plan, had […]

  • October 17, 2022 October 17, 2022
  • 07:53

Employees with chronic diseases, caregiver responsibilities often shouldering invisible burden

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 […]

  • March 7, 2022 March 3, 2022
  • 07:53

The importance of early intervention for employees with multiple sclerosis

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 […]

  • March 7, 2022 March 3, 2022
  • 07:52

How can DC plan sponsors thrive in a world of disruption?

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. […]

  • February 4, 2022 February 1, 2022
  • 07:59

Panel: Bâtirente, KPMG and Western University share DC plan journey to ESG

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 […]

  • February 4, 2022 February 1, 2022
  • 07:52

What does return to work look like for cancer patients?

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 […]

  • April 9, 2021 April 26, 2021
  • 09:00

How lessons from one crisis helped HOOPP tackle another

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 […]

  • December 30, 2020 April 23, 2021
  • 09:00