According to Goodyear Canada Inc., pension communications don’t have to be boring — and it’s not afraid to use puns to make its employees pay attention. The company’s strategy, encompassing targeted messaging and creatively designed materials, netted it the award for pension communications at Benefits Canada‘s 2019 Workplace Benefits Awards on Oct. 17. Goodyear Canada […]
WSP Canada Inc.’s innovative communications plan to increase employees’ awareness of its benefits plan enhancements netted it the benefits plan communications award at Benefits Canada‘s 2019 Workplace Benefits Awards in Toronto on Oct. 17. In addition to standard email and intranet articles, the professional services firm’s communications plan included using its chief executive officer’s weekly email missives to […]
What if institutional investors could turn their portfolio companies’ quarterly earnings calls into actionable data by analyzing their sentiment over time? The Alberta Investment Management Corp. is attempting to do just that, in partnership with Edmonton-based machine learning company AltaML Inc. Using a form of artificial intelligence called natural language processing, AltaML is analyzing the […]
Epcor Utilities Inc.’s senior manager of pension and benefits talks mental-health training, volunteering benefits and whitewater canoeing. Q. What top challenges do you face in your role? A. A big challenge is employees . . . thinking the company is 100 per cent responsible for all of their paramedical [and] dental costs, and that any […]
The Ontario government has launched a consultation on adopting benefits pooling for broader public sector employees. In previous discussions, both public sector employers and bargaining agents expressed interest in looking at centralized benefits pooling, according to a news release. The government said public sector compensation represents about half of all government spending, at a total […]
Canada’s fledgling cannabis companies should implement strong governance protocols and show they’re attempting to address material environmental and social risks to grow their base of institutional investors. Speaking on Friday at a panel discussion on cannabis companies and governance practices nearly a year after legalization, Michelle de Cordova, a principal at ESG Global Advisors Inc., […]
A group of institutional investors representing more than US$500 billion is calling on the U.S. Congress to vote down the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement to prevent extended monopoly rights for pharmaceutical companies in all three countries. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which represents more than 300 religious institutional investors, pension funds, foundations, asset managers […]
The City of Mississauga’s newest employee, Ajax the two-year-old golden labrador retriever, is dogged in his pursuit of better mental health for emergency services personnel. Ajax, a facility dog from National Service Dogs, is available to Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services staff as part of the department’s wellness-fitness initiative. The goal of having Ajax on-site […]
As the gap continues to widen between required infrastructure spending and actual dedicated funds, according to the G20, private infrastructure projects represent a strong opportunity for institutional investors. Speaking at TD Asset Management Inc.’s institutional investment symposium in Toronto on Wednesday, Matthew Press, the firm’s vice-president of infrastructure investments, said the funding gap in the G20 […]
In October 2017, De Beers Canada senior management flew to the company’s remote Victor diamond mine near Attawapiskat, Ont., to tell its employees some tough but not unexpected news: the mine was slated to close in the first quarter of 2019. When the fly-in, fly-out operation opened in 2008, the company forecasted it would last […]