Defined contribution pension plan sponsors may face workforce planning challenges coming out of the coronavirus pandemic as older plan members whose account balances were hard hit by this year’s market volatility delay their retirements. “We saw a lot of presenteeism coming out of the [global financial crisis] — are we going to see that again?” asks […]
Public companies are deferring long-term capital expenditure, pausing share repurchase programs and cutting dividends to deal with the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis. But companies in the health-care and information technology sectors are proving to be more resilient, said Nick Getaz, vice-president and portfolio manager in Franklin Templeton’s equity group, in a webinar on Thursday. “At this point, […]
While the coronavirus pandemic certainly doesn’t change pension plan sponsors’ fundamental fiduciary duty to their plan members, the crisis is creating circumstances that will test how that responsibility manifests. Fiduciary duty arises when one party has a certain vulnerability in respect to another party, said Kenneth Burns, partner at Lawson Lundell LLP, in a webinar roundtable hosted by the […]
The United Way Greater Toronto introduced a defined benefit pension plan in 1965 and moved to a hybrid plan in 1990. While the DB side was fully paid by the employer, the defined contribution component allowed employees to contribute up to four per cent of their annual salary with a 50 per cent employer match. […]
Canadian pension rules and regulations are in need of reform in order to properly address the reality of the 21st century workplace pension landscape, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute. The report, authored by Bob Baldwin, a pension industry veteran and chair of the C.D. Howe’s pension policy council, argued that the […]
As provincial governments start to lay out their plans for slowly reopening the economy, employers have a unique return-to-work scenario to handle. Appropriate sick leave and accommodation policies will be key pieces of the new normal, said Alex Boucher, principal and total health management leader at Mercer Canada, during a webinar on Friday. A second and possibly further […]
The union representing 400 Dominion Diamond Mines employees is attempting to guarantee that the company honours its multi-million dollar pension shortfall as it goes through a court-ordered creditor protection process. If the shortfall isn’t prioritized, the Union of Northern Workers said it’s concerned that active members and pensioners would all face reduced pensions. “How much […]
Half of Canadian employees said their mental health has been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey by Teladoc Health Inc. The survey, which polled more than 1,500 Canadian workers, found women (57 per cent) were more likely to report a harmful impact on their mental health than men (43 per cent). […]
Vancouver City Savings Credit Union has put its frontline staff on a rotation system and introduced a virtual health-care app to support them during the coronavirus pandemic. When the pandemic hit British Columbia, Vancity began to see a steep climb in unexplained absences, reaching as high as 140 a day. “Like many people across the […]
With coronavirus cases starting to peak in some Canadian provinces, employers are likely beginning to prepare for a return to work once lockdown restrictions eventually ease. But work won’t be the same as it was before the pandemic, according to human resources experts speaking in a webinar hosted by the Ivey Business School on Friday. Val Duffey, an […]