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Unilever awarded for holistic approach to supporting employees amid pandemic

Unilever Canada’s holistic approach to supporting employees’ health and well-being throughout the coronavirus pandemic scored the company a win at Benefits Canada’s 2021 Workplace Benefits Awards on Oct. 14. The organization was awarded in the Coronavirus and Benefits category for an employer with fewer than 5,000 employees. Unilever’s global well-being framework is based on four […]

  • October 18, 2021 October 20, 2021
  • 09:00

Indigo workers unionizing for enhanced benefits, paid sick days

Employees at several Indigo Books & Music Inc. stores across Canada are unionizing, as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has “highlighted the precarity of retail work in general and how little say workers have in rapidly changing work environments.  “Joining [United Food and Commercial Workers Canada] provided security and gave workers a voice without fear of retaliation,” […]

  • October 14, 2021 October 14, 2021
  • 09:45

SAP Canada phasing in return to office, focusing on flexibility

When SAP Canada’s offices fully reopen, it will adopt a flexible work model, as well as guidelines that aim to define what hybrid work means in the post-coronavirus pandemic workplace. When the global pandemic was declared last March, SAP Canada temporarily shut down its six offices in Canada. Like most companies, the shift to 100 per […]

  • August 6, 2021 November 3, 2021
  • 09:00

BMO training program highlighting importance of allyship for LGBTQ2S+ employees

The Bank of Montreal is empowering employees to become allies for their co-workers in the LGBTQ2S+ community. As part of its Zero Barriers to Inclusion 2025 strategy, released in September 2020, BMO launched its Road to Allyship training program to help employees on their own journey to allyship during Pride Month this June. The program […]

  • June 30, 2021 June 30, 2021
  • 09:00

Collective Arts Brewing tapping into digital communication tools amid pandemic

Effective communications has become a necessity for employers since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. At Collective Arts Brewing Ltd., it’s also helping the company ensure staff safety and streamline the way they receive information. When the global pandemic was first declared in March 2020, Jenn Pavicich, the brewer’s vice-president of human resources, legal and […]

  • June 17, 2021 June 18, 2021
  • 09:00

Using data to develop holistic workplace mental-health training

When CGI Group Inc. launched its mental-health and wellness program six years ago, its primary focus was on education and reducing stigma. Since then, the strategy has evolved, becoming more data-driven, says Marie-Soleil Ferland, the global information technology company’s health and wellness lead in Canada. To find the underlying issues driving claims, the organization looks […]

  • February 16, 2021 October 17, 2021
  • 08:53

Q&A with Ryerson University’s Natalie Roach

The university’s mental-health co-ordinator, discusses employee well-being, the ‘new normal’ and figure skating. Q. What top challenges do you face in your role? A. People feel very passionately about mental health and well-being, but it often exists as something “at the side of their desks.” That’s not an indictment; it’s that the daily operational requirements […]

  • February 16, 2021 May 2, 2021
  • 08:50

Sun Life piloting virtual mental-health coach

Sun Life Canada is launching a new virtual mental-health coach for plan members that taps into the power of predictive analytics. The virtual coach will launch in the first quarter of 2021, starting with a small number of clients, and after six months, the insurer will slowly bring more organizations on board. The insurer’s goal with the pilot program is […]

  • December 18, 2020 April 23, 2021
  • 15:00

Using benefits data, return to basics to weather coronavirus pandemic

With the coronavirus pandemic affecting plan sponsors in different ways, they can return to the basics and use data to manage their benefits spend, according to a webinar hosted by the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute on Tuesday. “It’s helpful for companies to pivot and take the conversation back to the basics, which is discussing the […]

  • December 3, 2020 April 28, 2021
  • 09:00

TTC pension plan focusing on liquidity amid coronavirus pandemic

The Toronto Transit Commission Pension Fund Society has been reminded of the importance of liquidity during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Sean Hewitt, the fund’s chief executive officer, during a virtual roundtable hosted by the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute on Thursday. “COVID-19 was a really interesting test study in liquidity,” he said, noting the TTC plan […]

  • November 23, 2020 January 19, 2021
  • 09:30