The shift away from defined benefit plans hasn’t hit the Canadian public sector yet, with most (86%) public employers continuing to offer retirement plans providing guaranteed payouts, according to a new study from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
The report surveyed 1,315 participants from corporations, professional service firms, public employers and multi-employer benefits plans in Canada and the U.S. in the spring of 2010.
The results revealed that defined contribution plans are still more popular in the private sector, with corporations (70%) and professional service jobs (63%) leaning toward shifting the risk to the employee.
Voluntary benefits plans are also on the rise, with half of all corporate respondents including at least one employee-pay-all benefit.
According to the survey, employers are not only maintaining retirement benefits and meeting obligations, they are also implementing features such as automatic enrollment and retirement counselling to assist employees in building a secure retirement.
