The weather is shifting, with the wet November wind blowing away the crisp October sunshine.
While this time of year is characterized by the change of temperature and spectacular outdoor colours, the one constant at Benefits Canada and the Canadian Investment Review is that it’s our busiest time of year for events. In October, we hosted the Defined Contribution Investment Forum and the Healthy Outcomes Conference (where we also handed out our annual Workplace Benefits Awards), followed by the Investment Innovation Conference in November.
One of the many ways our events reflect the editorial style of the magazine is through plan sponsor panels — educational forums that aim to showcase different voices, points of view and experiences to answer important questions for our audiences.
Read: Coverage of the 2024 DC Investment Forum
At the 2024 DCIF, three DC pension plan sponsors discussed the rising cost of living and how they’re helping employees achieve strong retirement outcomes through investment options, technology and innovative savings plans. The 2024 Healthy Outcomes Conference featured a panel on optimizing well-being benefits, featuring three employers that are stretching their wellness muscles to deliver benefits packages that are both comprehensive and personalized. And the 2024 Investment Innovation Conference included a panel delving into how artificial intelligence can be effectively deployed to help streamline and drive efficiency in pension plan management.
These panels, which featured benefits and pension professionals from the B.C. Municipal Pension Plan, Canadian Baptist Ministries, Enercare, PepsiCo Canada and more, are a physical representation of the way we dive into our content in the magazine. Since I became editor of Benefits Canada more than six years ago, we have had a mandate to include the perspectives and first-hand experiences of plan sponsors alongside other industry experts for every article in print.
This month, that includes an array of leaders in the benefits and pension industries: Aaron Snaith, director of total rewards at CSA Group; Kristine Dionne, vice-president of total rewards and human resources at Meridian Credit Union; Jennifer Moreau, director of HR at the Corporation of the County of Grey; Elena Shiganova, senior manager of total rewards at the City of Mississauga; Carmen Velasquez, managing director of sustainable investing at the Alberta Investment Management Corp.; Arijit Banik, treasurer at York University; Dan Langlois, vice-president and chief investment officer at the Calgary Foundation; and Rana Kassab, director of benefits and recognition for Canada at Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
Read: Panel: How employers are supporting plan members’ investment decisions amid rising cost of living
This is just a tiny sample of the hund-reds of employers and plan sponsors we speak to every year. They are our readers, our event delegates and our eyes and ears on the industry. If we didn’t speak to HR, benefits, pension and investment executives, we’d be missing the most fundamental viewpoints. When they share their opinions and experiences, we all have a more complete picture of the current state of employee benefits and the industry more broadly.
Next month, the pages of the December issue will be even more employer-filled than usual, as we celebrate the winners of our 2024 Workplace Benefits Awards. This year, we received nearly 100 entries with finalists in 12 categories representing 27 different employers across the country that manage the employee benefits for nearly 160,000 people. When this issue is published, the winners will have been announced, but I want to once again share a big congratulations to everyone who participated this year.
Whether employers are awarded for their industry leading financial wellness programs or interviewed in a feature on benefits trends, we strive to bring a diverse perspective to all the content you engage with from Benefits Canada — and we hope you continue to find it useful.
Jennifer Paterson is the editor of Benefits Canada.