In the five years since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus pandemic, Canadian benefits plan sponsors have adapted their offerings and continue to apply many of the lessons learned over the course of the health crisis.
Chris Zelasko, president of Peak Benefit Solutions Inc. says while his plan sponsor clients initially focused on the “what-ifs?” of the pandemic’s financial impacts and potential employee layoffs, they quickly shifted to enhancing their plans to better support worker well-being.
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“In general, there was more of a drive to supporting mental wellness, physical wellness and financial wellness as well as a drive to make sure they were compensating their employees a little bit more effectively with regards to their benefits.”
The pandemic also created a competitive job market that made such offerings even more enticing to candidates and supported attraction and retention strategies. He notes this focus on benefits offerings has remained intact, including the push for alternative benefits offerings, such as health-care spending accounts.
“Smaller firms were looking at group retirement plans, financial wellness, and then there was a bigger drive for things like employee assistance programs, mental wellness [and] adding more value towards those types of programs within the plan that have somewhat stayed post COVID.
“There was a rush to increase what was being offered, sometimes because they wanted to remain competitive . . . but they haven’t dialled back those types of things.”
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In addition to supporting employees, the pandemic also gave plan sponsors a reason to review and adjust their benefits offering to ensure they were getting the most value from their plan, says Zelasko.
“As we started to have these conversations, we were then carrying that message to other clients that we hadn’t heard from. . . . That allowed for more, deeper conversations across the board.
This push for value also sped up plan sponsors’ adoption of new technologies. “The insurance world doesn’t move very quickly with regards to things like technology and support and the adoption of virtual health care, virtual pharmacies, online support systems and mental health navigation and all of those types of things really blossomed through COVID.”
“I think a lot of [plan sponsors] are happy with where [their plans] are at now, so it’s about maintaining that level [and] promoting high-value benefits that may not cost a lot, so things like virtual health care, virtual pharmacies, as well as educating with regards to their benefits.”
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