Green Shield Canada has appointed Zahid Salman as its new president and chief executive officer. In the new role, which is effective Sept. 4, 2018, Salman will be replacing Steve Bradie, who’s retiring later this year. “Although the health benefits industry is ever-changing, GSC’s legacy of innovative thinking has us well positioned for the future,” […]
Sears Canada Inc. retirees, through Koskie Minsky LLP, filed a motion in court on Friday seeking the retailer’s remaining cash to help fund their pension shortfall. While the plan’s deficit sits at $260 million, the company currently holds about $135 million, according to a recent report by FTI Consulting Canada Inc., the court appointed monitor for the retailer’s insolvency. If the […]
Mindfulness meditation negatively effects motivation and may be counterproductive in a workplace environment, according to a recent study. The study, by Andrew Hafenbrack, an assistant professor of the Catholic University of Portugal’s school of business and economics, and Kathleen Vohs, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson school of management, concluded that mindfulness meditation may provide […]
More than a third (34 per cent) of Canadians cite workplace stress as the primary cause of their mental-health issue, according to a new white paper by Morneau Shepell Ltd. and the Mental Health Commission of Canada. The survey, which polled 1,575 people, found depression and anxiety were the top two mental-health issues, making up 69 per cent of all […]
Although employers in Ontario have just as much obligation to address sexual and violent harassment from customers or members of the public as they do when it happens between colleagues, the process can be more challenging, according to one legal expert. “From a legal perspective, the source of the harassing behaviour being a member of […]
In the wake of the tragic shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., earlier this year that left 17 dead and sparked a renewed and vigorous debate about gun control, certain members of the investment world took swift action. BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest institutional investor with US$6.3 trillion under management as of the […]
Ken Eady understands the challenges a defined benefit pension plan can present for plan sponsors, particularly when they find themselves in financial difficulty. “Healthy companies aren’t always too crazy about the liability, so it can become a heavy weight to carry when there is trouble maintaining financial status. That’s why they seem to generally be […]
When it instituted random drug testing last year, the Toronto Transit Commission was eager to ensure its employees knew what it expected of them. To get the message out, the transit authority mailed a handbook last year to the home of every employee and published it online so all workers would be fully aware of […]
When left unchecked, absenteeism is like a termite that stealthily eats into employee engagement, team morale and organizational output, often costing companies millions of dollars in lost productivity, wages and management time. The trick is to proactively address the issue before it becomes stickier than it needs to be. Quite often, a straightforward conversation between […]
Whether the aim is to reduce material risk, align pension investments with the organization’s overall philosophies or address a moral imperative, no pension fund wants to go through the trouble of diving in only to find its assets aren’t as green as it thought. With no standardized metric in existence, the word “green” could have […]