Alongside Hydro One Ltd.’s initial public offering in November 2015, the company underwent an internal transformation by revamping its total rewards program. Previously, the utility organization’s program was very traditional with a fixed salary structure and not much external benchmarking, according to Sabrin Lila, Hydro One’s director of compensation and human resources analytics, noting the company was limited by existing […]
As newer generations enter the workforce, innovative benefits plan design is important to connect plan members with the resources that fulfill the needs of an increasingly diverse workforce. During a panel at Benefits Canada’s 2019 Benefits and Pension Summit in Toronto on April 17, Wade Domries, vice-president of total rewards at Telus Corp., discussed how the company […]
Following an asset-liability matching study in early 2018, the Toronto Transit Commission Pension Fund Society is expanding its allocation to less liquid investments. The jointly sponsored pension plan, which has about $6.5 billion in assets under management, is comprised of 37 per cent fixed income, 44 per cent equities and 19 per cent real assets, […]
In early 2016, Rogers Communications Inc. announced it would be closing its defined benefit plan to new entrants and replacing it with a defined contribution plan. The company offered staff six months to enrol in the DB plan before its closure on July 1, 2016. While it faced several challenges in administering the DB plan, […]
Limiting global warming is essential to institutional investors, according to a new report by Mercer Canada. The report models three different scenarios, examining the impact of average warming of two, three and four degrees Celsius over three timeframes: 2030, 2050 and 2100. For both investors and the planet, limiting warming to two degrees is ideal, […]
After December 2018 wreaked havoc on the markets, ending the year on a sour note for many Canadian defined benefit pension plans, most of the damage was reversed at the beginning of 2019, according to Mercer Canada’s pension health index. The index, which represents the solvency ratio of a hypothetical plan, rose from 102 per […]
Canadian defined benefit pension plans’ solvency position rose in the first quarter of 2019, according to two new pension indexes. Representing the solvency ratio of a hypothetical plan, Mercer Canada’s index sat at 106 per cent on March 31, up from 102 per cent at the start of the year. The median solvency ratio of Mercer clients’ pension plans […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management has mixed feelings about the federal government’s proposed methods for enhancing retirement security in the wake of the high-profile Sears Canada Inc. bankruptcy last year. During an ACPM webinar last week, Todd Saulnier, the chair of ACPM’s national policy committee and a principal at Mercer, said some of the federal government’s options […]
It’s no surprise that investors can’t rely on past performance when picking a manager for tomorrow, but it remains a key driver for many investment decisions, according to a new paper by Mercer. “Despite the ever-present health warning that ‘past performance is no guide to future performance,’ there are plenty of theories in behavioural finance […]
More than three-quarters (79 per cent) of executives said they expect contingent and freelance workers to substantially replace full-time employees in the coming years, according to Mercer’s latest survey on global talent trends. While predictions vary by industry, the survey found the financial services industry is expected to have a workforce that’s 80 per cent freelance in […]