When Sandy Coughlin first joined B.C. health provider Providence Health Care in 1996, she didn’t see herself as much of a numbers person. Two decades on, the conversion is complete for the organization’s director of occupational health and safety. “I’m a data geek and proud of it,” she says. Coughlin’s moment of transformation came just […]
With the Canada Pension Plan on many people’s minds, how does Canada’s public pension system compare to those of other countries? In light of the debate over the CPP and old-age security, Benefits Canada takes a look at how Canada’s system stacks up against other countries around the world. The Mercer Melbourne Global Pension Index ranks Canada’s retirement income […]
What does Canada do better than any other country? Play hockey? Let’s not go there. Run an effective, efficient and sustainable retirement income system for the general population? It doesn’t do that as much as we’d like. Canada rates fourth in the best-known international comparison in this area, the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index. There are reasons why […]
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Retiree benefit plans are shrinking or dropping off the map altogether, Mercer found in its 2015 post-retirement benefits trends poll released today. Just 15 years ago, most large Canadian companies offered one or more retiree benefit plans, with retirees paying little or nothing. But costs for those plans have jumped by 150 per cent since […]
As companies consider their options around the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, national employers with staff who work in Ontario and other provinces face additional questions about what to do. Ian Howcroft, vice-president of on the Ontario division of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, has seen members of his organization face questions around internal equity since “now they’ll have a different requirement […]
The southern Alberta division of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires has changed its defined contribution pension provider and structure in a bid to offer its 1,600 employees a plan that is simple to understand and requires little administrative support. Since the not-for-profit security services company launched Mercer’s Planisphere in September 2015, it has seen its employee participation rise, from […]
A growing number of pension plan administrators are dealing with with the onerous task of tracking down missing plan members who have retired, according to speakers at an event hosted by the Association of Canadian Pension Management on Wednesday. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has 34,000 inactive members for whom it has no address or an incorrect […]
In recent years, Canada’s largest companies have struggled with the inherent ups and downs of managing risk in their defined benefit pension plans. Two employer-sponsored pensions in particular — despite experiencing similar types of labour strife, government intervention and plan redesign — have so far embarked on very different investment strategies to suit their businesses […]
