It was June 1990. The occasion was the annual ACPM conference, and we were in a big room at the Château Laurier in Ottawa.
It’s no secret that health and dental benefits represent a substantial cost for organizations. Yet most employers pay for these costs with little more than blind faith, because the types of internal controls and audits used to verify other company expenses just won’t work for benefits costs.
The average employer pays between $3,000 and $6,000 per employee, per year, for a benefits program, depending on plan design and demographics. On that basis alone, wouldn’t you like to know if you are getting the most value out of your investment?
With an aging workforce and retiring boomers, questions about retiree benefits are becoming more prominent within organizations and in general conversation. You can tell the baby boomers are about to retire when the discussion of retiree benefits moves from the corporate boardroom to the dining room.
I recently had the opportunity to spend some time in Angola. It may be a stretch for many to translate this African experience into a discussion on Canadian employee benefits plans, but, in some respects, the lessons learned from Angola could not be more relevant. Simply stated, it’s a matter of perspective.
The perfect storm in global economies over the past few years has dramatically transformed human capital and benefits markets, and an HR department must determine how to maintain—or even improve—its organization’s competitive advantage and sustainability in the current climate.
Rising drug plan costs, tighter restrictions on government-paid medical coverage, more employees working past age 65—all of these factors will play a role in driving up benefits plan costs in the next few years.
Sun Life and TELUS Health Solutions have signed an agreement for TELUS to provide an eClaims product for use by healthcare providers.
What role does an employer play in the health of its workforce? How can pension plan sponsors help members to make better investment decisions? Why might emerging markets lead the way for future growth opportunities? Benefits Canada’s 2012 Benefits & Pension Summit, held earlier this week at the Marriott Eaton Centre in Toronto, addressed these questions and more, from various perspectives.
What keeps plan sponsors awake at night? According to Joyal, soaring costs and retirement benefits rank high on the list.