While professional services company Accenture has long been supportive of its working parents, it introduced a new backup childcare program in 2020 to help employees with the challenges precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic. “When the pandemic hit, our working parents found themselves homeschooling their kids while juggling the demands of remote work,” says Susan Goodyer, […]
Men are picking up jobs at more than three-times the rate that women are leaving the workforce amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report by the Royal Bank of Canada. The report found more than 20,000 women left the workforce between February and October, while about 68,000 men joined it, with the pandemic and […]
Soon after the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, layoffs and the shift to remote working resulted in a 30-year low in female participation in the Canadian workforce, threatening to undo gains in gender equity in the workplace, according to a new report by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Women have suffered the most layoffs or furloughs during the pandemic […]
Scotiabank secured its second win at Benefits Canada‘s 2020 Workplace Benefits Awards on Oct. 16 for adapting its existing benefits and introducing new resources to support employees in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. In the Coronavirus and Benefits category for an employer with more than 5,000 employees, the bank’s entry outlined how it transitioned 60 […]
One in four women in the U.S. are either considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workplace entirely, according to a new report by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org. “The events of 2020 have turned workplaces upside down. Under the highly challenging circumstances of the COVID-19 crisis, many employees are struggling to do their jobs,” said the report. […]
Images of parents trying to shush their kids during work Zoom meetings are now as commonplace as, well, Zoom meetings. With many people six months into working from home due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, employers can often literally see employees with kids trying to juggle it all. A new survey by Willis Towers Watson found the three-quarters (74 per […]
With employers and employees still suffering through the limbo of the coronavirus pandemic, Wednesday’s throne speech clarified how the federal government plans to continue to support Canadians. In her speech, Governor General Julie Payette said the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy will be extended into 2021. She also said the government intends to shift away from emergency benefits […]
Early in Lana Burnstad’s career, she worked at a railway company that was merging several regional railways and their various benefits plans. Part of that process included working with multiple unions, which were traditionally male-dominated environments at the time. “That was a rough process — swearing and fist-pounding . . . . It was pretty […]
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Scotiabank kicked the expansion of its existing childcare offering for employees into high gear. “Given the bank has announced that anyone who’s working remotely will continue to do so until the end of 2020 minimum, we wanted to make sure we had some extra options available for employees since working remotely […]
The coronavirus pandemic is fundamentally changing the future of work and, very likely, the nature of employer-sponsored benefits and pension plans. Looking to the end of the crisis, Canadian consultants see an array of major changes on the horizon, from more flexible benefits plans and mental-health care to an outsourcing of pension administration and the […]