Canadian benefits plan sponsors are increasingly seeking to balance providing competitive benefits against plan sustainability issues, said expert panellists during the launch event for the 2024 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey last week. Andrea Belvedere (pictured right), assistant vice-president of health benefits and solutions at Sun Life, said plan sponsors are starting to ask more questions […]
The union representing more than 460 employees at Nestlé in Toronto has ratified a three-year collective agreement that includes pension and benefits gains, ending a strike that began on May 5. The agreement includes a $1 increase each year in the defined benefit pension plan for non-skilled trades and $2 each year for skilled trades. […]
Employers can support ergonomics by maintaining a proper workstation, providing education and offering proper paramedical coverage, says Dr. Crystal Draper, senior manager of professional practice at the Canadian Chiropractic Association. “[Ergonomic support] is important so employers can help to maintain overall health and wellness of their workforce. We know chronic pain — and any type […]
Half (51 per cent) of plan members say the coverage levels of at least one of their health benefits limit their ability to seek necessary treatment, jumping to 84 per cent among those with a major injury in the past 12 months, according to the 2023 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. It found this percentage increased […]
The union representing 3,700 frontline grocery workers at 27 Metro Inc. stores across the Greater Toronto Area has ratified a collective agreement that includes pension and benefits gains. The agreement was reached following a month-long strike by workers at the 27 stores. It includes an enhanced future service pension credit for full-time workers, increasing by $2 to […]
Employees are experiencing more pain than ever before, with nearly half of the workforce diagnosed with some form of chronic pain lasting more than three months, according to Dr. Ayla Azad, chief experience officer at the Canadian Chiropractic Association, during a session at Benefits Canada‘s 2022 Benefits & Pension Summit on June 1. Citing several different […]
The burden of musculoskeletal disease has had a significant impact on the lives of Canadians at home and at work, said Alison Dantas, chief executive officer at Canadian Chiropractic Association during Benefits Canada‘s 2022 Chronic Disease at Work event in February. According to the World Health Organization, musculoskeletal conditions are the leading cause of disability around […]
A Toronto-based seafood market is using its benefits and compensation offerings to engage employees in an industry hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic. David Owen, owner of De La Mer, recently introduced a profit-sharing plan and health benefits for employees of his four stores. While the pandemic delayed the launch of these programs by […]
As any new parent can attest to, those early hours, days and weeks with a new baby are beyond challenging. In the fourth trimester (a common term for a baby’s first three months in the outside world), this brand new little human you’re tasked with keeping alive will give you vague clues about what they […]
There’s a raging epidemic underway in Canada that receives very little attention, despite its devastating impacts. It wreaks havoc on people’s health, fuels the opioid crisis and costs the Canadian economy billions. We’re talking about the epidemic of musculoskeletal conditions in Canada. The statistics paint a grim picture: the combined direct and indirect cost of […]