The recent market turmoil caused by the coronavirus crisis has increased the focus on rebalancing decisions for many Canadian pension plans. As certain asset classes outperform others, a portfolio’s asset mix will drift overtime from its long-term targets. To ensure no significant divergence from the target, rebalancing triggers the sale of the strong performing asset […]
Benefits Canada is proud to announce the finalists of the 2020 Workplace Benefits Awards. While this year’s entry and judging process occurred during the coronavirus pandemic, almost 100 leading employers embraced the opportunity to share their organization’s innovative initiatives and strategies. In fact, Benefits Canada even introduced a new category — Coronavirus and benefits — which received the most entries, so we divided […]
Economists say there is no doubt that Canada is experiencing a recession, but the exact criteria determining one is underway can be fraught with confusion. Broadly speaking, a recession is a period of business contraction where economic activity declines. But what exactly constitutes a decline, and over what time period, is the subject of much […]
The Canadian economy suffered its worst three-month stretch on record in the second quarter as the economy came to a near halt in April before starting to recover in May and June. Statistics Canada said Friday real gross domestic product contracted at an annualized rate of 38.7 per cent for the quarter, the worst posting […]
Globally mobile employees may be feeling more discouragement, burnout and stress during the coronavirus pandemic compared to their domestic peers. Indeed, outside of the crisis, expatriate employees are generally more prone to these hurdles, said Nancy Brown, national sales director for Canada at Metlife Worldwide Benefits, in a session at Benefits Canada‘s 2020 Plan Sponsor Week earlier […]
With almost 100,000 employees in 30 countries, Scotiabank’s approach to global benefits provision is more about aligning philosophy or guiding principles than it is around aligning specific tactics of the benefits plan. “No surprise, every country, every region has its own set of legislation, social norms, priorities, different health-care infrastructure and different maturity in terms […]
While the vast majority of Canadians say the coronavirus pandemic is impacting their mental health, just 60 per cent are receiving the treatment or social support they need. “We’ve asked them, what are the barriers? Why aren’t they accessing the resources?” said Sophie Ouellet, vice-president of business development at Sun Life Canada, during a session on […]
The Federal Reserve announced a significant change Thursday in how it manages interest rates by saying it plans to keep rates near zero even after inflation has exceeded the Fed’s two per cent target level. The change signifies that the Fed is prepared to tolerate a higher level of inflation than it generally has in […]
At the time of my last column in May, many pension plan sponsors were catching their breath after watching funding levels take a roller coaster ride. After a steep drop earlier in the year, funding levels were slowly recovering. However, market uncertainty remained and it wasn’t clear what was coming next. Thankfully the last few […]
The Empire Life Insurance Co. is adding telemedicine services to its group benefits plans. Beginning Sept. 1, 2020, all employees whose plan sponsors offer Empire Life’s group benefits will automatically have access to the new service, provided by Teladoc Health. “Nearly two in five Canadians say they have faced COVID-related barriers to medical care,” said […]