The City of Mississauga’s acting senior manager of total rewards talks virtual health care, pension communications and spending time with family. Q. What top challenges do you face in your role? A. I think we can say there are two worlds: pre-coronavirus and post-coronavirus. In the current situation, the top challenge is making sure our […]
While the coronavirus crisis is impacting many real assets, people still require food and therefore still require farmland. The asset class is a stable one and a long-term diversifier, says Bernice Miedzinski, president of StarBridge Capital Ltd., noting the current low-interest rate environment is challenging. “Even thinking about a plain vanilla strategy, investing in Canadian […]
Organizations in all Canadian provinces and territories are seeing a drop in their salary increase budgets for 2020, according to a new survey by WorldatWork. Alberta and Saskatchewan (both dropping from 2.8 per cent to 2.3 per cent), the Northwest Territories (from 2.7 per cent to 2.1 per cent), Nunavut (from 2.7 per cent to […]
China’s V-shaped economic recovery continued for a fourth consecutive month in June, led by strong domestic demand. And if the novel coronavirus remains under control, China can remain the world’s best consumer story. In China, consumer spending came back with force. Inflation-adjusted retail sales plummeted to a 23.7 per cent year-over-year decline in January and […]
The federal government is setting a temporary minimum unemployment rate of 13.1 per cent for all employment insurance economic regions across Canada. The move, which took effect Aug. 9, is meant to recognize the ongoing unpredictability of the pandemic on the country’s labour market. The regional unemployment rate is part of the calculation that determines how many […]
EQ Care is forming a partnership with RWAM Insurance Administrators Inc. with the aim of facilitating access to virtual health-care services. RWAM, a Canadian third-party administrator of group insurance benefits, offers services including medical consulting sessions, triage and medication prescribing. Read: EQ Care, myHSA enter agreement expanding access to telemedicine Virtual health-care services could be […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec had a challenging first half of 2020, posting a negative 2.3 per cent return. However, the pension fund remains in a strong financial position, according to president and chief executive officer Charles Emond, holding assets of more than $333 billion and with an 8.7 per cent annualized return over […]
With financial worries swirling through the minds of many employees as the economic impacts of the pandemic rage, some segments of employee populations may be feeling worse about their finances than others and it’s important for employers to be able to discern who’s struggling the most, according to a new report from U.S.-based think tank Financial […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec says the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic resulted in posting a negative return of 2.3 per cent during the first six months of 2020. The pension fund manager’s net assets stood at $333 billion as of June 30, down from $340.1 billion as of Dec. 31, […]
Digital benefits company myHSA and virtual health-care organization EQ Care are entering into an agreement to expand access to telemedicine. Through the agreement, EQ Care will be added to myHSA’s Benefits Bucket suite, so plan members can access on-demand health-care support by experienced medical professionals who have received in-depth training on the coronavirus. Read: Sun […]