The federal government is easing eligibility rules for the government’s emergency wage subsidy and changing the amounts businesses can receive. The government had been under pressure to make the subsidy more accessible, specifically by loosening the requirement of a 30 per cent drop in revenues, so more companies under that cut-off can qualify. Speaking in Toronto […]
In this unprecedented time, it’s more evident the physical, psychological and financial components of health are all interconnected, said Charmaine Alexander, senior disability management advisor at Desjardins Insurance, during a webinar hosted by Benefits Canada. Prior to the pandemic, in May 2018, Desjardins conducted a survey to measure these interactions to better understand how they […]
While 33 per cent of global employees said they want to return to the physical workplace full time after the coronavirus pandemic in April, that number dropped to four per cent when respondents were asked the same question in June, according to a new survey by Perceptyx Inc. In its survey of more than 750,ooo […]
Institutional investors are grappling with the long-term implications of how the coronavirus pandemic will affect demand for various real estate sectors. Many real estate assets will remain under pressure even as establishments across sectors are once again able to welcome customers, says Jeff Olin, president and chief executive officer at Vision Capital Corp., noting that […]
The coronavirus pandemic has pushed women’s participation in the labour force down to its lowest level in three decades and rebounding won’t be easy, according to a new study by the Royal Bank of Canada. The report showed 1.5 million Canadian women lost their jobs in the first two months of the pandemic and said […]
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, in-person visits by institutional investors have been drastically reduced, temporarily short circuiting qualitative due diligence and leading to slightly more reliance on quantitative analysis, says Jeff Schwartz, president of Markov Processes International Inc. Quantitative analysis can help identify red flags and indicate when a deeper dive is required, for example. “That’s […]
The pandemic changed our world and our jobs overnight and stretched compassion, empathy and flexibility to the limit. There has never been a better time to reconsider everything about employee benefits. For me as a benefits consultant, the crisis has highlighted how unprepared the typical benefits plan is to truly support the needs of employees in […]
While it’s likely a small mercy that defined contribution plan members, by and large, didn’t have knee-jerk reactions to recent market turbulence, plan sponsors have been rather quiet as well. Much of this is related to the reality that the people who typically deal with small to mid-size DC plans at their organization are busy with other […]
The coronavirus pandemic is dramatically affecting workplaces, employers and employees across Canada, according to a new survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. While a third of surveyed employers said they already offered telehealth or telemedicine before the pandemic, an additional 19 per cent said they added it during the crisis and another […]
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is set to restart its policy development work this fall. The OSFI suspended consultations and policy development as part of its measures to reduce operational stress on institutions during the pandemic. As Canada begins to take steps towards reopening and recovery, the OSFI plans to ramp up […]