Equitable Life Insurance Co. of Canada is expanding the services it offers to plan sponsors through its partnership with Homewood Health Inc. While the insurer has worked with Homewood Health for seven years to provide plan members on disability with specialized return-to-work support, it will now make the latter organization’s employee assistance program and online health and wellness […]
Hub International Ltd. is acquiring Saskatoon-based Regency Advisory Corp., an employee benefits consulting firm. “We continue to build on our efforts to add talented organizations like Regency to boost our employee benefits and pension capabilities in Canada,” said Keith Jordan, president and chief executive officer of Hub International Manitoba Ltd., in a press release. “Regency has been involved in many […]
Canadian employees suffering from mental-health issues aren’t accessing support through their workplace benefits, according to new data from Sun Life Canada. The data found 59 per cent of working Canadians said they’ve experienced a mental-health issue, an increase from 52 per cent in 2017. Among this group, 60 per cent said they aren’t accessing support through their workplace benefits […]
While employer-provided wellness programs can include incentives or penalties for members, the industry is divided on which tactic is most effective in encouraging employee participation. Dominic Cole-Morgan, senior vice-president of total rewards at Scotiabank: The reality is the workforce has never been more diverse than it is today. No employee’s needs, preferences or backgrounds are […]
In October 2017, De Beers Canada senior management flew to the company’s remote Victor diamond mine near Attawapiskat, Ont., to tell its employees some tough but not unexpected news: the mine was slated to close in the first quarter of 2019. When the fly-in, fly-out operation opened in 2008, the company forecasted it would last […]
Hub International Ltd. is acquiring Mississauga, Ont.-based employee benefits consulting firm GMS Insurance Inc. Last year, the global insurance brokerage acquired GMS’s Kitchener, Ont. operations. The company said owning both entities would allow it to enhance its services to southwestern Ontario and greater Toronto area clients. Read: Hub International acquiring assets of Clarity Benefits Group […]
Benefits consultancy the Leslie Group Ltd. is partnering with health-care technology company Acorn Biolabs Inc. to offer onsite live cell collection to employees. Initially, the consultancy offered the service to its own employees before expanding it to its plan sponsor clients. Cell collection is important for stem cell therapy and other regenerative medicines, noted a press release. […]
As the labour dispute between Western Forest Products Inc. and United Steelworkers Local 1-1937 heads into its third month, tensions are running high over health benefits. Employees who are members of the Steelworkers chapter have been on strike since July 1, 2019. The proposed collective agreement in question includes concessions on a number of issues, […]
Federal and provincial policy-makers should pay close attention to effective tax rates when considering changes to the tax-and-transfer system, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute. Geared-to-income fiscal benefits programs provide valuable financial assistance to families with children, noted the report, but these benefits often come with high marginal effective tax and participation […]
The federal Conservative Party is promising to make employment insurance maternity and parental benefits tax-free. The party is proposing a 15 per cent tax credit for any income earned under the two EI programs. “Parents should be able to put their energy toward those critical first few months, and not have to worry so much […]