Benefits Canada is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2021 Workplace Benefits Awards. At a virtual roundtable and awards ceremony on Thursday, 23 finalists gathered to discuss their leading benefits and pension strategies, followed by winner announcements across 10 categories. All of the finalists represent benefits and pension plans covering nearly 300,000 Canadians. These employers are proactively and passionately aiming to […]
Amazon.com Inc. is allowing many technology and corporate employees to continue working remotely indefinitely, as long as they can commute to the office when necessary. The new policy was announced in a blog post earlier this week. It’s a marked change from Amazon’s previous expectation that most employees would need to be in the office at […]
A look at a survey finding employees are prioritizing workplace benefits plans amid an increasingly competitive job market took the top spot as the most-read story over the past week on BenefitsCanada.com. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. Canadian employees prioritizing benefits programs over pay: survey 2. Survey finds cost of […]
Though the idea was coined by English philosopher Thomas More in his novel Utopia in 1516, several countries — including Canada — are considering how it would work in practice today Liam Wilkinson, public relations strategist at UBI Works The pandemic has laid bare economic trends that have been ignored for far too long. Canadians […]
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ottawa Community Housing Corp. battened down the hatches and focused on addressing any absence management issues before they occurred. Now, Cindy Newell, the company’s director of human resources, says OCH is expecting to see fewer disability leaves post-pandemic, thanks to a proactive absence and disability management strategy […]
As the country began shutting down to focus on beating back the coronavirus at the height of the pandemic in March 2020, people with chronic health conditions fell to the back of the health-care line. “While all Canadians probably faced — to some extent — a negative impact due to some of the public health […]
SAP Canada Inc.’s vice-president and head of human resources talks embracing flexible working, keeping the “human” in HR and winter sports. Q. What top challenges do you face in your role? A. SAP is a global organization, so everything we do must be within the context of what works for us in the country but […]
Employees at several Indigo Books & Music Inc. stores across Canada are unionizing, as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has “highlighted the precarity of retail work in general and how little say workers have in rapidly changing work environments. “Joining [United Food and Commercial Workers Canada] provided security and gave workers a voice without fear of retaliation,” […]
More than eight in 10 (83 per cent) U.S. organizations are implementing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in 2021, according to a new survey by WorldatWork. Among the 83 per cent, almost a third (29 per cent) said they took their first action on DEI initiatives during the past 12 months. Nearly all (97 per […]
Any return to the workplace, whether it’s after a medical or parental leave — or say, following a global pandemic — requires consideration and care to ensure the psychological health and safety of employees. Every back-to-workplace plan, regardless of the context, should be developed in partnership with each individual employee and driven by their physical […]