With more data emerging showing vaping can lead to lung injuries and other adverse health issues, many employers have concerns about the potential cost of providing extended health-care benefits to employees who vape, says Julie Stich, vice-president of content at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. “We’re seeing more and more evidence coming forth […]
Amazon.com Inc is pausing the construction of six new U.S. office buildings to re-evaluate the designs to better suit hybrid work. A report by Reuters noted that, despite the construction delays of office buildings in Bellevue, Wash. and Nashville, the company’s hiring plans for each city — 25,000 and 5,000 jobs, respectively — remain on […]
Cigna is focusing on ‘purposeful presence’ in its return-to-work strategy, amid the ‘Great Resignation’ and employees increasingly choosing roles that align with their values. The strategy stems from the company’s core belief that performance is based on outcomes instead of physical presence, according to a press release, which noted the approach is applied to all […]
The percentage of employees working exclusively from home is decreasing slightly — from 19 per cent in May to 18 per cent in June — amid the lifting of coronavirus pandemic restrictions, according to a new survey by Statistics Canada. Among these employees, it found a fifth (18 per cent) said they report to an […]
Thomson Reuters Corp. is introducing new benefits for its global employees, including an expanded ‘work from anywhere’ policy and a new sabbatical program. To build on its existing Flex My Way program, which offers employees the opportunity to work from anywhere in their country of residence for up to eight weeks, the technology company expanded the […]
An expert panel about the impact of environmental, social and governance-focused target-date funds on capital accumulation plans was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: Expert panel: How ESG-focused TDFs could impact workplace CAPs CPPIB investing in discount grocery chain, OMERS acquiring infrastructure […]
More than two-thirds (70 per cent) of large U.S. employers are planning to beef up their benefits plans in 2023 to enhance their attraction and retention efforts, according to a new survey by Mercer. The survey, which polled more than 700 employers, found a third (32 per cent) of large employers already offer inclusive family-building […]
The Netherlands is making remote working a legal right for its citizens. On July 5, the Dutch bicameral parliament’s lower house passed legislation that forces employers to consider employee requests to work from home as long as their professions allow for it, according to a report by Bloomberg. If the legislation, which is set to go […]
Beneva Inc. is enhancing its hybrid work policy to provide employees with more flexibility. The company is offering employees $1,000 to purchase ergonomic home office furniture and $240 for home internet upgrades. For employees working onsite, Beneva is offering free parking or an annual $500 commuter allowance for public transit. “We reviewed some of our working […]
The shift to remote working is tamping down wage growth by two per cent over two years, shrinking — by more than half — employees’ expectations of real-wage catchup amid rising inflation, according to a report by the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago. It found while U.S. consumer prices rose 8.6 per cent […]