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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Employers can help employees achieve an optimal work-life balance by embedding a right-to-disconnect policy into their overall business practices, says Lidia Pawlikowski, associate vice-president of Hub International Ltd. Last month, Ontario’s right-to-disconnect legislation took effect, requiring employers with 25 or more workers to have a written policy for employees to disconnect from their job at […]
Yelp Inc. is embracing its remote-working first approach by closing its offices in Chicago, New York and Washington D.C., as well as reducing its footprint in Phoenix, according to a blog post by chief executive officer Jeremy Stoppelman. While the company has been reopening its offices over the last nine months, he said just one […]
KPMG in Canada is allowing employees to work remotely from another province or country in a bid to attract and retain talent amid a crowded labour market. The company’s Roam program allows eligible employees to work in any Canadian province for up to eight weeks per year or four weeks abroad in designated countries that […]
The ‘Great Resignation’ is ushering in a period of great transformation for employers, the workforce and the workplace of the future, said Charmaine Alexander, senior advisor of disability management at Desjardins Insurance, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2022 Benefits and Pension Summit on June 1. With labour shortages continuing to plague the workforce, Alexander believes […]
More than two-fifths (45 per cent) of employees who work remotely or in a hybrid arrangement say their teams’ performance improved during the past two years, while just a third (34 per cent) of onsite workers feel the same, according to a survey by Eagle Hill Consulting Ltd. The survey, which polled more than 1,000 […]