More than 19 months into the coronavirus pandemic, employers are focusing on enhanced mental-health offerings and streamlined communications for their benefits and pension plans. During a virtual roundtable on Oct. 14, the 2021 Workplace Benefits Awards finalists discussed the changes brought about by the pandemic and how they’ve adapted their benefits and pensions offerings, while looking […]
Three-quarters (74 per cent) of plan sponsors described the quality of their health benefits plan as excellent (22 per cent) or good (52 per cent), down from 80 per cent in January 2020, according to the 2021 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. It found employers with more than 500 employees were more likely to describe their plan […]
Roughly two-fifths (41 per cent) of plan sponsors reported offering virtual health-care services through their benefits plan, according to the 2021 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. Among these plan sponsors, 33 per cent said they paid extra to add virtual care to their plan, while 67 per cent said it was part of their standard plan at […]
Plan sponsors and plan members have diverging opinions on where benefits dollars are best spent, according to the 2021 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. The survey found that plan sponsors and members are less aligned on the value of many benefits than they were a year ago. Indeed, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year, […]
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s comprehensive employee health and wellness strategy scored it a win at Benefits Canada‘s 2021 Workplace Benefits Awards on Oct. 14. The technology company won the award in the Health/wellness program category for an employer with fewer than 1,000 employees for its offerings that focus on helping staff “relax, refresh and recharge.” “We have [many] […]
Canadian health benefits plan members’ top stressors have shifted to reflect the new work environments created by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the 2021 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. The survey, formerly known as the Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey, found that 35 per cent of plan members described their stress level at the beginning of 2021 […]
Unilever Canada’s holistic approach to supporting employees’ health and well-being throughout the coronavirus pandemic scored the company a win at Benefits Canada’s 2021 Workplace Benefits Awards on Oct. 14. The organization was awarded in the Coronavirus and Benefits category for an employer with fewer than 5,000 employees. Unilever’s global well-being framework is based on four […]
Employers in the U.S. expect health benefits costs to rise 4.7 per cent on average in 2022 compared to 2021, according to a new survey from Mercer. The survey, based on more than 1,500 employer responses, found fewer employers than usual (38 per cent) are using cost-savings measures — such as raising deductibles or co-pays […]
With the Delta variant leading the coronavirus pandemic in a renewed surge, employers continue to have a surplus of challenges, regardless of whether or not they’re planning a return to the workplace. I discussed this latter challenge in my Editorial last month, but at the risk of heaping on more doom and gloom, it may […]
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 […]