Manulife Financial Corp. is rolling out its Vitality health and wellness app to all its group benefits plan members after initially launching it with its own employees. The Vitality program, which connects with wearable devices, including smartwatches, fitness bracelets and smartphones, is designed to encourage users to make healthy choices and rewards them with gift […]
Mercer is appoints Dr. Andrew Halpert as clinical innovation leader for health in the U.S. and Canada. In the role, Halpert will be responsible for leading Mercer’s clinical consulting offerings and health strategy development. With 30 years of experience in the industry, he was previously the senior director for clinical and network solutions at Collective Health and […]
Workplace programs to promote healthy food choices could improve employees’ eating habits, according to a study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. A two-year study at the hospital examined the purchasing habits of almost 5,700 employees before and after researchers put in place a “traffic light labeling and choice architecture program.” […]
Most organizations support charities in their communities through a variety of means — donations supporting specific initiatives, sponsorships, by purchasing tables for events or donating items to auctions, team participation in walks and runs or through volunteerism. Philanthropy has been a key facet of good corporate citizenship for a long time. However, in many organizations, philanthropy and the decisions […]
The American Association of Retired Persons Foundation and the law firm Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald and Pirrotti have filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Yale University employees who are objecting to their employer instituting fines for those who don’t participate in its wellness program. The university’s program requires its 5,000 unionized staff and their spouses to submit to medical […]
The majority (80 per cent) of working Canadians reported their overall well-being would improve if their employer offered a personalized wellness program customized to their specific wellness and health-related interests and goals, according to a new survey by RBC Insurance. If they were offered this type of program, survey respondents also said they’d see improvements […]
Employers that provide financial wellness programs alongside traditional health and wellness offerings are likely to reap the benefits of a healthier workforce, according to new research by Prudential Financial Inc. The research surveyed 2,000 American employees who work at organizations that offer wellness benefits, such as gym memberships, fitness and diet advice and smoking cessation […]
The majority of plan members (77 per cent) and plan sponsors (85 per cent) agreed their workplace culture encourages health and wellness, according to the 2019 Sanofi Canada health-care survey. Among plan members with a workplace wellness culture, 61 per cent said the quality of the health benefits plan is excellent of very good, compared […]
Six million Canadians are living with obesity and its prevalence is continuing to rise, said David Macklin, medical director of the weight management program at Medcan, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2019 Chronic Disease at Work conference in Toronto on June 5. While many may consider obesity to be a matter of will power, […]
Citigroup Inc.’s employees in Toronto spent Tuesday planting trees and shrubs at a local conservation area for the bank’s global community day. During Citi’s annual event, employees and their family members volunteer time to local causes around the world. It expects the participation of 100,000 Citi volunteers across 450 cities this year, with 1,000 Canadian employees and […]