The employees at Flight Centre Canada spend their days creating personalized vacations for others, so when it comes to their own needs, they want the same detailed attention. And that’s exactly what they get with the company’s customized health, money and career guidance programs: Healthwise, Moneywise and Careerwise. “[The programs] are 100% about them,” assures […]
Budgets are tight, workforces are getting reduced and some employees are anxious that they may be the next to receive their walking papers. Yet experts in workforce planning and HR say that while it may be easy to cut from health and wellness programs, employers should find other ways to relieve financial pressures. The organizations […]
“What is your decision-making process, or do you even have one?” asked Patricia Tiralongo, vice-president with TD Asset Management Inc. at a recent pension fundamentals seminar hosted by the Toronto chapter of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists. Tiralongo stressed to the plan sponsors in the room that having a process to select […]
Advances in technology have brought significant improvements to the group insurance industry over the last five years, making processes and procedures easier and more efficient. But is the quest for efficiency making insurers robotic? “Through achieving efficiency gains, [service providers] are being forced to standardize a lot of their processes,” says Brian Lindenberg, a worldwide […]
Approximately 120 medical conditions can be detected through a simple oral health exam. If employees are visiting their dentist or dental hygienist regularly, some conditions may be spotted before a healthcare provider’s diagnosis. But this, according to Tom Dolatowski, vice-president, business development with Delta Dental Plans Association, is just one of the many reasons that […]
Issue: Shifting from company-paid plans to cost-sharing arrangements. The Challenge Schering-Plough, a Montreal-based pharmaceutical company, wanted to reduce its costs associated with its benefits plan and have employees make better use of it. Also, Schering-Plough acquired a new company and needed to change its pension plan to align with the organization’s future objectives. Decreasing the […]
SNC-Lavalin focuses on plan participation and matching contributions to help employees reach their retirement goals, even in challenging markets. The employees at SNC-Lavalin have their eyes wide open when it comes to retirement savings—and they aren’t missing a cent of the “free money” that the company puts on the table. SNC-Lavalin, a Montreal-based global engineering […]
McGill University wants its employees to think big picture—with their retirement savings and their total compensation. Pension plan sponsors have been left reeling after the dive the markets took last year, and McGill University is no different. “Over 85% of our employees are in the balanced account—that account saw a loss of 15%, as of […]
Further data on the growing incidence of 401(k) and defined contribution (DC) plan contribution reduction in the U.S. reveals that employers who choose this path to cost savings risk not only the morale of their plan members, but the wrath of regulators as well. According to an employer survey conducted by Mercer in November 2008, […]
Are processes in the group insurance industry too streamlined? Advances in technology have brought significant improvements to the group insurance industry over the last five years, making processes and procedures easier and more efficient. But is the quest for efficiency making insurers robotic? “Through achieving efficiency gains, [service providers] are being forced to standardize a […]