By March 2021, nearly half a million Canadian women who lost their jobs during the pandemic still hadn’t returned to work by the beginning of that year, according to data from the Royal Bank of Canada. It also found more than 200,000 women had slipped into the ranks of the long-term unemployed, a threefold increase […]
In 2022, Beneva Inc.’s fraud management department noticed unusual activity under a plan member’s account. The insurer’s artificial intelligence tool, used to analyze millions of benefits claims, flagged that a plan member and the person’s dependant had used up all their maximum coverages within a short period of time. When the plan coverage rolled over […]
While ChatGPT is helping benefits communications become more efficient, detailed and reliable, the risks may outweigh the rewards when it comes to full automation, says Tom Milne, a principal at Normandin Beaudry. The possibilities for generative artificial intelligence in the benefits space are infinite, he says, noting the algorithms are helping expedite the research and […]
The federal government is launching a consultation on draft amendments to pension legislation pertaining to the transfer of unclaimed benefits for missing plan members. Under the Pensions Benefits Standards Act, plan administrators can transfer pension assets of missing members to a ‘designated entity.’ The draft amendments specify who qualifies as a missing member or beneficiary, as […]
Although there are many benefits to remote working arrangements, such as a reduced commute and improved work-life balance, younger employees who work remotely aren’t practising their soft skills and a lack of social interaction may negatively impact their professional lives in the long run, says Janet Candido, founder and principal of human resources consultancy Candido […]
When investing in external asset managers, pension funds are really investing in teams of people, according to Brandon Gill New, director and head of multi-strategy investing and digital assets at the OPSEU Pension Trust, speaking during the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2023 Global Investment Conference. “It’s not like buying a stock or a bond,” she said, […]
The Ottawa Community Housing Corp. is continuing to see employee engagement in its health and wellness programs following its win in Benefits Canada’s 2022 Workplace Benefits Awards. The organization’s flexible well-being strategy won in the Health/Wellness program category for employers with fewer than 1,000 employees. In 2021, the OCH added more flexibility to its wellness programs by overhauling […]
Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT are becoming critical in helping human resources leaders balance the necessary administration in recruitment processes, says Andrea Bartlett, vice-president of people at HR consultancy Humi. “What’s exciting to me is AI [is] another tool in the HR professionals’ tool belt that can enable them to offset the administrative tasks to […]
Financial education programs can be humdrum at times, bringing to mind the iconic sleepy classroom scene in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. With that in mind, Fluor Canada is empowering employees to take stock of their finances through fun and engaging programs that appeal to the different generations that make up its workforce. Employees […]
Many employers are welcoming retirees back to their workforces to counter what some are calling the ‘Great Labour Shift.’ As the coronavirus pandemic shifts the labour market in favour of workers, employees across the globe are taking the opportunity to rethink where and how they work. In 2022, more than 50 million U.S. workers quit […]