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Using benefits, pension programs to maximize CSR policies

Though the term ‘corporate social responsibility’ varies across companies and countries, it’s generally considered to be a form of organizational self-regulation focusing on an employer’s approach to sustainability across a variety of topics, such as environmental efforts, human rights, corporate governance, health and safety and economic development. Unilever’s sustainable living plan sets out ambitious targets […]

  • February 15, 2019 September 13, 2019
  • 08:57

A look at the drivers for curbing rising dental costs

Dental benefits accounted for $7.9 billion of the $32.5 billion spent on extended health services by group or individual insurance plans in 2016, according to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association’s most recent data. And dental spend is rising significantly, from $4.1 billion in 2006 and $2.3 billion in 1996. But these figures tend […]

  • October 12, 2018 March 11, 2021
  • 08:56

Concerning matters

Plan sponsors and industry experts get to the bottom of their concerns at the 2013 Benefits & Pensions Summit in Toronto: employee health and retirement

  • June 1, 2013 September 13, 2019
  • 07:00

Above par

Why John Poos needs to think a few strokes ahead to get the career he deserves

  • June 1, 2013 September 13, 2019
  • 07:00

Strategy: Dynamic dual at CAAT

After posting strong returns in the mid-2000s following the tech bubble, the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT) Pension Plan was hit hard in the 2008 global economic crisis, reporting a -21.7% net rate of return for that year. As a jointly sponsored pension plan with a governance structure that includes lay people, a knee-jerk reaction would have been understandable, but disastrous.

  • March 1, 2013 September 13, 2019
  • 07:11

How HOOPP beat the downturn

The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) is like the ant in Aesop’s fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper.” While others were enjoying market returns, HOOPP was preparing for the future.

  • January 25, 2013 September 13, 2019
  • 07:30

Q&A with HOOPP

Jim Keohane, president of the Healthcare Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), is credited with reducing the organization’s investment risks, which helped the plan weather the financial downturn and come out well ahead of the market by 2009. In this Q&A, Keohane discusses his investment strategy and its application to HOOPP.

  • January 8, 2013 September 13, 2019
  • 09:29

How LDI keeps HOOPP positive

ith more than $40 billion in assets and 270,000 members and pensioners, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) saw a return of 12.2% in 2011. The organization has also maintained its fully funded status through levels of market uncertainty not seen in decades. How has HOOPP managed? By focusing on its own weaknesses, applying a liability-driven investment (LDI) strategy and carefully considering fresh opportunities.

  • January 8, 2013 September 13, 2019
  • 09:26

Perfect timing

The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) is like the ant in Aesop’s fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper.” While others were enjoying market returns, HOOPP was preparing for the future. After years of strong financial markets, HOOPP’s investment team, led by Jim Keohane, decided to pull $6 billion out of equities to prepare for a potential market downturn. When shortly after that move in 2007 the figurative winter hit, HOOPP was one of the few pension plans to report positive results for the two-year period of 2008/09. The plan’s 15.2% return in 2009 more than offset the 12.0% loss of 2008. Many other plans were left out in the cold—much like Aesop’s grasshopper.

  • January 3, 2013 September 13, 2019
  • 14:31

Q&A: Compensation in another nation

A global leader in the $48-billion employee rewards and recognition industry, Achievers knows a little something about bestowing benefits. Founder and CEO Razor Suleman discusses Achievers’ compensation plans for its U.S. employees. What was most challenging about opening offices in the U.S.? Medical costs are insanely expensive. It’s about 200 times more expensive per employee […]

  • December 14, 2012 September 13, 2019
  • 10:30