Despite the fact that 59 per cent of generation Xers have saved some of their income for retirement in 2016, just 35 per cent of this age group are confident they’ll save enough, according to a new survey by Ratehub.ca. On the other hand, 65 per cent of baby boomers are confident, though just 47 […]
The $2-million fake lake in Muskoka. Bev Oda’s $16 orange juice. Even defined benefit pension plans for civil servants. The public sector doesn’t have a reputation as a beacon for effective cost management but it has made some progress when it comes to drug plans. Of the $81 billion private plans spent on medications in […]
When staffers on the comedy show Last Week Tonight joined a new 401(k) plan, they were set to pay 1.69 per cent in administrative expenses, host John Oliver said in a June 2016 episode about retirement planning. On top of that were broker fees, which were one per cent for the first year and 0.5 […]
Deciding what to buy your secret Santa can get tricky. A Starbucks gift card? They might be devoted to Tim Horton’s. Homemade cookies? They might be off gluten or dairy or both. A notebook or a candle or a kitschy keychain? They likely already have lots. So what’s a workplace to do? Mix it up […]
Many Canadian financial services organizations do well in disclosing their direct carbon emissions, according to the 2016 rankings from ET Index Research. Manulife ranked 59th and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ranked 62nd on the global list. Both companies disclose complete direct emissions – last year, Manulife directly emitted 1750,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and CIBC emitted 69,000 tonnes. […]
Quebec is proposing a reduction in certain employers’ contribution rates to the Health Services Fund, which finances the provincial health insurance and drug plan. Under Bill 112, which was introduced by Quebec’s Minister of Finance Carlos Leitão in November, small companies in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and mining will be most affected, says Philippe Laplante, […]
Just 53 per cent of Canadians will take a sick day if their symptoms are severe, a poll by Monster Canada has found. The finding, of course, suggests almost half of employees will still make the trek to the office, sneezing and hacking the whole way. Productivity declines while employees are sick, says Arturo Gallo, content […]
At design services firm Dialog, awkward annual reviews with their nerve-wracking five-point rating system are no more. “No-one enjoyed doing them,” says Tania Oppedisano, Dialog’s national director of human resources in Toronto. “There was anxiety on the employee’s side, on the supervisor’s side. . . . And so figuring out how we can tie development into that […]
At Finnish software development company Futurice, employees in the Helsinki office can celebrate the end of the week with an on-site steam, possibly with colleagues and in the nude. “I think [installing the sauna] was mainly justified by being able to have student excursions from the local universities at our own premises,” Hanno Nevanlinna, director […]
A third (33 per cent) of Canadian employers have mandatory participation in their group retirement savings plans, according to Sun Life Financial’s new report on capital accumulation plans. The report, which uses data from Sun Life’s proprietary CAP database of about 5,000 group savings plans, found that mandatory participation is more common in the public […]