Maybe your sales reps go kickboxing with clients before making their formal pitches at the juice bar. Maybe they meet up at a nature trail and haggle over prices as they hike. Maybe they aren’t doing anything of the sort — but you can lead the way by bringing sweatworking into human resources. Sweatworking, a […]
Flexible working is hugely important for Canadian employees, a survey from Regus Canada has found. Sixty-one per cent of respondents would turn down a job that offered no flexibility, and 39 per cent would have stayed longer at a position if flexible working had been an option. “Managers who allow employees to set their own work hours show […]
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is coming under criticism for a plan to outsource 108 technology jobs. The move will outsource 35 bargaining unit positions, 12 management roles and 61 contract jobs to Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. The affected roles, which will continue until Jan. 1, 2017, are in Ontario Teachers’ enterprise technology service division that oversees […]
The University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto is the latest institutional investor to join the Shareholder Association for Research and Education, an organization that brokers conversations between investors and the companies in which they invest about environmental, social and corporate governance concerns. In doing so, an institutional investor takes active ownership in their investments, […]
With new drugs and emerging health trends putting pressure on benefits plans, companies are trying to get a handle on the impact on their bottom lines. Here’s a look at three conditions and some of the medications that are likely to affect plan sponsors’ budgets: Hepatitis C Last year, hepatitis C spending “basically tripled” as […]
Goodbye bow ties and hello blue jeans. A few weeks after Starbucks announced it was loosening its dress code to include patterns, tattoos and piercings, PricewaterhouseCoopers has updated its dress guidelines to include denim for all levels of staff. “We’re trying to make work feel like a second home,” says Penny Partridge, the firm’s human […]
Robert De Niro may have changed the way Sun Life Financial Inc. looks at its intern program. “One rainy day a few months ago, I watched the movie [The Intern],” says Isabelle Hudon, senior vice-president of client solutions at Sun Life. In the film, senior citizen Ben, played by De Niro, cuts short his retirement […]
Citing the “life and death matters” at stake, a lawyer for the union representing workers at U.S. Steel Canada was in court yesterday seeking to reinstate retiree health benefits suspended last year amid the company’s restructuring proceedings. The comments came as retirees of the troubled steelmaker are expressing deepening concern about the continued suspension of […]
Ontario is excluding certain higher-strength, long-acting opioids from the formulary for the Ontario Drug Benefit program, the Ministry for Health and Long-Term Care said in a notice to physicians on its website. “The inappropriate use, abuse, and diversion of prescription narcotics has emerged as a significant public health and safety issue in Canada and other […]
Office snacks, casual Fridays, birthdays off — and pet insurance? Employers seeking to get a competitive edge with prospective employees have lots of options when it comes to benefits. One company seeking to boost its share of that space is U.S.-based Figo Pet Insurance, which offers health-care coverage for cats and dogs that employers can […]