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New healthy workplace accreditation system aims to lower benefit premiums

Since healthy workplace design accreditation system Fitwel’s soft launch last week, it has attracted more than 50 applications from employers to serve as beta testers or “champions” in the program. Fitwel, a building certification standard created with the vision for a healthier future where every building is enhanced to support the wellbeing of its occupants, was piloted last year by […]

  • May 27, 2016 September 13, 2019
  • 09:14

Make ORPP universal and nationwide, unions tell Queen’s Park

Expanding the Canada Pension Plan would be the best way to fend off the retirement crisis, presenters at the Standing Committee on Social Policy hearings on the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan said on Monday. But until two thirds of the provinces representing two thirds of the population agree to support that expansion, many agree the […]

  • May 17, 2016 September 13, 2019
  • 10:42

Weak loonie triggers jump in pension plans’ risk appetites

Despite the weak Canadian dollar, the top 40 Canadian money managers increased their pension assets by 3.2 per cent in 2015, according to Benefits Canada’s 2016 money managers report. “Most of that is market appreciation,” says Mark Cestnik, managing director at TD Asset Management in Toronto, adding that, last year, Canadian universe bonds generated a […]

  • May 16, 2016 September 13, 2019
  • 11:32

Discussions on other provinces joining ORPP ‘not happening yet’: Hunter

Should you beef up your defined contribution pension plan or axe it and enrol in the Ontario Registered Pension Plan instead? What if your plan is non-comparable come 2020? Those were among the questions addressed by the cabinet minister heading up the ORPP at an event in Toronto on Wednesday. “I cannot predict the employer and employee response […]

  • May 6, 2016 September 13, 2019
  • 09:40

Invest in mental-health apps but don’t depend on them

What makes for a useful mental-health mobile application for employee benefits programs? Mobile apps often do a good job disseminating information, but few can ensure employees follow up on the tips provided, says Mike Kennedy, vice-president and national lead for health strategies and solutions at Aon Hewitt in Toronto. What’s helpful is a mobile application […]

  • May 5, 2016 September 13, 2019
  • 09:09

Canadian pension funds rank poorly on climate change: report

Canadian pension funds are falling behind their international peers when it comes to climate change risk management, according to an annual report released yesterday. “Climate change risk is now a mainstream issue for institutional investors and last year has seen many significantly step up their action to manage this. However, only a handful [of institutional […]

  • May 3, 2016 September 13, 2019
  • 11:39