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OPSEU, College Employer Council agreement includes medical cannabis, mental-health coverage

The union representing full-time support workers at Ontario’s 24 public colleges has ratified a three-year collective agreement that includes a new mental-health benefit, coverage for medical cannabis and an enhanced bereavement leave. The new mental-health benefit will be added in September 2023, providing plan members with up to $1,750 per year for mental-health services, including […]

  • October 6, 2022 October 5, 2022
  • 09:00

Coverage of the 2022 Risk Management Conference

In 2022, normal was supposed to make a comeback — it didn’t. Just as supply chains began to stabilize, war broke out in Europe, China invaded Taiwan’s waters, inflation skyrocketed and central banks began hiking interest rates. While investments in renewable energy infrastructure reached new highs, economies that had been moving away from fossil fuels […]

  • October 6, 2022 September 30, 2022
  • 08:02

Survey finds majority of plan sponsors concerned over pandemic’s long-term impact to benefits costs

More than three-quarters (78 per cent) of plan sponsors say they’re concerned about the coronavirus pandemic’s long-term impact on the cost of health benefits plans, up from 71 per cent in 2021, according to the 2022 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. Among these respondents, 31 per cent strongly agreed with this statement, up from 23 per cent […]

  • October 5, 2022 October 4, 2022
  • 09:00

Bond yields, credit spreads led to DB pension solvency dips in Q3: reports

The average Canadian defined benefit pension plan’s projected benefit obligation fell 3.4 per cent during the third quarter of 2022, from 100.5 per cent to 97.2 per cent, and considerably faster than asset values, according to Aon’s latest pension risk tracker. While market volatility led to asset values decreasing by 0.1 per cent in the […]

  • October 4, 2022 October 5, 2022
  • 12:45

New ideas, access to top asset managers top reasons institutional investors hire OCIO: survey

About two-thirds (64 per cent) of global institutional investors say new ideas and access to top asset managers are the key benefits of hiring an outsourced chief investment officer, according to a new survey by London-based CoreData Research. The survey, which polled nearly 300 institutional investors in Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America, also found […]

  • October 4, 2022 October 4, 2022
  • 12:30

OMERS Capital Markets appointing Prabha Ram as managing director of global equities

The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System is appointing Prabha Ram as managing director of global equities at its investment arm, OMERS Capital Markets. In the new role, Ram will oversee the management of the defined benefit pension plan’s core public equity portfolio and contribute to the development of its existing investment framework. She will report […]

  • October 4, 2022 October 4, 2022
  • 12:29

71% of Canadians finding it challenging to save for retirement amid rising inflation: survey

Nearly three-quarters (71 per cent) of Canadians say saving for retirement is a challenge amid rising inflation, an increase of six percentage points over 2021, according to a new survey by BDO Canada. The survey, which polled more than 2,000 Canadian adults, found 43 per cent said they’ve also cut their savings for retirement. As a […]

  • October 4, 2022 October 3, 2022
  • 09:00

Amount of benefits plan sponsors with HCSAs, wellness accounts on the rise: BCHS

Half of benefits plan members (49 per cent) and plan sponsors (48 per cent) say they have a health-care spending account in 2022, compared to 39 per cent of both plan members and plan sponsors that said the same in 2021, according to the 2022 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. In 2017, when this question was […]

  • October 4, 2022 October 5, 2022
  • 09:00

Survey finds perceptions of workplace culture impacting employees’ mental health

Canadian employees are divided on whether there’s a significant difference between the workplace culture cited by their employer and the reality, according to LifeWorks Inc.’s latest mental-health index. Nearly two-fifths (38 per cent) of employees believe there’s a significant difference. This group also had a lower mental-health score (58.7) than the 37 per cent who believe […]

  • September 30, 2022 September 29, 2022
  • 09:00

Top 5 HR, benefits, pension and investment stories of the week

An article on virtual health-care findings in the 2022 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. 88% of benefits plan sponsors satisfied with virtual health-care offerings: BCHS 2. OTG Management using earned-wage access cards to help employees contend with […]

  • September 30, 2022 September 29, 2022
  • 09:00