Mental illness and problems with mental health cost employers $20 billion annually, and it’s the cause of one in every three claims for short- and long-term disability, according to a study by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. It’s no wonder mental health remains an area of focus for Canadian employers. While they grapple with how to tackle […]
Manitoulin Hotel and Conference Centre employees will see a 55 per cent increase in their health benefits reimbursement amount and an additional day of bereavement as part of their newly ratified union contract. The contract, which covers 55 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1006A, will run from Dec. 31, 2018 to December […]
In June 2017, Doctors Without Borders added lifestyle and health-care spending accounts to its traditional benefits plan. The organization still provides insurance, drug coverage of up to $100,000 and extended health benefits, including hospital and dental expenses. But now it also provides permanent, full-time employees with $2,500 for other health-care services and $250 for wellness […]
While traditional health-care plans remain the most common form of employer offerings, 66 per cent of Canadian organizations are now providing health-care spending accounts, according to a new survey by the Conference Board of Canada. “As Canadian employers look to appeal to a multi-generational workforce, flexibility and choice are the key watchwords for health and wellness benefits,” said […]
Plan sponsors are faced with competing offers by insurance carriers, group managing general agents and third-party administrators, as each group promotes their own unique, yet similar sounding, selling and value propositions. Group MGAs are firms that specialize in advising group benefits brokers and act as administrative back office, similar to life MGAs , which advise […]
Hub International Ltd. is acquiring the assets of Toronto-based Firstbrook Pointon Benefits Inc., a full-service employee benefits consulting firm. Bob Pointon, the firm’s president and managing partner, will join Hub Ontario, while its founder and chief executive officer, John Firstbrook, has formed an alliance with Hub Ontario and will continue to play a role in the […]
More than half (60 per cent) of North American workforces said their employees are facing more mental health and substance abuse issues than they were two years ago, according to a new survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. The survey, which polled 190 U.S. and 88 Canadian employers, found 40 per cent of […]
While a new collective agreement negotiated between the British Columbia Nurses’ Union and the Health Employers Association of B.C. won’t bring significant changes, the round of negotiations did raise an issue with paramedical benefits, specifically the amount spent on massages. Currently, nurses in the province have unlimited dollars to spend on massages, which are 100 per cent paid […]
American companies are facing a caregiving crisis they refuse to acknowledge, according to a report by the Managing the Future of Work project at Harvard Business School. According to the report, rising health-care and professional caregiving costs, along with changing demographics over the past few decades, have “put great pressure on American employees as they try […]
Canada should be considering the feasibility of a portable benefits plan for employees across the country, according to the Public Policy Forum. A portable benefits plan would fill the needs of transient employees engaged in part-time or temporary work who have limited or no access to benefits and pensions, noted the report. It would also provide […]