Group Benefits Evolution: Navigating the Changing Landscape and Emerging Trends With the war on talent, Group Benefit packages help attract and retain talented employees and are an affordable way to enhance your companies total compensation package. However, it is important to be aware of the evolving benefits landscape and trends so that your Group Benefits Plan meets the needs of your employees and their families health and wellbeing.
If you are a Human Resource Professional, Benefits Manager, and/or Plan Sponsors seeking to stay ahead of the curve in the rapidly changing group benefits landscape, join us for this session which will feature three industry experts who will share their thoughts and experience on emerging trends, the evolving landscape and custom benefit solutions.
Attendees will leave this session with a deep understanding of the changing benefit landscape and be provided with the tools and strategies they need to create effective and innovative Group Benefit Packages that meet the evolving needs of their employees. A Holistic Approach to Workplace Health & Wellness
Employee wellness has always played a part in employee engagement, productivity and overall business success. Organizations are increasingly looking to adopt programs and services that assist and support individuals and employers who are struggling with managing presenteeism, absenteeism, injury, illness, mental health, and individual rehabilitation. We know the debilitating effect these challenges can have on employee wellbeing and overall productivity.
Bridges Health is one of the nation’s finest multidisciplinary workplace wellness resources, offering holistic health and wellness strategies and solutions within organizations across North America. We aim to build and support healthy people, safe workplaces, and strong communities through compassionate interactions, effective teamwork, and a commitment to innovation and versatility.
This session will highlight the early intervention strategies, psychological health and safety initiatives, employee health support, injury prevention programs, return-to-work and stay at work coordination that can reduce and address presenteeism, absenteeism, injury, illness, mental health, and individual rehabilitation in the workplace. Current Labour Realities and the Implications to Business. How to mitigate the impact? I will outline the current state of affairs in Saskatchewan and Canada and what are some of the causes for the current realities we are facing. More importantly, what are the implications of these realities, and what the gaps that businesses must address moving forward to mitigate the impact of these realities. Disability Insights – Collaboratively Navigating Post Pandemic It is no secret our world has significantly changed in the last few years as we experienced a global pandemic. Caralee will walk through the effects of COVID as it relates to disability trends on Mental Health and other diagnoses before, during and current, including external challenges and ways to continue partnering together to support members. Inclusion and Diversity: Changing the Story Intentions Matter. Outcomes Matter It’s easy for companies to say that Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is important and a priority – but how do you translate words into action? And how do you integrate DEI objectives into your pension and health programs, and the broader organizational strategy and culture, to demonstrate commitment. Key to integration is evolving the DEI conversation to have an impact that maximizes synergy across your Total Re-wards and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) objectives, supporting diverse needs of employees and providing an optimized experience. Please join us for an engaging discussion where we will explore how to bring all the pieces together to make a differ-ence. Highlighting Governance, Design and Communication, we will explore best in class strategy and share practical ideas to build inclusive health and pension plans. What does good workplace mental health look like now?
Workplaces, and employee needs are always evolving, but this evolution has been fast forwarded, which has created many concerns.
This session will cover the complexity of mental issues related to the younger employers and their needs in terms of benefits and services, their view of work, and the factors that do and do not motivate the current workforce. The session will also help organizations understand what good workplace mental health look like now and why their impact is increasingly visible. Will recent correlation changes between bonds and stocks cause a diversification dilemma?
Janet and Chris will discuss the historic correlations between stocks and bonds in Canada, how this relationship changed in 2022, and some of the implications for Canadian multi-asset managers going forward. Rethinking the Member / Client Experience:
Harnessing the Power of Design Thinking to Drive Engagement and Outcomes The challenge of building member / client engagement has never been greater. Consumer expectations have evolved dramatically, and the range of service experiences offered across the financial services landscape grows more complex every day. This session will explore human-centered approaches to generating more points of interaction with members, and for making existing interactions richer. Participants will take away a new framework for considering how product and operational choices shape the member / client experience. Recent Benefit & Pension Law Developments
Meghan will review recent case law and statutory developments of interest to the sponsors and administrators of Saskatchewan pension and benefit plans. Topics addressed will include the proposed amendments to the Pension Benefits Act in Bill 108, as well as recent case law on age limits in long term disability plans and spousal status verification by pension plan administrators. Converting Retirement Savings to Lifetime Income - A Prescription to Help Canadians Navigate their Retirement Income Needs
A very significant number of Canadians are reaching their retirement years (or are there already), many of whom hold their entire workplace retirement savings in capital accumulation plans (CAPs). These individuals are responsible to ensure their workplace CAPs and other retirement savings will provide them with adequate and sustainable income for the rest of their lifetimes. There is an urgent need for change to provide retiring Canadians who are members of CAPs the best opportunity to create financial security for themselves in retirement. We’ll highlight six calls to action that build on the momentum achieved in recent years to get decumulation right in Canada.
ESG and Climate Change: Fiduciary Considerations for a Journey with Purpose
The Canadian Supreme Court held on 25th March, 2021 that “Global climate change is real, and it is clear that human activities are the primary cause.” Faced with this inconvenient truth, what are a plan administrator’s responsibilities as a pension fund fiduciary? This session will explore this new and developing area of law, including:
• What’s new in terms of legislation, disclosure practices and reporting metrics? • Should we have more robust pension standards legislation around ESG or Climate Change Investment Issues – like those introduced in the UK? • Should plan members have a say? • What is the liability risk? • What are the disclosure rules and ESG best practices and Climate change metrics. Measuring member outcomes, retirement success, communications in the pension world
How do recordkeepers and administrators use measurement and monitoring to foster financial wellness and increase probable outcomes for plan members? If the bigger goal of the journey is financial wellness in retirement, measuring engagement, points-in-time and member outcomes brings purpose to the journey. Especially for members of defined contribution pension plans, measuring and monitoring engagement, risks and outcomes is imperative for an administrator to support members in the achievement of their retirement targets. In this session, Desjardins will present their approach in supporting plan sponsors on engaging their employees throughout the accumulation phase and the Public Employees Benefits Agency will share the methods and tools used by their pension board to measure risks to member outcomes and income adequacy in retirement. |