Employee compensation: Designing your employee benefits program 

All across Canada and around the world, organizations are re-evaluating their employee benefits plans.

The pandemic only accelerated trends in total rewards. Flexible working took center stage at first. Other employee needs – such as personalized benefits and mental health support – are also in the spotlight. As a result, many organizations are making a concerted effort to evolve and adapt.

Every organization is responding at its own pace to these challenges, and it may not be easy to do so. But there are real advantages to making your workplace more inclusive and welcoming.

With our resources, you can gain valuable insights into these trends, from the rise of hybrid work to the increasing importance of digital healthcare support. As you refine your own total rewards strategy, contact a Mercer consultant to put this data to work for you.

We surveyed 14,000 employees worldwide (including 1,000 in Canada), and their message to employers was clear: your support matters. In addition to salary and financial tools, employees want support in terms of their lived experiences, family situations, health and values.

To find out more about what employees want when choosing an employer, download our Health on Demand whitepaper. As you read it, consider whether your organization is taking action in all five areas of health and well-being. Are you doing everything you can to enhance your employee benefit plan?

By now, most employers have developed DEI programs to ensure that every employee feels welcome, regardless of their background. However, the same can’t always be said about the benefits packages those same employees receive.

Reworking your benefits to be more inclusive can enhance the health and well-being of your employees. Traditional benefit plans assume a single, linear life pattern – an employee gets married, buys a house, has children and retires. Inclusive benefits, on the other hand, are based on understanding that these paths can vary based on age, gender, sexuality, race and ability.

For some organizations, providing coverage of gender affirmation treatment and workplace supports for transgender employees. For others, mental health programs are now being offered. Your organization may choose to support employees who came to Canada as refugees, with language acquisition programs.

With our whitepaper, Turning Health Risk into Value, you’ll learn a four-step process to lead the way in offering inclusive benefits:

Did you know that 87% of Canadian employers are considering making hybrid work a permanent offering?

Clearly, remote and hybrid work are here to stay. These new ways of working may help organizations save on the physical space needed to run a business. At the same time, they can give employees more freedom to lead their chosen lifestyles.

Throwing the doors open to remote and hybrid work can have drawbacks, however. Building team cohesion can be more difficult, and it’s unclear whether productivity can be maintained over the long-term.