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Tag: employeebenefits

Why More Employers are Adding Pet Insurance to their Benefits Lineup?

Written by Aaron Harpaz on . Posted in Blog, Featured.

Families look different these days. Gen Z has more freedom to choose their own path than ever before. From kids, no kids, or a furry friend who gets treated like one. With housing costs climbing and raising kids getting pricier, more people are choosing a furry companion instead. It’s a real shift, and it’s showing up in the workplace too. 

We’re seeing pet insurance move from a nice-to-have to a must-have. For a lot of employees, it’s now a real factor when they’re sizing up a job offer. It has become a real edge for employers trying to attract and keep good people in seats. 

The Business Case

For a lot of pet owners, their pets aren’t just a pet, it’s family. When something goes wrong, the costs can be brutal. Emergency vet visits alone can run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars, and advanced treatments can climb even higher. 

It’s not just the wallets that are hit. It’s the emotional stress and energy that take a toll. Employees carry it with them to work, and for some, pet care concerns are becoming a real factor in whether they stay at a job or start looking elsewhere. 

Offering pet insurance gives employees peace of mind, and that shows up at work. It supports engagement, eases stress and builds loyalty. When leadership invests in what actually matters to employees, employees notice. 

5 Reasons Pet Insurance Belongs in Your Benefits Offering: 

  • Loyalty 
    People stay where they feel valued. A benefit that covers something an employee cares about at the current moment gives one more reason for them to stick around. 
  • Setting Yourself Apart 
    Most companies offer the same traditional standard benefits. Pet insurance is still uncommon enough, but trending in the direction of a must-have. Makes your offering stand out without a high cost.
  • Direction of the Workforce
    The employees of today and tomorrow are shaping lives differently. More are choosing pets. A benefit that reflects that reality shows you’re paying attention and moving with the current shift.
  • Emotional Relief
    Employees are no longer stressed about an unexpected vet bill or the ability to support them. Employees become more present, focused, and productive at work.
  • Care
    As the employer, it will show that you care about what matters to the employees, not just the output at the end of the day. 

Pet insurance is quickly becoming a benefit employees expect, not just appreciate. As more people choose pets over/or alongside kids, the emotional stress and financial toll it takes on employees is carried to the workplace. For employers, it’s a low-cost way to boost loyalty in employees, stand out in the competitive markets, and show employees that you are an employee-first organization. 

In short, a small addition to your benefits lineup can make a big difference in retention.

Where Executive Benefits are Headed (and why Plan Sponsors should care)

Written by Aaron Harpaz on . Posted in Blog, Group Benefits.

The employee benefits industry has transitioned benefits plans to a must-have, rather than an option. Candidates look for employee benefits offerings and hope to find a package that works for their everyday lifestyle. Often, plans are tailored to a general population, better suited for the working class. We tend to forget that executives tend to be part of these plans as well and are also often underinsured. Therefore, what has come to fruition is the idea behind executive packages.

As a little history lesson, in the past, your top leadership team sat on the same benefits as everyone else in the company. Employers are now asking themselves whether that is still enough. Fortunately, we are seeing a shift in the industry that the days of the one-size-fits-all executive packages are over.

For plan sponsors, here’s what’s changing:

  1. The talent war has gone global.
    1. Boards of directors are no longer looking for leadership talent locally but rather are now looking globally. They are competing against U.S. firms, global companies and remote competitors. A rigid compensation and benefits formula does not cut the market anymore. Boards of directors are shifting towards structural flexibility. Strong governance on paper. But real customization underneath it.
      1. As an example, your VP of Operations gets a call from a U.S. competitor offering not just more salary, but a tailored health and retirement package built around their specific stage in life. If your plan can’t compete on that level, and salary alone, your employee is gone.
  2. Standard plans have hit their ceiling.
    1. Group benefits plans are built for the average employee, not an executive. Life insurance caps out too early, disability coverage does not replace enough income, and the employee is underinsured. Retirement contributions are maxed out.
      1. The fix – a bigger version of the same plan.

Where are things headed?

  1. Retirement gets more tax-efficient. Tools like Individual Pension Plans (IPPs) and Retirement Compensation Arrangements (RCAs) let executives save well beyond standard RRSP limits. Tax-efficiently.
  2. Healthcare is faster and more personal. Expedited specialist access and mental health support are becoming more common and no longer an additional add-on.
  3. Compensation has become more flexible. Instead of a basic formula, companies are giving more executive choices, such as compensation being split between salary, retirement, and benefits. All for the purpose of tax efficiency.

What does this mean for you?

It doesn’t mean that your current plan is no longer adequate. With the focus on executive benefits, it just means that we now must ask a different question. Does our leadership package actually protect our key employees, but also reward these individuals enough? OR is it just a slightly bigger version of the current group plan?

If you’re not sure, that’s the perfect place to start the conversation.

2026 Conference – From Awareness to Action, A Practical Talk on Women’s Health Benefits

Written by Aaron Harpaz on . Posted in Blog, Employer Conferences, Featured.

On May 13th, 2026, we hosted our annual Employers & Leaders Conference. Guided by our guest speaker, Angela Johnson, CEO & Founder of sanoLiving, we came together to learn and discuss how employers and insurers are moving from awareness to implementation in the women’s health benefits space. Angela Johnson delivered an insightful presentation on women’s health and how to implement it in our benefits offerings while also being a proactive employer. We dove into one of the most under-addressed drivers of benefit claims, productivity loss, and turnover in today’s workplace.

Key Takeaways from the Presentation:

Angela’s presentation highlighted the gaps in women’s health that were driving up benefit costs and pushing talented women out of the workforce. Notably, most benefit plans aren’t built to catch it.

Here are some of the standout insights:

  • Women’s health gaps are driving benefit costs, and it is increasing the cost for organizations every year.
  • What makes implementation hard: discomfort discussing women’s health, low awareness of impact on productivity, absences, & claims, and managers not equipped to recognize or respond.
  • What works: clear coverage that is easy to access, continuous awareness, and manager enablement to support employees.
  • Women have 2x more long-term disability mental health claims and a large jump in chronic disease drug claims versus men.
  • Menopause alone has pushed out women out of the workforce entirely.
  • Women hit peak earnings right when midlife health issues hit the hardest.
  • Most benefit offerings such as EAPs, telemedicine, and health care spending accounts treat symptoms but often miss the ability to find the root cause.

About the Speaker:

Angela Johnson is the CEO and Co-Founder of sanoLiving, a women’s health company whose programs reach more than 1,400 Canadian employers and 1.6 million employees and their dependents through partnerships with insurers such as Medavie, Pacific Blue Cross, and Desjardins, as well as third-party administrators, advisors and direct-to-employer relationships.

She brings deep experience as the founder of Medical Confidence and a former IBM leader, helping reshape how women access and receive care. sanoLiving combines AI-supported telemedicine, licensed clinicians and coaching to deliver assessment, diagnosis, prescriptions and navigation to in-person care, along with personalized support across the full spectrum of women’s health.

Continuing the Conversation:

We’re incredibly grateful to have Angela Johnson and all attendees join us and make this year’s conference a success.

If you’d like to learn more about women’s health and what can be implemented or if you simply are trying to understand more of your utilization details, we love to start the conversation. We invite you to explore our services here.

Stay tuned for more events and resources designed to inspire and empower leaders in being proactive in today’s work environment.

Empower Your Employees: How to Communicate Employee Travel Insurance Coverage – Updated July 30th, 2026

Written by Kirk Davis on . Posted in Blog, Featured, Group Benefits.

Canadians keep travelling more, and travel itself keeps getting more complicated. From flight disruptions to rising costs to global uncertainty, it’s reshaping how trips get planned. As an employer, you’re likely the administrator of your employees’ travel coverage. It’s valuable protection during personal vacations, giving employees peace of mind. Not all plans are equal, as coverage varies by who’s covered, what’s covered, and for how long.

As advisors, we encourage our clients to re-educate employees on their travel coverage regularly, not just once a year. These reminders protect their well-being while our employees and their families are out of the office. The following covers why this education matters, what to focus on, and how to make it stick.

Keep in mind, travel insurance provides coverage for medical emergencies, trip cancellations or interruptions, lost baggage, and more. Protecting employees when the unexpected happens.

Why include employee travel insurance in your group benefits package?

Let’s start at the beginning. Enhancements like travel insurance go beyond basic health and dental benefit offerings to help employers attract and retain talent while showing employees you care about their safety. Personal trips are common and offering travel insurance signals real commitment to your workforce’s well-being.

Why does education matter more than ever?

Offering coverage is only half the job. Some features and limits affect the structure of the offering. With more travel disruptions happening (i.e. weather events, airline issues, and shifting global conditions), the gap between having travel insurance and understanding what your travel insurance actually covers has gotten more costly. Employees make better decisions and are far less likely to get caught off guard mid-trip.

How to Communicate Coverage Details?

  1. Benefit Plan Documentation: Keep travel insurance info easy to find in your benefits package documentation or through your intranet.
  2. Clear Language: No more insurance jargon. Use plain language, be straight to the point, use bullet points, and real examples to make it easy to digest.
  3. Dedicated Communication: Send an email or newsletter specifically about travel coverage. Explain cover eligibility, limits, and key exclusions.

What coverage elements to focus on?

  1. Medical Coverage: Emergency medical expenses, hospitalization, and medical evacuation.
  2. Coverage Exclusions: Most plans have a stability clause. If a health condition was treated, changed, or flared up in the weeks before a trip, a related claim abroad may be denied. Encourage employees to check their specific stability period before booking. (This is normally what employees miss most). 
    1. E.g. If you saw your doctor due to a health issue in the past 90 days before you fly, and the health issue comes up again on your trip, then the claim may not be covered.
  3. Trip Cancellations / Interruptions: With flight disruptions and weather-related delays more common, remind employees that basic emergency-medical-only plans typically don’t cover a cancelled or interrupted trip. Normally, it’s a separate benefit.
  4. Known Event Exclusions: Insurers have begun to declare a topic as a public event if it’s public knowledge. For example, a weather system, fuel shortage or an airline issue. Trips booked after the declaration may not be covered for disruptions tied to the exclusion.
  5. Travel Assistance Services: 24/7 support, emergency travel arrangements, translation and legal help are all good elements to add to employee communication.

Encourage Proactive Planning

Encourage employees to check their coverage before they book. As the employer, give them the tools needed to assess their coverage and ensure that they are covered for their needs.

Employee Support Channels

Employees benefit from having an HR contact, Employee Benefits Advisor, Service representative or FAQ portal on standby to ask questions related to their travel insurance.

Key Takeaways

Educating employees about travel insurance is one of the simplest, highest-value reminders you can do as a plan administrator. Keeping communication clear, focusing on exclusions/clauses, and offering easy access support allows employees to travel with confidence.

Do employees travel internationally for work?

If you have employees travelling on behalf of the company, there are options employers can purchase for business travel coverage where there are no pre-existing conditions or stability clause limitations.

If you are looking to understand more about your current travel coverage or you would like to find travel coverage tailored to your organization’s needs, let’s chat.

Original Article by Kirk Davis – Updated by Aaron Harpaz