MP Benefits Perspective
Since 2001, MP Benefits Inc. has operated as an independent group benefit consultant, specializing in designing strategic employee group benefit plans to align with the corporate, compensation, culture, and wellness policies of each corporation.
Productivity
The Three Keys to Strategic Benefit Planning
Seldom are you ever locked into one benefit approach or plan design. In fact, you can change up your benefit plan design at any point in the year. You need not wait for the renewal. Plan design is like fuel efficiency in a vehicle or home. How your benefits are...
Make your next hire an Olympian
To reach for gold on the Olympic platform requires consistent training to purposefully improve both physically and mentally. While this sporting feat is reserved for the elite few, achieving career success gold is a wide-open field. In the beginning, some may say, it...
Applying the Industrial Athlete concept to Benefits
Thanks to Dr. Anthony Harris for first introducing MP Benefits Inc. to the Industrial Athlete concept originally coined in the United States when the ergogenic theory of sports medicine was applied to manufacturing sectors to improve the health, safety, and ultimately...
Consulting
Santa’s Succession Plan
Other than Father Time and Mother Nature, the legend of Saint Nicholas is one of the oldest. Records suggest he was born around 270 A.D, but as they didn’t celebrate birthday’s back in the day. Even the big guy can’t quite remember, other than he’s always been fond of...
The KPI’s for Benefit ROI
According to Google, Key Performance Indicators are “a quantifiable measure that demonstrates how effectively an organization, department, or individual is achieving its strategic goals and objectives. KPIs help track progress, inform decision-making, and focus...
Employee Group Life Insurance in Real Life—Two Case Studies
The employer’s benefit plan included group life insurance payable at a flat $50,000 to a designated beneficiary. An employee under this health benefit plan was going through an acrimonious divorce and completed a change form to update his beneficiary from his spouse...
Benefits
Using the “Ass-U-Me” method for Benefits
Here’s the usual scenario, employees in an organization want a benefit plan. The employer calls someone who does a market study of available plans with the goal of the least costing program being the winner. The plan is placed and here we have the first...
Strategic Benefits START with Clarity
As in every other aspect of the corporation, a strategic benefit plan requires thought and significant consideration. A flexible health plan is not a “checked box” looked at once in a while to ensure it operates within fiscal and budget constraints. Employee group...
People FIRST Organizational Disconnect
Everyone wants to work for a “people-first” organization. Who wouldn’t? These are companies who clearly understand that their people and the culture they create means positive results for work satisfaction and revenue growth. According to recent surveys and studies...
Compensation
When we get to “why” are we forgetting the value of other questions?
I can pull a help wanted ad from just about anywhere geographically in Canada, doing any occupation and I am going to see the title “Benefits”. The salary is listed within a range and the benefits are normally listed in point form or use the terms like “competitive”...
Group LTD Reminders
Once we are no longer “dependent”, income is the foundation of the lifestyle not just for the “now” but for the future. That’s one of the main reasons we work—to provide for the things we need and want. (Personal fulfillment, engagement, etc. are the subjects of other...
How to GROW a Penny
We earn. We save. We plan. We live. We spend. Then we often ask, what happened to MY money? Despite the fact that Canada stopped minting the penny on May 4th, 2012, we do know, without a doubt, that you can’t get to a dollar without watching your pennies. AND every...
Culture
On the menu Chicken and Benefits
It’s not a question of what came first the chicken or the egg, or even why the chicken crossed the road, the real question is how the chicken is used in a meal. Consider one grain fed, naturally bred chicken bound for the table. The carcass is cut in half and sold...
Christmas Parties
According to CCT Venues, while target based rewards give recognition to individual employees/ teams, a Christmas party rewards the whole firm and helps staff to feel like they are part of a 'family'. Studies suggest reinforcing a "caring" culture will further engage...
Union Negotiations and Benefits
When we think of union negotiations, we think collective bargaining, involving resolving any disputes, salary, hours worked, and any policy amendments. However, it is often overlooked the value of the employee group benefit plan to the compensation bargaining chip....
Wellness
Is your corporate health benefit plan reactive or preventative?
Many employers don’t realize through effective flexible benefit education, they can encourage employees to utilize their plan in a more preventative, health way, rather than reactively, which will in turn, save them money on the premiums over the long run. The numbers...
It doesn’t matter until matters
Why do we write so much about non-evidence maximums (NEM) on employee group benefit plans? Because these heart-wrenching e-mails usually accompany a disability claim. “… is unable to return to work and his LTD is not sufficient, is there any way he can update his...
Employee Mental Health Programs
This is a guest blog post from Benefits by Design (BBD) Inc. We're on a mission to help working Canadians promote and protect their health. wealth, and happiness, by delivering benefits by design. Employee mental health has been a hot topic since before the pandemic,...