May 2023 Edition

The 5-second summary: Learn how to develop practical initiatives to inject a healthy dose of wellness into the workplace.

Each year in Canada, 1 in 5 people will experience a mental health problem.^{[ Note 1 ]} These issues are caused by genetic and biological factors, as well as environmental, professional or situational factors such as inflation. Almost half (49%) of Canadians say they're concerned about their finances.^{[ Note 2 ]} This can lead to anxiety and even depression.

The Desjardins Global Wellness Survey conducted in 2022 also found that 84% of respondents believe their employer has a major role to play in their financial health, and 73% believe their employer should do more to promote their mental health.^{[ Note 3 ]}

According to other sources, 60% of workers would be willing to leave their company for an employer offering better wellness support, even if it meant taking a pay cut!^{[ Note 4 ]}

Aim for overall wellness

Since financial, mental and physical wellness are the mainstays of a good employee benefits program, organizations would do well to adopt an overall workplace health approach that takes social and environmental wellness into account. If there's one thing we learned from our study on overall wellness, it's that these 5 dimensions are closely linked.^{[ Note 3 ]} When our finances are in order, we feel better both mentally and physically. We feel less socially isolated and can afford to live in a healthy environment.

Three recommendations to promote workplace wellness

Here are 3 recommendations based on the first survey by The Conference Board of Canada's Workplace Mental Health Research Centre done in partnership with Desjardins: Future-Proofing Investments in Workplace Mental Health: Meeting Employees' Evolving Needs.^{[ Note 5 ]}

1. Focus on feedback, communication and adaptation

Only 31% of plan sponsors surveyed^{[ Note 5 ]} ask their employees what they want in terms of wellness. Don't hesitate to inform employees about their benefits, provide regular updates on available resources (planners, online tools, webinars, podcasts), conduct employee surveys and make adjustments based on feedback. Why not add a spousal RRSP, support for future retirees or newcomers, or review mental health insurance coverage if need be?

2. Foster inclusion

The majority (85%) of organizations surveyed in the CBoC study^{[ Note 5 ]} do not yet have an EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion) policy. Building an open and tolerant workspace fosters employee wellness. Establishing EDI committees, promoting kindness or celebrating community months are some of the positive behaviours that can be adopted.

3. Encourage managers to become wellness ambassadors

They're the best advocates for wellness. Their role is to intervene and direct employees to assistance programs. Whether employees are experiencing a family crisis or a separation, managers are there to point them in the right direction, provided they have mental health and wellness training. Managers have as much impact on employee mental health and wellness as their life partners!^{[ Note 6 ]}

The 5-second summary: Encourage your plan members to attend our webinars with a promotional flyer.

We strongly believe that the better-informed plan members are, the more likely they are to be engaged. That’s why we offer live webinars led by our education specialists.

It’s up to you to make the difference!

The flyer below highlights the lineup of free webinars offered by Desjardins Insurance until September 2023.

Encourage your plan members to register for webinars via the Wellness Centre in their online account. Simply print out the flyer or upload it to your intranet.

8.5 x 11 flyer (PDF, 225 KB)Opens in a new window

A more flexible offer!

To continuously improve plan members’ financial literacy, we’ll soon launch a more flexible webinar offer.

Check your inbox to learn more!

The 5-second summary: You must complete a Canada Revenue Agency form if you have plan members who are connected persons in these plans.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requires all employers who sponsor a registered pension plan (RPP)^{[ Note 7 ]} to file a T1007 – Connected Person Information Return, within 60 days of a person connected with an employer (connected person) becoming a member of the RPP. To find out what you need to do, read the Employer Instructions section on the T1007 return.

The T1007 late filing penalty is $25 per day, for up to a maximum of 100 days (minimum penalty of $100).

A connected person^{[ Note 8 ]} is an individual who meets one or more of the following conditions:

• The individual owns (or is deemed to own), directly or indirectly, at least 10% of the issued shares of any class of the capital stock of the employer, or of any other corporation that is related to the employer.
• The individual doesn’t deal at arm’s length with the employer. It includes people like the employer’s majority shareholder, and anyone related to the majority shareholder–like a spouse, child, sibling, parent or in-law.
• The individual is deemed to be a specified shareholder of the employer under paragraph (d) of the definition of “specified shareholder” in subsection 248(1) of the Income Tax Act.

An individual is deemed to own all or a part, depending on the situation, of the company shares owned by:

• Someone related to the individual who doesn’t deal with the employer at arm’s length (such as the spouse, child, sibling, parent, in-law);
• A trust for which the person is the beneficiary; or
• A partnership of which the person is a member.

Important: This is not an exhaustive list of definitions. For advice on your specific situation, please speak to your tax specialist.

The 5-second summary: Ensure the second quarter financial statements are sent to the right place, by making sure that your plan members’ addresses are up to date.

We’ll start producing the June financial statements shortly. To ensure your plan members receive their paper or e-statements, their postal and email addresses must be up to date in our systems.

You can help us out by:

• reminding them to change their addresses themselves in their online account via dfs.ca/GroupPlanMember or the Omni Desjardins app. Once logged in, your plan members can update their addresses by clicking My profile or the icon in the top right corner of the screen, and then Edit in the Information box.

OR

• doing it for them on the plan sponsor site:
• Click Log on and then select Group retirement savings.
• Enter your user ID and password.
• Click Participant management.
• Search for the person whose address has changed and make the necessary corrections.

If you have a lot of changes to make, you can send them to us in a standard demographic file.

Thank you for helping us keep your plan members’ information up to date.

For more details, please contact your client relationship manager or call Plan Sponsor Services at 1-888-510-4762.

The 5-second summary: Taking a leave or vacation? Leave work behind without worry by completing the required form to designate someone to have access to plan information and plan members’ personal information, by training them and by using the administrative guide.

The 5-second summary: New hires at Fiera Comox, appointment at Lazard and departure at Global Alpha and MFS.