The BA’s “Take 5 For Wellness” newsletter features information and insights contributed by fellow BA advisors, special contributors, and committees across the BA.
We hope you enjoy this latest edition and welcome your thoughts or feedback.
Thinking Outside the (Neurotypical) Box
When properly supported, individuals with ADHD can thrive personally and professionally, yet stigma and lack of workplace accommodations often hinder success. With ADHD affecting millions of Canadians and costing billions in lost productivity, employers are urged to offer comprehensive benefits, flexible environments, and compassionate leadership to unlock the potential of neurodivergent employees.
How to Support Employees Living with Obesity
Almost a third of Canadian adults live with obesity, a disease that costs workplaces billions of dollars annually.
Employers can reduce the burden of obesity, and boost workplace culture, through inclusive benefits, informed policies and a deeper understanding of this complex chronic disease.
Time to Tackle Wellness Tax Barriers
Wellness benefits would be a lot more appealing if they enjoyed the same tax-free status as traditional health benefits. Why don’t they?
Because Canada’s 50-year-old Medical Expense Tax Credit (METC) is stuck in a past era, despite governments’ stated goals to invest more in preventative health care.
Benefits advisor Gord Hart and plan sponsor James White have made it their mission to modernize the METC to make room for wellness services such as health coaching and financial planning.
Diving Deeper into Mental Health and Workplace Challenges
As an employer you know that mental health and work performance are linked—but do you know if your own work environment is undermining your efforts to support mental health?
Small and medium enterprises are uniquely positioned—and challenged—to address workplace psychosocial factors such as workload, autonomy and recognition.
Plan Sponsors and Members Finally have Collective Voice at Policy Tables
The Smart Health Benefits Association (SHBA), Canada’s first not-for-profit advocacy group for private health and retirement benefits, officially launched on October 1st. Representing 10 million plan members and 65,000 plan sponsors through five founding benefits advisory firms, SHBA aims to influence key policy areas including national Pharmacare, virtual care, dental coverage, tax credits, CAPSA guidelines, and insurance pooling.
More to Vision Care Than Prescription Glasses
Vision care today is much more than a basic exam for eyesight. New technology enables the early detection of chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Yet coverage for vision care has essentially remained stagnant for decades.