At Arbutus Financial, we understand healthy and high-performing employees are key to the overall success of your business. With over 50 years of combined experience in the group benefits field and considerable national strength and expertise through our partnership with Navacord, we can help identify the issues affecting your business and provide the solutions you need to stay competitive and productive. From traditional to flex-benefit programs, we offer customized employee benefits solutions for all sizes and types of businesses.
With the right employee benefits program, employers can boost productivity and retain top industry talent. A comprehensive employee benefits program will protect employees and their families from the possibility of financial hardship caused by premature death, disability or critical illness.
Employers, regardless of industry, have many of the same concerns regarding employee benefits programs:
- Is your employee benefits program attracting and retaining your most valuable employees?
- How can you control the costs of your employee benefits program now and in the future?
- Is your employee benefits program empowering your employees to choose benefits to meet their diverse needs?
- Do your employees working abroad have employee benefit coverage ? Have you considered enhanced travel, medical and security evacuation coverage ?
- How does your employee benefits program compare to other businesses in your industry?
- Do your employees recognize and appreciate the value of your benefits program?
- Are you receiving proactive, relevant service and advice on a regular basis?
We can help. We are employee benefits experts and our commitment to superior plan management drives us to provide you with exceptional service and trusted advice.
Our Advisory Services
We provide strategic advice to help you minimize risk, optimize benefit structure and maximize employee engagement.
Employee Benefits Program Development – work with you to design and implement an employee benefits program that is best suited to your culture and business goals
Employee Benefits Program Audit – review your existing employee benefits program and identify areas of opportunity and risk
Market Survey and Analysis – approach insurance companies to ensure your current program is competitively priced based on the market today
Industry Benchmarking – access to industry data that allows us to compare your employee benefits program to peer companies
Benefit Plan Management – ensure accurate and efficient plan administration and claims reimbursement for plan administrators and employees
Renewal Negotiation – on-going financial and risk management analysis
Industry Updates – identify and communicate relevant employee benefits market updates including changes to provincial or federal legislation and/or human rights issues
Total Compensation Statements – create awareness for the value of an employee’s compensation beyond their base salary—confirming the investment made in each employee
Health & Wellness
Workplace wellness programs have become noticeably more prevalent in recent years, with many more employers integrating these programs with their employee benefits strategy. By keeping employees healthy, wellness programs are seen as a way to improve employee productivity, reduce absenteeism and disability costs, and manage healthcare/drug costs.
Health and wellness initiatives have moved beyond simply providing discounts to gym memberships and offering healthy snacks. While these changes are valuable, today’s employees expect more from their employer’s wellness program. The best health and wellness strategies are employee-centric. When implementing a wellness program, it must be customized – there is no “one size fits all” approach.
Our suite of innovative health and wellness programs address the full continuum of emotional and physical issues of an employee to improve corporate wellness. Our holistic approach ensures each employee has the tools and resources necessary to achieve their personal health and wellness goals, and is an integral part of your employee benefits strategy.
Flex Benefits
Given the changing work environment and growing diversity in our workforce, employers must create flexible compensation packages for their employees to stay competitive. More and more, the one size fits all employee benefits solution is becoming a challenge.
Generation Y employees who lead an active lifestyle are looking for massage and physiotherapy with little need for a prescription drug plan; whereas, Baby Boomers with several chronic conditions feel a comprehensive prescription drug plan is very important. Let’s face it: we are not all the same.
Empowering employees to make choices over their benefits plan enhances their perceived value and increases engagement. Flexible benefits are a powerful tool for employers to attract and retain top talent while competing with much larger organizations or US companies.
Employers want simplified solutions, but this does not have to mean uniformity. Traditionally, flexible benefits have not been available to small and medium size businesses. Technology has simplified the administration and allowed employees to easily make choices with on-line tools. This means businesses with as few as 3 employees have access to flexible benefit plans.
Executive Compensation
Executive benefit plans are an integral component of a compensation package when it comes to attracting and recruiting Senior Executives. Many employers require unique and innovative solutions to compensate Executives for their expertise.
We specialize in enhanced life and disability coverage, flex spending accounts (HCSA/Costplus), executive medicals, and enhanced travel coverage.
Individual Pension Plans (IPP) and other tax-effective savings plans can also have a big effect both in terms of retention and tax planning.
International Coverage
We offer solutions from several different international health insurance companies that are designed for foreign nationals living outside the country for which they hold a passport or some local nationals living outside the U.S. or Canada.
We have long-standing relationships with the leading global insurance providers, allowing us to deliver comprehensive expatriate insurance solutions that will ensure your employees working around the world are properly protected and supported.
Association Plans
For small to medium-sized businesses, Association plans can be advantageous by providing increased plan flexibility and reduced cost. On a standalone basis, employers are frequently confronted with restrictive plan designs and pricing that often time seems unfair and arbitrary. Association plans are established to combat these very problems and help build membership.
Our Association plans include: