Top Benefit Providers in Canada | Benefit Providers Awards
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Meeting employees’ high demands
If the past five years are any indication, employee benefits in Canada have emerged as a decisive strategic advantage to achieving business goals, from growth and expansion to attracting and retaining top talent.
The best benefit providers nationwide stand out as industry leaders and trusted partners charting the way forward in plan sponsor and employee service, with practical and easy-to-use solutions that deliver value to clients of all sizes.
Traditionally, Canada’s benefits experience has been reactionary, focused mainly on processing claims and reimbursements after an event. There was little support or interplay on the connection between physical, mental, and financial health.
Employees and employers are now seeking precisely that, explains Kandy Cantwell, Montridge Advisory Group managing partner and employee benefits expert. Today’s workforce better understands and vocalizes the need for support in managing, sourcing, and sustaining these three areas, and the best benefit providers can play a role in this experience.
“I see two changes and I hope they’re not trends: we need to help Canadians more easily access and navigate the healthcare system, and we need to find more ways to grow financial literacy beyond employer-sponsored retirement plans,” she adds. “Too many small and mid-sized employers don’t offer such plans, but their employees still need financial tools.”
According to a 2024 Robert Half study, a five-year comparison of employer benefits and perks highlights:
- growth in traditional benefits such as paid time off and retirement plans
- significant increase in employee assistance programs
- flexible work, employee discounts, and paid time off for volunteering have increased dramatically
- slight decline in dental and extended health coverage
Industry insiders note that employee expectations shifted during the pandemic years, exacerbated by the challenges in accessing basic public health services.
This experience elevated how employer-provided benefits and private insurance complemented the public systems and heightened employee expectations for services such as telemedicine and mental health support, says Daniel Drolet, senior partner of group benefits at Normandin Beaudry.
“Expectations from the workforce are higher than ever and were not driven but emphasized by the pandemic due to a lack of accessibility for doctors, dentists, and possibly treatments,” he explains. “Employees expect flexibility, and they’re demanding to make their own choices.”
Dimitri Poliak, Normandin Beaudry’s savings principal, agrees the pandemic was illuminating.
“Canadians are louder than ever about the values that matter most to them and what they value from an employer,” he adds. “Connecting the dots between business objectives and employee values is an important business strategy to take on, and benefit providers have a role to play because unless they understand what employees value, they can’t expect them to appreciate what’s being offered.”
Drolet adds, “Financial pressure on organizations and rising costs affected many aspects of life, including benefits and salaries. Employers face that increase and have hard decisions to make because sometimes that flexibility increases the cost.”
A Deloitte report sounds the alarm for Canada’s uncertain future in group benefits, emphasizing that group benefits providers must adapt to the increasingly data-driven healthcare world.
While new technology and personalized care offer great potential, many insurers may miss out due to a lack of investment and readiness. The study urges insurers to focus on strategic planning and innovation to remain competitive.
The BPM team evaluated vendor entries to identify the best benefit providers focused on supplying the most effective technology, consulting, and financial planning solutions. They also assessed how these providers improved efficiency in the benefits, pensions, and institutional investment space.
After interviewing industry professionals and surveying hundreds about current market offerings, 15 organizations were named the BPM Top Benefit Providers of 2024.
Canada’s top benefit providers excel with a service-first philosophy
The full-service third-party administrator continues its recognition streak with a Top Service Provider Award after being named to BPM’s Top Employer list in September 2024.
“We view benefits plans as a promise between an employer and a group of employees,” president Rob Crowder says. “We allow employers to completely customize their approach to providing benefits. All we do is keep the promises that employers make to their employees regarding their benefits. We accommodate whatever the employer wants to promise through plan design, communication, execution, and ongoing service. It’s a completely customized approach, so employers can offer whatever benefits they want.”
Customized and hybrid benefits plans are gaining in popularity
For three decades, The Benefits Trust, with its advisor partners, has provided customized employee benefits solutions for small and mid-sized businesses with up to 1,000 employees across Canada. Its comprehensive packages, including healthcare spending accounts, executive plans, and the increasingly popular hybrid benefit plan, align with an employer’s compensation philosophy, budget, and strategic needs.
Hybrid plans combine traditional benefits such as drug and dental coverage, accidental death and dismemberment, and life insurance with the flexibility provided in healthcare spending accounts.
“One-size-fits-all plans are mediocre at best, so offering choice is essential,” Crowder says.
Rob CrowderThe Benefits Trust
A mix of empathy, speed, and precision at the heart of support
On the service and support fronts, The Benefits Trust distinguishes itself by balancing automation and tech tools with a personal touch. It emphasizes communicating with its members and plan sponsors in the way they prefer, including by email, an online portal, and a cutting-edge face recognition app that retains clients’ history for nearly effortless claims submissions through photos.
“Personal interaction works; we answer the phone because benefits are emotional,” Crowder explains. “People get a live, friendly person who can empathize and provide the necessary information. Some people may not know the details of their benefits plan until they have a problem, so we’re here to provide that support when they need help navigating or understanding their benefits.”
The Benefits Trust is also ahead of the curve in educating plan members about their benefits by offering lunch-and-learn sessions, in-person and virtually.
The biggest change Crowder has witnessed in the industry is speed, leveraging data for instant reporting and making decisions. Clients also want quick access to financial information about their benefit plans to know where they stand with their budgets in real time.
“That used to take weeks, and now it’s almost instant,” he says. “Speed and accuracy are key because many Canadians live paycheque to paycheque, so waiting for weeks for claim reimbursement is no longer acceptable.”
The team’s deep understanding of their plan sponsor’s workforce and goals enables them to stand out by customizing dynamic, flexible plans that attract and retain employees at varying stages of their careers.
Mental health services are on the front burner of the evolution of benefits. The Benefits Trust was at the leading edge by being the first provider to remove mental health from paramedical coverage and put it in its own silo with higher limits.
“Our clients have told us that when someone suffers from mental health, productivity goes down, and not only that, if someone’s family member is struggling, their productivity also goes down because dealing with it is all-encompassing,” Crowder explains.
In addition, the definition of mental health practitioner has expanded, and employee assistance programs are more important than ever, says Crowder, who says that he has sold more of them in the last five years than in the previous 25.
Top Benefit Providers in Canada | Benefit Providers Awards
- ADV-Care Pharmacy
- Benefit Plan Administrators
- Chambers of Commerce Group Plan
- Coughlin & Associates
- Desjardins Group
- FCA Benefits
- JJ McAteer & Associates
- Manion’s
- Manulife
- Open Access
- PBI Actuarial Consultants
- Sunlife
- Thorpe Benefits
- TLH Benefits Advisors
Insights
Methodology
In June 2024, Benefits and Pensions Monitor opened the window to nominations for the Top Benefit Providers, inviting service providers across Canada to put forward their companies for consideration.
The awards spotlight the providers delivering the most effective and transformative solutions across areas such as technology, consulting, financial planning, and other services.
The editorial and research teams reviewed the vendors’ submissions, and nominees were evaluated mainly on the strength and process of their service delivery, with the most important factor being how these providers made benefits, pensions, and institutional investment professionals’ lives more efficient through their products and services.
In the process of selecting the best providers for 2024, the BPM team also conducted one-on-one interviews with benefits and pensions professionals and surveyed hundreds more within BPM’s network to gain a keen understanding of what these professionals think about current market offerings. A total of 15 organizations stood out based on these criteria, becoming the 2024 winners of the BPM Top Benefit Providers Awards.