Your One-Stop Guide: Exploring Key Themes in Employee Benefits
A Guide to Immix Insights Articles Are you wondering what we’ve been writing about? Perhaps you haven’t had time to read the articles, but you’re hoping to gain some information on a particular topic. At the Immix Group, we strive to provide articles spanning a range of topics that are
Financial Well-being: Valuable Resources through our Partnership with Ciccone McKay Financial Group
By: The Immix Group in partnership with Ciccone McKay Financial Group November marks Financial Literacy Month in Canada, and this year’s theme, “Money on Your Mind. Talk About It!”, focuses on encouraging open conversations about personal finances. This month, we want to highlight how employers can support their employees’ financial
What You Need to Know When Considering a Switch in Employee Benefits Providers
When selecting a benefits provider, ensuring the right match for your organization is essential. When it comes to the benefits offering, as we’ve spoken about before, ‘one size fits all’ is not an ideal approach to take. Different insurance carriers have various strengths and weaknesses. But what is the right
Expanding into Canada
Expanding into Canada? What Non-Canadian entities need to know when implementing an Employee Benefit program in Canada Key Takeaways A typical employee benefits plan in Canada includes life insurance, extended health care, dental care, and often additional offerings like disability insurance, health spending accounts and retirement savings plans. The healthcare
A Step-by-Step Guide to Individual Health & Dental Plans
A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding Your Options and Implementing an Individual Health and Dental Plan for You and Your Family By Lindsay Byrka, BA, BEd, CFP® Are you leaving your job, retiring, self-employed or just don’t have a benefits plan at your job? Have a plan, but there isn’t enough
Disability Insurance
by Lindsay Byrka, BA, BEd, CFP® Dig Deeper into Disability Insurance Trying to wrap your head around Long-Term Disability insurance? Wondering about the differences between your group Long Term Disability and an Individual Disability plan? Group benefits plan administrators, have you done your part to ensure your employees understand
Mental Health Support: A Simple Guide to Providing Mental Health Coverage within your Employee Benefits Program
How employers can support employee well-being within an employee benefits program As defined by the Canadian government: mental health refers to one’s general state of psychological and emotional well-being. We acknowledge this is a complex and nuanced topic, and that an employer’s role in supporting positive well-being extends far beyond
Claim Confusion
Claim Confusion: Common Reasons Why Your Benefits Claim May Leave You “Out-of-Pocket” Uncovering why you may be left ‘out-of-pocket’ when claiming under your benefits program Wondering why you’re left ‘out-of-pocket’ despite having a robust benefits program? There is nothing more frustrating than submitting your claim, only to find it’s not
Understanding Travel Insurance
Understanding Travel Insurance: Everything You Need to Know Before Takeoff When we talk to groups of employees about their benefits coverage, one thing that pops up time after time is that employees are often unaware that their extended health care includes travel insurance! Far too many employees have told us
Three Reasons to Implement a Group Savings Plan
We write often about Group Savings Plans, as it’s our belief that one of the best ways employers can assist their employees is by offering them the opportunity to plan and save for the future. This is a sentiment that is echoed by many in our industry. In their recent
Key Conversations in Benefits 2023
Last year our blog “Top Conversations of 2022” proved to be among our most popular articles for the year! Once again, this year, we have compiled a recap of the Top Conversations in Benefits, from our perspective as benefits advisors. Last year we recapped the top conversations in benefits, which
Understanding Cost-Sharing in Employee Benefits
Understanding Cost-Sharing in Employee Benefits: The Employer’s Role in Premium Contributions and Standard Practices Introduction In the fiercely competitive job market, employee benefits play a crucial role in attracting and retaining top talent. Among the many decisions that employers face in crafting an appealing benefits package, one of the
A Proven Strategy for Containing Employee Benefit Plan Costs
A Proven Strategy for Containing Employee Benefit Plan Costs With elevated inflation causing everyone to take a closer look at their expenses, we wanted to introduce (and remind those who are already members of the Immix Group Client Community!) the many advantages of our broker-managed pools. Table of Contents Back
Virtual Health Care is Everywhere
Virtual Health Care is Everywhere: Employer vs. Free Options, and the latest in Offerings. Back in 2020, we wrote about virtual care offerings, at the time prompted by the pandemic and the lockdown we were experiencing, which made routine doctor visits close to impossible. While virtual care was available
Top Benefits Conversations of 2022
It’s a wrap! As we begin the New Year with refreshed energy and excitement for what 2023 may bring, we wanted to share a recap of the key stories in benefits over 2022. Extreme Difficulty in Hiring The theme of our client meetings this year can be summed up
8 Reasons for Increases to your Employee Benefit Plan Premiums
Pondering the question: “Why do my benefit plan costs keep going up?” We’ve got answers. If you’ve walked away from your renewal meeting scratching your head at the rate adjustment, you’re unfortunately not alone. Many advisors don’t do a great job explaining a rate change, and the math used by
One size fits all? Not when it comes to employee benefits.
Yes, it’s possible to gain the pricing advantage found within a benefits pool while also having control over your plan design! When we begin discussing the strategy that Immix has created when it comes to group benefit plans one of the first questions we are asked is whether belonging to
Check to Ensure your Benefits Quote is Actually for a Comparable Plan
5 Key Areas to Check to Ensure your Benefits Quote is Actually for a Comparable Plan Inflation is on everyone’s mind; wherever you look, prices are rising. Unfortunately, benefit plans are not exempt from this. When the cost of dentist visits, medical items and procedures goes up, the result is
Part 2: The Hybrid Work Model: Is working from home an “employee benefit?
In the first part of this two-part article on the hybrid work model, we discussed remote work from a productivity perspective. For the most part, the numerous studies that are coming out are stating that productivity is either unaffected or increased, and this is especially true for knowledge workers. In
The Hybrid Work Model: Is working from home an “employee benefit”?
At the peak of the pandemic, estimates were that over 40% over people were working from home. As we transition out of the pandemic many are now embracing remote work in a new way, even when given the option to return to the workplace. But will it stay this way?
Add to your Recruitment and Retention Toolkit with a Group Savings Plan
Group Savings Plan Are you having a hard time finding and keeping great people? Don’t overlook the power of enhancing your benefits offering with a simple yet effective retention tool: a company savings plan. We are hearing from clients and peers that hiring and keeping great people is more difficult
3 Action Steps Employers Can Take to Reduce Employee Financial Stress and Increase Financial Literacy
By Lindsay Byrka | BA, BEd, CFP Vice President, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company How can you assist your employees in achieving financial wellbeing? November is Financial Literacy Month in Canada, and one of the key themes for 2021 is the importance of building financial resilience in challenging times. When it comes
Top 8 FAQs for Business Owners when Implementing an Employee Benefits Plan
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company 1. How much does it cost to provide Employee Benefits? Cost is often first thing that comes to mind when considering employee benefits. How much to budget, per employee, and what does this cover? Without an existing benefits program or
Hybrid Traditional + Flexible Employee Benefits: A Sample Design for SMBs
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company You are a small or mid-size business. You want affordable employee benefits with costs that you partially control – while having peace of mind that you can provide for unexpected health/drug claims. Read on! This article might just be
Renewing Employee Benefits in 2021? – Here are things to know going forward to keep costs down.
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company Due to the impacts of COVID-19 in 2020, many insurers provided benefits premium subsidies, or even deferred the program renewal date. In 2021, at least in insured benefit programs, renewals could look slightly different given the unique claims patterns we
March is Fraud Prevention Month
By Lindsay Byrka | BA, BEd, CFP Vice President, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company Everyone has experienced that phone call, text or email making some claim that is inevitably aimed at getting you to click a link or provide information to give fraudsters access to your sensitive information. It’s rampant, and
The Best Time To Review Your Benefits Program Is Now!
By Lindsay Byrka | BA, BEd, CFP Vice President, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company 2020 proved to be an unexpectedly tumultuous year for most people, and if you’re involved in running or making decisions for a business, you were probably taking a hard look at every aspect of your business. If
Employee benefits: What you need to know about discounted group benefits pricing
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company It’s true. Your business can indeed get discounted group health insurance rates. If you’ve ever marketed your plan with alternative carriers, it’s more than likely you were surprised to see pricing of ten, twenty or even thirty percent below your
Business Owners: How to Design the Best Group Savings Plan for your Company
By Lindsay Byrka | BA, BEd, CFP Vice President, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company You’ve made the decision to implement a group savings plan for your team. You’ve worked it into the budget, and you know this is something you want to roll out sooner rather than later. Fantastic! But what’s
Business Owners: How to pivot your employee benefits to adapt to the changing landscape of employee needs
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company The year 2020 has certainly been a year of change. All aspects of life have adapted to a new normal, and this includes businesses and what it means to provide valuable benefits to employees. As business owners and managers of
The major impact of small businesses in Canada: Small Business, Benefits and COVID19
By Lindsay Byrka | BA, BEd, CFPVice President, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company The major impact of small businesses in Canada: Small Business, Benefits and COVID19 At Immix, we have paid special attention to the especially precarious financial situation facing small businesses over the past 3 months. As employee benefits
The value of employee benefits inside a broker-managed benefits pool, especially during times of uncertainty
By Lindsay Byrka | BA, BEd, CFP Vice President, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company If you are considering ‘taking your plan to market’ we want you to consider why our current climate is the time to join a benefits pool, transparently priced by a broker, rather than marketing direct with an
Trends & Free Resources in Digital, Virtual & Telehealth Care for British Columbia
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company As society navigates COVID19 and embraces the new norms of social distancing and virtual meetings, the way we access healthcare has possibly changed forever. While many virtual options have long been available, people are adopting these at an increased rate
Keep Fit From Home
By Lindsay Byrka, Vice President, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company We hope you’re staying home if possible, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stay active! As benefits consultants, it’s one of our goals to assist our clients in promoting physical and mental well-being; staying active is a key component of
Employee lay-offs and stoppage of work during COVID-19: Best practices for continued health coverage and premium management
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group / March 31, 2020 Making the decision to lay off employees is not an easy thing to do. More than anything, many employers just want employees to be safe and healthy, and to return to work when operations are back to normal. Unfortunately because of
Market Update: Stay Calm, Stay the Course
By Anthony Ciccone, President A message from Anthony Ciccone, President Many of you are feeling concerned about the unprecedented events we are experiencing, and specifically, the severe impact on the financial markets. Three months ago, no one knew what COVID-19 was; now it is impacting everyone. This is uncomfortable; we are
EAPs – how these programs can benefit both employees and organizations
By Lindsay Byrka, Vice President, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company You may be familiar with the acronyms “EAP” or even “EFAP.” Perhaps you have a general or at least vague idea about these plans. But, like many people, you’re not exactly sure what they mean or how they work. Lacking
This might just be the right time for you to implement an employee group savings plan – here’s why and how
By Lindsay Byrka, Vice President, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company With RRSP season winding up – the deadline for 2019 RRSP contributions is March 2 – you may be debating if now is the time to implement a group savings plan for your team. In working with our clients to
New Year, New Benefits?
A fresh year — and a refresh opportunity By Lindsay Byrka, Vice President, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company At the start of a new year, we all make resolutions. With 2020 also being the start of a new decade, perhaps we’re even more motivated to make improvements! When it comes to
Employee benefits vs. a straight salary raise: One is significantly better for your business
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group / Jan 14, 2020 The old-school view would tilt toward getting a raise, on the theory that a bird – well, okay, a bunch of dollars – in the hand seems the more tangible value. But when you do the deep-dive financial analysis, offering benefits
Employee benefits for start-ups: the long-term vs. short-term outlook
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group / March 14, 2019 Once they grow above three employees, many small businesses start thinking about getting a benefits program. After all, benefits are a key attraction in hiring the best talent. From a human resources perspective, small businesses scaling up should make sure the
BC’s new Employer Health Tax starts January 1––
Here are 3 things every employer must know
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group / November 7, 2018 Many British Columbians welcome the abolishing of public healthcare premiums. They see the move as a huge step towards a truly free healthcare system. But what are the potential cost impacts? Here are 3 things employers should note and prepare for.
Exclusive: Our report on the Vancouver Cannabis Trade Show 2018
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group /August 10, 2018 In Canada this year, we’ve seen much progress and many changes with regard to cannabis legislation. At Immix Group, we are committed to providing active updates to you on the legalization of cannabis – and how this may change the healthcare
HR managers: Here are three useful tips to help you efficiently manage employee benefits
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group / May 23, 2018 Employee benefits are an integral part of both the employee-value proposition and the overall working experience. As an HR manager, you might well ask, “Just how deeply should I be involved in employee benefits?” Let’s be frank. The discipline of
Your employee benefits program: Five important questions to ask every year
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group / April 13, 2018 It is vital that you run a sustainable, healthy employee benefits program tailored to your organization’s needs. As your company changes and grows, be aware that one size does not fit all. Update your program to ensure you continue getting the maximum
March is Fraud Prevention Month – and you can help!
By Lindsay Davis, Vice President, Immix Group / March 14, 2018 Benefits fraud is a topic that just keeps trending. There’s good reason for that. Fraud is a huge problem within the world of benefits. It impacts everyone – and it hurts everyone. Benefits fraud is insidious. It takes all forms. Plan
Employee benefits renewal is simpler than you think – here’s the key
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group / Oct 18, 2018 You may be an accountant, or work in human resources. Or perhaps you are a cost controller, chief financial officer or small-business owner. In any of these roles, you face the same daunting challenge every year: At employee-benefits-renewal time, how best to
Am I already covered for travel insurance if I have employee benefits?
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group / Aug 12, 2018 99% of the time the answer is YES, you are covered for travel MEDICAL insurance. Most, if not all, group employee benefit plans have some kind of out of country coverage for unexpected medical emergencies. For example, if you
BC’s Medical Services Plan: What is MSP – and what does it have to do with your benefits plan?
This blog is from 2017, and due to legislative changes in BC, MSP employer payments were cancelled. Please read more here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/health-drug-coverage/msp/bc-residents/premiums ———————————— By Katie Wray, Immix Group / March 30, 2017 The three certainties that come along with living in British Columbia: death, taxes – and Medical Services Plan (MSP) premium
At Immix, our role goes far beyond the pricing of your program.
By Lindsay Davis, Vice President, Immix Group / Feb 09, 2017 From time to time, we are approached by businesses that do not have an employee benefits program in place. Or, they have a plan, but they do not have an active relationship with their benefits broker. Surprisingly to us, they