Employees in a board meeting.

Medical Marijuana Added to Shoppers & Loblaws Benefits Plan

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Canadian drug benefit plans continually need to evolve to meet the needs of employees.

In recent news, Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaws Canada have now added medical marijuana into their employee benefits packages.

These drug benefits are capped at $1,500.00 but reflect the vision of employers who are willing to see past the political rhetoric and introduce new aspects to their employee benefits plan that are explicitly focussed on employee needs.

Focus of Medical Marijuana Use

Adaptation to drug therapy changes are pushing these companies into positions of forward-thinking benefits by:

1) Providing alternative relief for workers experiencing chemo-related queasiness and vomiting.

2) Helping employees deal with pain as a consequence of multiple sclerosis.

Earlier in 2017, the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission ruled that an employee benefits plan “Must cover a member’s medical marijuana prescription.” A pre-approval process is required and the ruling calls for special authorization, with marijuana prescriptions to be filled by Licensed Producers, the current method used by the Canadian Government.

You can read the full article can be read here: Benefits plan must cover medical pot, human rights commission rules.

These drug benefits will be available to approximately 45,000 Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaws employees. Depending on the volume consumed daily by the patient, it’s unlikely that these benefits will completely cover costs, but it will certainly help.

Still Have Questions About Drug Benefit Plans?

Benefit Strategies Inc. is based in Edmonton, Alberta and has been serving business clients throughout Western Canada, the Yukon and the Northwest territories for over three decades.

For more information on how medical marijuana is affecting employee benefits plans in Canada, contact Benefit Strategies online, send us an email, or call us today at 1-780-437-5070

Workplace staff meeting on set of stairs.

Creating a Workplace Culture That Motivates Employees

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Have you thought about creating a workplace culture that is positive and motivates your employees? Are you continually losing employees or having difficulty hiring new ones, or have you been experiencing productivity slumps? There’s plenty of support to show that a positive workplace culture can and will motivate employees.

Addressing Workplace Motivation and Culture

In an earlier Benefit Strategies article entitled The moment of truth: How to shift to a culture that motivates employees, Joyce M. Rosenberg of The Associated Press explored the culture (or lack thereof) inside three companies that admitted they were doing it all wrong.

Here are some of the areas that these three companies addressed and were able to improve upon:

  1. Evolution of inter-generational work style approaches.
  2. Development of clear internal communications.
  3. Reasonable work week expectations.
  4. Changes to owner and CEO management styles.
  5. Prioritization of employee needs and office culture.
  6. Creation of clear structure and hierarchy.
  7. Awarding employees with more trust responsibilities.

Discovery Through Surveys and Exit Interviews

Many of these shortcomings were only discovered after anonymous surveys or exit interviews were conducted with past employees. It was an eye-opening wake up call for each of the organizations presented in the article. A clear indication that cultural openness and transparency were lacking in their organizations.

The firms who chose to tackle these issues head on, maintained more staff, experienced improved productivity, and had less difficulty hiring new employees.

To learn more about how you can motivate employees by improving your workplace culture, contact Benefit Strategies online, send us an email, or call us today at 1-780-437-5070. Let us help you learn to motivate your employees by creating a great workplace culture.