HR & Benefits

Luc Lapalme, Senior Principal at Mercer, walks through the firm's compensation planning survey and what employers expected for salaries in 2024. Listeners learn how benchmarking against market data informs raise budgets and why compensation planning is about total rewards, not base salary alone.

Matt Lister, CEO of Cloud Advisors, explains benefits benchmarking and how a database of roughly 15,000 employee benefit plans lets business owners see how their coverage compares with peers. Listeners learn which factors shape plan design, from industry to development stage, and how the results are presented.

Employment lawyer Ellen Swan of Caravel Law covers HR law across the employee lifecycle, from hiring through termination. Listeners will hear what a probationary period actually is, how employees differ from contractors in the eyes of the law, and how pandemic-era cases complicated both.

Brian McClennon, CEO of Link Investment Management, discusses group retirement plans with Jason. The episode covers the digital investment options employers can offer employees, how Group RSP portfolios are assigned based on suitability, and why some DC pension plans lock funds in until retirement.

Kevin Kliman, Co-CEO of the HR platform Humi, shares hiring and people-management lessons with Jason. The conversation covers filtering candidates for culture fit, building an emotional bond between new employees and the team, and why the Employment Standards Act is a floor rather than a target.

Keith Foot, CEO of Ralph Moss Insurance, gives Jason a primer on group employee benefit plans. Listeners will learn what a typical plan costs as a share of payroll, how components like life, disability, health, and dental fit together, and ways employers can work to contain costs.