Benefits Corner: January 2025

We’re doing it, everybody. It’s 2025, we’re a few weeks into the new year, and we’re all getting settled back into our regular workaday routines.

Sounds like the perfect time to check in with a look at what’s happening across the industry with this month’s Benefits Corner!

For those new to the conversation, Benefits Corner is my monthly round-up of all the benefits-related news, info, and happenings you need to know to set yourself up for success in the days and weeks ahead.

The year’s just getting kicked off but the benefits industry is already in full swing –?so without further delay, let’s take a peek at everything that’s going on!

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Bell Let’s Talk Day 2025 to Prioritize Youth Mental Health

Bell’s annual Let’s Talk Day is taking place this week on Wednesday, January 22. Each year, the event features a central focus that guides the conversation forward while promoting a topically relevant theme.

This year, in response to Mental Health Research Canada’s groundbreaking new report, A Generation at Risk: The State of Youth Mental Health in Canada, Bell Let’s Talk Day will work to shine a light on and bolster the state of youth mental health here in Canada.

"Youth urgently need access to more services to help them manage with their declining mental health,” explained Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let's Talk. “Bell Let's Talk will continue to support community-based organizations that are helping youth, and everyone, have access to mental health services and supports so people can thrive and achieve their full potential."

Learn more about all the ways Bell Let’s Talk Day 2025 is set to make a difference in the mental health of Canadian youth right here.

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Canada’s Benefits Landscape Shifts as Employment Hero Acquires Humi

Starting off the year with a big industry shake-up, Australia-based human resources and benefits consultant company Employment Hero has announced that it’s made a deal to acquire Toronto-based HR consultancy Humi for a cool $100 million CAD.

According to a press release shared by Employment Hero, the acquisition gives the Australian organization a toehold in the Canadian market, where Humi has helped serve the country’s more than one million small- and medium-sized businesses since 2016.

This particular acquisition is notable in that it represents one of the largest single examples of its kind in recent Canadian history.

Read more about the details of this landscape-shifting deal here.

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Looking Back on Time Off in 2024

With the holiday season just recently past and team members looking to plan their time off for the coming year, ADP has shed some unique insights on employee happiness and the necessary efforts that come part-and-parcel with taking time off in its latest Happiness@Work Index.

The data from last month’s results found the Index’s National Work Happiness Score to be at 6.6/10 – a 0.1 decrease from the month before –?with fewer than half (45%) of Canadian workers feeling satisfied with their current roles and responsibilities.

Additionally, the Index shared some interesting details looking back at time off taken during the year of 2024. There were two key data points that stood out in my mind from this particular retrospective: first, that it took Canadian employees an average for 13.6 extra hours of labour on top of their regular working schedule to prepare for and catch up after taking time off; and second, that just 31% of Canadians took advantage of their full amount of allotted vacation time during the past year.

As someone who’s written time and time again on the importance of time off for team members and mindful leaders alike, you likely know what my suggestion will be here: we can do better! And the folks collecting the data over ADP agree.

“By offering work-life balance options, flexible deadlines, and structured hand off processes,” Heather Haslam, vice president of marketing at ADP Canada, details, “employees can feel more supported as they prepare and return from vacation – encouraging paid time off rather than fraying from it.”

Read more on the latest Happiness@Work Index here.

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There it is: the first Benefits Corner article of 2025, done and dusted!

Thanks so much for your ongoing readership and dialogue – I couldn’t appreciate it more. And as always, if you’re looking to start the year off by setting your team members up with a benefits plan that gives them everything they need to find success, don’t hesitate to drop us a line at Excel Benefit Consulting today.?

Until next week!

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By Caroline Kugelmass. As our President, Caroline is our fearless leader. She’d do anything to make a client smile and extends the same care to her staff every day.