Obesity is a chronic disease that accounts for over 80% of the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Equally important, it can also lead to high blood pressure, a common cause of heart attacks. But today, there is good news. There are many anti-obesity medications such as Hollywood favourite Ozempic or Wegovy that can impact appetite and fullness. The issue is that these medications are usually quite expensive and often not covered by Group Benefits plans.

In this short podcast, Allison Brown, VP Consulting at Thorpe Benefits and Roger Thorpe discuss how covering these medications may help employers in the long run by reducing absenteeism and health risks while improving productivity.

Check out this session from the Benefits and Wellness Superhero Symposium 2022 called Top Trends in Benefits and Wellness. 

The session was presented by Roger Thorpe and Nicole Cairns, Thorpe Benefits and focused on the most popular and most important trends that impact your benefits and Wellness strategy

Listen to this session from the Benefits and Wellness Superhero Symposium 2022.

The session was called Integration of Benefits and Wellness into Total Rewards and it was presented by Roger Thorpe and Nicole Cairns.

Why listen? 

• Discover how more proactive wellbeing support and health promotion is now a leading component of benefits strategy and an overall Total Rewards offering.
• Learn longer term approaches to move wellness forward as part of plan design and budget, including a clear business case to present to your leadership team/owners

In the June edition of the Benefits and Wellness Superhero podcast, we offer up one of the amazing sessions from the Benefits and Wellness Superhero Symposium, held in April.

Roger Thorpe's guest speaker is Sarah Currie, Director, Client Success, Uniity: Outsourced Employee Communications.

Sarah's session was called Amplifying Benefit: Getting more from your Benefit and Wellness programs through effective communications. Listen and discover: 

• Explore why employers need to “up their game” on employee communications.
• Learn how benefits and wellness can have a more consistent impact on employee experience/engagement – through more mature and professional internal communications

On April 6th and 7th, 2022  attendees of the Benefits and Wellness Superhero Symposium heard from awesome guest speakers and inspiring experts in panels and lively debate - designed to develop the skills HR professionals, Benefits execs and leaders need to get proper leadership buy-in on group benefits plans.

Get the lowdown on day 2 of the event by listening to this Benefits and Wellness podcast episode with Bill Banham, host and Founder at The HR Gazette and Roger Thorpe, President at Thorpe Benefits.

Each day featured an action-packed, 90-minute agenda that included online presentations and lots of practical takeaways. Listen as Roger recaps day 2 including these sessions: 

• Choosing and Comparing Health and Wellness Vendors - Presented by Roger Thorpe and Nicole Cairns, Thorpe Benefits:
• Reducing the Stress and Anxiety Around Managing Money with Jay Seabrook, Enrichment Academy:
• Best Tools Available to Assess and Measure Your Benefits and Wellness Investments - Presented by Roger Thorpe, Thorpe Benefits:
• How HR and Finance Departments Work Together and Create Buy-In From Owners and Leadership Teams with Kim Freeburn, The CFO Centre

Over two days (April 6th and 7th, 2022 ) attendees at the Benefits and Wellness Superhero Symposium heard from guest speakers and experts in panels and lively debate. All designed to develop the skills HR pros, partners and leaders need to get proper leadership buy-in on group benefits plans.

Each day featured an action-packed, 90-minute agenda that included online presentations and lots of practical takeaways.

Get the lowdown on day 1 of the event by listening to this Benefits and Wellness Superhero Podcast episode with Bill Banham, Editor at The HR Gazette and Roger Thorpe, President at Thorpe Benefits.

Listen as Roger recaps day 1 including these sessions: 

• Top Trends in Benefits and Wellness - Presented by Roger Thorpe and Nicole Cairns, Thorpe Benefits:
• Amplifying Benefit: Getting more from your Benefit and Wellness programs through effective communications with Sarah Currie, Uniity Outsourced Employee Communications, LiveWire Communications:
• The Integration of Benefits and Wellness into Total Rewards - Presented by Roger Thorpe and Nicole Cairns:
• Getting Serious about Absence Management with Sandra Grafe, AGS

In this episode, we consider financial literacy and managing money. Roger's guest this time is Jay Seabrook, Co-Founder of Enriched Academy. 

Jay began teaching Financial education 20-years ago to high-school students and has been an avid investor since his early 20’s.   Jay is one of the most sought-after personal finance speakers in Canada and has been showcased on radio and television programs including Dragon’s Den.  Jay’s favorite quote is; “It’s not the material possessions you acquire during your pursuit of career and financial goals that are important; it’s who you become during the process that is truly rewarding”.

Questions Include:

• Why is financial literacy and managing money so important right now and why do you think this might ultimately be the responsibility of the employer instead of leaving it to the employee to figure out?
• Flashing forward to today, how do you help Corporations & Associations implement Financial Education?
• What key personal finance metrics do you think are most important for someone to track and be aware of?
• What work is Enriched Academy doing within the Canadian School system?
• If there was one thing that you think Enriched Academy does best, what do you think that would be?

Register for the Benefits and Wellness Superhero Symposium here. 

In this episode, we consider the relationship between HR and Finance, where the synergies exist, and how working closely together can influence how decisions are made in the organization. 

Roger's guest today is Kim Freeburn, owner of Stratitude Corp. and the Regional Director for the CFO Centre Canada, where superhero CFOs help ambitious entrepreneurs achieve extraordinary things. 

She has more than 25 years of corporate experience helping business owners, large and small, resolve critical business issues and develop strategies to enhance shareholder value and overall financial results.  

An experienced Finance Leader, Kim spent 22 years as a CFO for fortune 100 Company, working closely with Operations, Sales, HR, and Talent Management to build sustainable teams and practices while achieving superior financial results. 

She has spent the last 5 years working with mid-size and owner-managed companies to build value for the long term by translating complex problems into clear, measurable, and meaningful actions so entrepreneurs can have the time and money to do what they love. 

Her collaborative approach ensures business decisions are holistic and values-based.

Questions Include: 

• As a CPA, and a careered CFO, how did your non-traditional interest in the HR field begin?
• In your various roles as a Finance lead, what are some of the obstacles you encounter in putting a people-forward agenda on the table?
• What are some of the trends you see in addressing these obstacles?
• In an August 2021 webinar panel sponsored by MicroAge Peterborough/Whitby, you offered 3 Keys to Unlocking Success in Your Business Through People, Finance & IT. Can you share those with me and explain why that matters?
• You’ll be speaking at the upcoming Superhero Symposium, tell us a bit about your session and what we can look forward to hearing?
• Can you give us a glimpse into some of the ways an HR team and a Finance team can work closely together?
• How can we learn more about you and the work done by Stratitude Corp. and the CFO Centre Canada?

Register for the Benefits and Wellness Superhero Symposium here.