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Change but no changes!

When Johnstone’s Benefits was created by Ralph Johnstone in 1983, its original mission statement “to treat each client like they are our only client” became the basis of our service model for providing third-party administration, benefits consulting and brokerage services to our clients.

2024 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Johnstone’s Benefits! For more than 40 years, we’ve prided ourselves on providing excellent service and building long-term relationships with our clients and partners. In an ever-changing and competitive market, Johnstone’s Benefits has decided to join People Corporation, an industry change-maker.

Our clients will benefit

People Corporation is the right fit – the ‘right’ benefits partner for Johnstone’s Benefits and our clients. When considering joining another organization, it was important for us to find a like-minded company that shares our vision, values and commitment to put our clients at the centre of what we do. By joining People Corporation, our clients will be provided with access to a broader menu of unique products and competitive solutions.

People Corporation is a leading Canadian provider of group benefits, group retirement, health and wellness, and human resource solutions and is the largest third-party administrator and third-party payer in Canada. Founded in 2006, People Corporation has grown significantly through a series of strategic acquisitions and organic growth. Their competitive advantage comes from the tenure and bench strength of their combined teams. Their head office is based in Winnipeg, with an additional 45 offices across the country.

We’ll be able to leverage their full suite of products and services to continue to create plan designs to suit our clients’ needs. We will have access to more resources, a greater menu of plan design options, preferred arrangements, comprehensive and robust health and wellness solutions, retirement and savings solutions, and support to continue our history of superior benefits administration technologies.

And yet no changes!

There will be no actual day-to-day changes for our clients:

• Our company name and office location are not changing
• Your dedicated service team will remain the same and will continue to focus on providing the same quality of service and support
• You will continue to have access to your current administration tools and platform
• Employer and employee communication tools will remain the same

This is an exciting step in the journey of Johnstone’s Benefits. We celebrate and recognize that we have historically delivered a unique service experience to our clients. We truly believe that with People Corporation, we have the opportunity to deliver even more to our clients and to the group benefits market.

A reminder of our full services suite

Beyond the news of now being powered by People Corporation, it’s a good opportunity to remind you of our suite of services, and what we see as trending in group benefits.

As employers pay for the basics, such as health benefits and insurance, it is expected that employees will increasingly want to personalize their group benefits package to meet their family’s needs. Many of our workplaces are changed post COVID-19; the labour force is increasingly demanding, and attracting and retaining the right employees is competitive. With a properly designed benefits program, aligned to your business objectives, you can tax-effectively compensate your employees. You become an employer of choice. With our current technologies, employer dollars for such programs we already offer our clients are easily administered:

• healthcare and flexible spending accounts, supporting health, wellness including mental health services
• group savings and pension plans such as group RRSPs, group TFSAs
• protection programs such as additional life insurance, critical illness, individual disability, and accidental death and dismemberment plans

JUST A REMINDER…

Be sure to update Salaries

“Earnings” are defined in the policy document – often as “regular” monthly earnings. However, the definition can include commission and other forms of income, but typically does not include dividends or overtime.

“Earnings” are used for life insurance and disability claims. If we are providing TPA services, it is important for clients to advise Johnstone’s Benefits of salary changes.  Note that earnings for STD and LTD claims are established at the pre-disability level.  The salary/wage cannot be adjusted until the employee has returned to work and the new earnings level will only be used for a ‘new’ disability claim, not an extension of the original LTD period.