A comparative analysis of asbestos disclosures from annual reports on Form 10-K submitted by public corporations that are known to have been named in asbestos personal injury litigation
This white paper takes a closer look at M&A success factors and the specific steps companies need to take in order to address the key people issues.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) recently announced that the enterprise risk management (ERM) practices of nonfinancial companies will not be rated based on their implementation of a particular ERM framework or process.
Managing consultant Barry Franklin discusses the top line findings of a 2010 survey Towers Watson flash survey of risk managers and finance executives.
The Global Alternatives Survey aims to track the movements of alternative assets managed on behalf of pension funds by the world’s largest alternative investment managers and to produce authoritative rankings.
Roiled by the global economic crisis and faced with
powerful imperatives to manage costs, productivity
and a host of talent management issues, a growing
number of multinationals are taking steps to stem
long-term costs and drive performance by supporting
employee health and well-being.
A Towers Watson survey of 110 major Canadian employers, released in April, indicates that about 52% view the current pension funding crisis as something that will be a long-term feature of the landscape rather than a temporary state of affairs.
The 2010 Quebec Budget, which was tabled by the Minister of Finance on March 31, 2010, introduces several new taxes on employees and on financial institutions.
When it comes to adding value to an organization, employees cover the full spectrum. Some possess critical skills, others hold pivotal roles and still others are more productive than their counterparts. Here are some tips for organizations interested in boosting productivity through workforce planning.
This survey explored how companies are determining, managing, monitoring, funding and allocating capital in light of the popularity of economic capital methodologies, ongoing regulatory changes, rating agency requirements and economic turmoil.
The enclosed update addresses how defined benefit pension plans in a number of countries (Brazil, Canada, Euro-zone, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.) were impacted by capital market changes during the first quarter of 2010
In a further step in the evolution of the accounting for retirement benefits, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has issued its long-awaited Exposure Draft (ED) of proposed changes to IAS 19, Employee Benefits.
A vast majority of Canadian employers are taking substantive steps to mitigate the effects of the ongoing funding crisis facing their defined benefit (DB) pension plans, according to a new survey from Towers Watson, a global professional services company. The majority of employers surveyed believe the pension funding crisis is likely to continue beyond the next few years.
Towers Watson research shows that, as economic uncertainty continues, companies need to focus on cost management yet ensure that their plans provide competitive reward opportunities and support key business goals.
A comparative analysis of asbestos disclosures from annual reports on Form 10-K submitted by public corporations that are known to have been named in asbestos personal injury litigation
This Bulletin article provides a broad overview of the pricing methodology used on VA living benefit riders, with particular focus on the Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit (“GMWB”) feature.
The 2010 Federal Budget was tabled by the Canadian Minister of Finance on March 4, 2010. Although the Budget primarily continued the federal government’s stress on economic stimulus from the 2009 budget, it also included measures relating to Employment Insurance (EI), stock-based compensation rules and information regarding upcoming consultations on Canada’s retirement system.
Towers Watson’s 29th Annual Canadian Survey of Economic Expectations provides forecasts from Canada’s leading business economists, strategists and portfolio managers on 24 Canadian economic and financial indicators, as well as projections for pension investment strategies.
Multinational pooling and captive benefit financing are increasingly important tools for multinational companies. By better leveraging your global purchasing power through pooling and captive arrangements, you can maximize cost savings for your employee benefit programs around the world and optimize non-financial benefits, such as improved service and underwriting.
In today’s transaction environment, companies are struggling to balance the need for talent, with the need to control costs and achieve other business objectives. Even those companies with strong balance may not succeed in building their talent portfolio to the extent desired without fully integrating their acquisition strategy into their overall talent agenda. This article discusses how companies can best shape their talent agenda in an M&A.
Towers Watson research reconfirms that when organizations address people and culture issues early, strategically and with discipline, they improve their chances of achieving a more successful merger or acquisition deal.
Reliably measuring and benchmarking an organization’s safety culture leads to improved business performance. Towers Watson can help.
Even in a soft economy, many renewable energy companies are engaged in a difficult war for talent. This paper provides a current snapshot of the industry's workforce challenge along with key findings of recent Towers Watson research on the industry.
With M&A activity again on the upswing, organizations need to understand the value of early involvement in all people-related aspects of an acquisition. Based on research and interviews with senior Canadian Finance executives, this study brings fresh insight and perspectives from successful dealmakers on their experiences in addressing key “people issues” in M&A transactions.
As a result of an Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) ruling, partial wind-ups may now be ordered in Ontario when a significant proportion of a subset of members of a pension plan is terminated. This ruling results from a case brought before the OCA involving Hydro One, which elected not to declare a partial wind-up regarding 79 terminations it had made following a restructuring.
A recovering global economy brought mildly positive fourth quarter portfolio returns and strong full-year returns, well into double digits in most regions. Corporate bond yields generally increased
during the fourth quarter, but still ended the year well below year-end 2008 levels in most regions.
Employee well-being shouldn’t be driven by the economy; it should be an integral part of an organization’s culture, reflected in its benefit design, training and development policies, its employees’ ability to create work/life balance and in the way managers are expected to interact with and manage employees.
While many companies did whatever it took to survive during the recession – reducing head count, freezing salaries, suspending contributions to retirement plans, eliminating
training programmes – a number of organisations weathered the crisis particularly well, demonstrating resilience and maintaining consistently above-average performance.
This article, part of our ongoing series on embedding ERM in insurance, analyzes the capital management function’s roles and responsibilities, including collaboration with the risk management function.
The findings of the fifth in a series of pulse surveys conducted in 2009, which assessed HR's role in achieving M&A success and the specific skill sets that enable HR to contribute most effectively during a merger or acquisition.
This is a study of the 13 largest pension markets in the world and accounts for more than 85% of global pension assets. The countries included are Australia, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S..
A Towers Watson survey conducted in early January found that employers’ predictions for 2010 are mixed but guardedly optimistic. A majority of organizations are renewing their focus on growth and planning judicious hiring, while more than one-third will continue to make targeted workforce reductions.
Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt have come together as Towers Watson, a global company that shares a common set of values and a singular focus: our clients.
The 2009/2010 Staying@Work report details current trends and best practices in companys' health and productivity programs, including employer efforts to improve employee health, combat presenteeism and reduce lost time from work.
Companies that communicate with courage, innovation and discipline, especially during times of economic challenge and change, are more effective at engaging employees and achieving desired business results. Our research has consistently found the firms that communicate effectively with employees are also the best financial performers.
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