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30 SUMMER 2023 JOHNSTON GROUP EMPLOYEE BENEFITS ADDING VALUE TO SUPPORT BUSINESSES In a tight labour market where job seekers can be selective of who they work for, businesses need an edge, something that makes them an employer of choice. It's no surprise that job seekers are interested in salary, but today's businesses are also expected to protect the well-being of each individual in their diverse workforce. This can be complicated. Without a doubt, pharmaceutical, health, travel and life coverages are the primary focus. Everyone wants the big bills to get paid, which is what benefit plans do well, and Johnston Group takes its plans one step further. Supporting businesses is what Johnston Group does best. Employees being productive and the business's interests being protected is what works for everyone. Whether it's the coverage of Chambers Plan for small- and medium-sized firms, or Maximum Benefit for larger firms, they can take care of the benefit needs for everything from one-person companies to corporations with thousands of employees. Johnston Group also administers CINUP for Indigenous-led organizations, with many unique supports for their employees and their communities. Johnston Group, along with their partners, creates innovative products that add value for their well over 30,000 business clients across Canada. That includes supports for both employees and employers. For employees, Johnston Group has added several new online mental health benefits to help plan members deal with their ever- more complex, high-speed lives. Johnston Group works with Teladoc™ Health to provide a proactive whole-person health approach for employees to maximize their well-being with different mental healthcare tools. This has been an investment in creating stronger mental health, rather than simply covering treatment costs. One of these Teladoc programs is myStrength, which is a digital mental health program with proven tools to help people personally tackle issues with stress, depression, sleep quality and more. Teladoc Mental Health Navigator provides plan members with support by having expert psychologists and psychiatrists review a mental health diagnosis and treatment plan, then helps them follow through on a personalized action plan. And Teladoc Mental Health Care will help the plan member to understand a mental health diagnosis and connect them with online or in- person clinical care. For businesses, a heightened awareness of how the work environment also impacts their employees' mental health presents new challenges. Human resource management has become a strikingly more complex element for business owners as they develop new work arrangements. Additionally, supply chain challenges, legal issues, and taxation changes can all create headaches for business owners. In many cases, these are not business owners' areas of expertise, so Johnston Group and their partners incorporated Healthy Business Bookmark – professional guidance and valuable tools in accounting, counselling, legal and human resources coaching – into several of its plans. Johnston Group is all about supporting businesses, and it's good business to have your employees working at their highest level of well-being. An obvious benefit is high productivity, but, perhaps more importantly, is that when employees feel you are invested in them personally, it adds value to your working relationship, building loyalty and helping attract new talent. Johnston Group offers that, but also makes a similar investment in your company's well-being through their culture of innovation and partnership. ■ Learn more about Johnston Group's focus on supporting businesses and their employees at johnstongroup.ca Johnston Group keeps innovating in employee benefits

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