Total Rewards: What’s New in Advancing DEI   

Over the past year, the North American political landscape has seen intensified scrutiny of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Legislative, normative and sectoral changes have affected several components of total rewards in Canada with direct impact on equity and inclusion in the workplace, including access to group benefits, transparency and the employee experience.

Despite these mounting pressures and seemingly slowing pace of DEI investment, regulatory and structural transformations are continuing to pave the way towards greater equity and inclusion. 

The work of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries has highlighted a major development: the integration of gender identity into actuarial standards. This modernization of practice standards, officially published in January 2026, encourages pension plans to better reflect diversity and prompts the industry to re-evaluate its current practices. 

Effects on DEI: 

• Recognition of the realities experienced by trans and non-binary people; 
• Highlights the need to adapt communications, forms and, in some cases, actuarial calculations; 
• Greater responsibility on plan administrators to ensure equity and inclusion. 

Meanwhile, environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors continue to play an increasingly important role in plan administration: 

• Plan administrators are better integrating social factors, including DEI, into their investment and governance decisions; 
• Guideline No. 10, issued by the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities (CAPSA) in late 2024, defines ESG issues as an integral part of fiduciary risk management and asks administrators to consider their influence on the plan; 
• Although most pension plan legislation does not explicitly require trustees to take ESG criteria into account, expectations around transparency and fiduciary responsibility with respect to ESG risk management are on the rise. 

The overlap between modernized actuarial standards and strengthened ESG criteria underlines the growing importance of adopting an integrated approach: providing equitable pension and savings plans while considering the social and environmental impacts of financial decisions.

Expectations around social disclosures are growing. Emerging frameworks such as the TISFD (Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures) establish guidelines for disclosures related to equity and social issues. 

Effects on DEI: 

• Encourages business practices that contribute to improving measures of inequality in organizations;  
• Provides a clearer framework for how asset managers can incorporate equity considerations into investment decision-making. 

The complete integration of psychosocial risks (PSRs) into Quebec legislation (Law 27: An Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime) is one of the most significant developments of the past year. By recognizing factors such as organizational justice, workload and support in the workplace, the Act gives psychological health and HR practices a central role in prevention. 

Effects on DEI: 

• Recognition of organizational justice as a risk factor strengthens the importance of equitable HR practices; 
• More comprehensive and useable data is being obtained through PSR surveys and organizational assessments; 
• Stronger synergy between areas of expertise in Total Rewards (health, measurement and DEI) promotes fair working environments. 

Organizations must ensure that health and wellness offerings are: 

• Communicated and structured in ways that reflect the differing needs of multiple generations in the workforce. 
• Designed to support continued workforce participation through measures such as partial disability arrangements, which help to retain talent while managing costs. 

The world of group benefits has also undergone structural change, particularly in Quebec with Bill 68, which eases referral requirements for many paramedical services. This measure is primarily designed to reduce the administrative burden on physicians. 

Effects on DEI: 

• Reduced barriers to accessing professional healthcare services; 
• Improved access to medical and orthopedic equipment. 

The year also saw an increase in specialized services, particularly healthcare support for Indigenous people and bereavement support. 

In the area of compensation, organizations are preparing for the implementation of Ontario’s Pay Transparency Act, which requires salary ranges to be disclosed in the majority of job postings. For organizations, this requirement involves more than just adjusting posting practices, it also creates increased pressure around ensuring internal consistency, despite a legislative context that varies from province to province. 

Effects on DEI: 

• Pay transparency solidifies its role as a major lever for reducing the wage gaps experienced by various groups, including women, racialized people and young workers; 
• Differences in regulations from province to province make it more complex to apply consistent practices and push organizations to review their salary governance. 

At the same time, Federal Bill C-59 calls for organizations to exercise greater discipline in how they communicate environmental claims. Many have had to revise the environmental representations they make to the public to ensure they reflect their current practices and operations, ultimately impacting compensation design. 

Effects on DEI: 

• This legislation makes organizations more accountable for the validity of their ESG representations and encourages them to incorporate solid control mechanisms (governance) to validate, document and justify any environmental or social positioning;  
• With the rise in regulatory risk, the adoption of performance indicators is expected,  

particularly for executive and senior manager compensation, in order to incorporate ESG criteria and measure alignment between communication and action. 

The topic of communication has been largely revisited from a DEI perspective, particularly to ensure a balance is struck between accessibility and inclusion. 

At the federal level, Accessibility Standards Canada has published Canada’s first plain language standard. This resource outlines requirements for helping people find, understand and use information, thereby reducing barriers and meeting the needs of diverse audiences, including people with disabilities. 

Meanwhile, the Québec government has officially adopted rules on inclusive writing in government communications, aimed at linguistic consistency and the uniform application of writing standards. This initiative is part of an effort to clearly define expected practices for the public administration. 

Effects on DEI: 

• Promotes clear, accessible communications while maintaining neutral, inclusive language; 
• Aligns practices to ensure accessibility, compliance with standards and sensitivity to diverse realities; 
• Improves equity of access to information, particularly for people with specific needs or using assistive technology. 

Digital accessibility remains a key topic, particularly with the publication of the first drafts of WCAG 3.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 3.0), which establishes standards for making web content more accessible. 

Effects on DEI: 

• Greater attention paid to people with visual, hearing, cognitive or motor impairments; 
• HR teams accountable for ensuring communication tools are accessible; 
• Certain accessibility rules integrated into client platform development. 

Total Rewards continue to serve as a major lever for reducing employment inequalities and encouraging organizations to integrate DEI into all their practices for a more equitable employee experience.  

In the North American context, where some organizations are hesitant to pursue their commitments due to governance-related challenges, legislative and societal developments inevitably restore DEI’s central place in decision-making. Now more than ever, organizations that move forward in a planned manner instead of being reactive are on the most sustainable and successful path.

Article written by: 

Raja Abid, Ph.D.
Consultant, Compensation, Talent and Culture, Sustainability Specialist 

Céline Morellon, CPHR, ICP-AHR, TRIMA
Senior Principal, Compensation, Talent and Culture, Sustainability Specialist 

Joanie Coutu-Bellerose, M.Sc., CHRP
Principal, Compensation, Talent and Culture