Manulife enhances benefits in North America to support well-being of employees and their families

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Nov 17, 2020, 08:00 ET

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Offers increased maternity, adoption and parental leave coverage
Leading adoption, surrogacy and fertility benefits, as well as enhanced coverage for transgender care available to employees

TORONTO, Nov. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife today announced it is increasing its family leave support for its employees in Canada, providing 20 weeks of paid maternity leave and 12 weeks of paid parental and adoption leave, starting on January 1, 2021.

These enhanced leaves build on other family-focused benefits introduced earlier this year for the company's Canadian and U.S. employees which include reimbursement of up to $20,000 per year for adoption and surrogacy support, and fertility medication for those in Canada. In line with the company's strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, this portfolio of benefits is designed to provide support for families of all forms.

"We know what it means for so many of our colleagues to have a family and we are proud to provide this valuable support to help them achieve this important dream," said Pam Kimmet, Manulife's Chief Human Resources Officer. "We're committed to making every day better for our customers and our colleagues, which is why we continually look for opportunities to deliver best-in-class programs that support health and wellbeing, and in ways that work for them."

Manulife's employee benefits have continued to evolve and drive market change since 2017 when the company introduced a $10,000 mental health practitioner benefit for its Canadian employees and their dependents. Since then, Manulife has removed financial barriers for employees in the U.S. to access mental health support by covering out-of-pocket costs for behavioural health and substance addiction. The company has added expanded virtual mental health services through Beacon in Canada, and Talkspace and Sanvello Virtual Care in the U.S. Further, online healthcare is accessible 24/7 through Akira Health in Canada. coverage.

Canadian and U.S. employees and their dependents now have access to fully covered gender affirmation coverage. This includes coverage for surgical procedures such as Adam's apple reductions, cheek augmentation or breast augmentation, as well as non-surgical treatments such as voice training for transgender care.

"As the needs of our employees evolve, the benefits we offer have to as well. Families take many forms, such as single parents, same-sex couples, and transitioning transgender family members. And we look to support these different journeys," said Kimmet.

In Canada, Manulife also now offers new medical marijuana coverage for help with specific health needs.

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we operate as Manulife across our offices in Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. We provide financial advice, insurance, and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2019, we had more than 35,000 employees, over 98,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving almost 30 million customers. As of June 30, 2020, we had $1.2 trillion (US$0.9 trillion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $30.6 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 155 years. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.