“Employee benefits” encompass all forms of insurance, perks, support resources, or compensation that are provided to employees over and above their base salaries and wages. VIU offers a broad set of benefits and resources to support employee well-being. The variety can make it difficult to navigate where to start or what the best service is for your current situation.
VIU’s Employee Health, Well-Being and Benefits webpages have benefits details in the following sections:
- Benefits and Pension Information
- Frequently Asked Questions About Benefits
- At-Work Support, Medical Leaves & Rehabilitation
- Employee Well-Being
The most commonly thought-of employee benefits are extended health and dental benefits.
For VIU employees and dependants, these group benefits are available through Manulife and include coverage for prescription medications, dental work, eyeglasses and professional services including registered massage therapy, chiropractic treatment and physiotherapy.
Did you know?
VIU extended health benefits also provide coverage for medical equipment, orthopaedic shoes, and wigs and hairpieces for patients with temporary hair loss as a result of medical treatment? Extended health coverage also includes emergency travel assistance (i.e. medical coverage while you are travelling) for you and your covered dependants. Claims can easily be submitted by paper, online, and through the Manulife group benefits app.
If you are eligible for VIU group benefits, you also have access to Manulife Vitality
Vitality is a wellness app -- separate from the Manulife app-- that rewards you for making healthy lifestyle choices. Each week you will get a weekly target of Vitality Points to achieve by earning physical activity workouts throughout the week. Each time you reach this target you get a reward such as a $5-$10 gift card to Chapters/Indigo or coins toward a reward. This program is optimized by using wearable fitness tracker but, whether you use a wearable device or not, these rewards can really add up – download Vitality from the Apple or Android app store to start collecting your points.
VIU supports employee well-being
We want to support you to achieve a greater sense of well-being and overall life balance by offering a wide variety of resources found on the Employee Well-Being pages. Links to useful and trusted websites have been carefully curated to provide you with information to support you in six dimensions of wellness: physical, nutritional, intellectual, social and community, mental and emotional, and spiritual.
Homewood Health: VIU’s Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP)
Homewood Health has an array of support for your mental and emotional well-being, as well as resources to encourage healthy living with their Life Smart coaching programs. They also provide wellness supports including online CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy through their Sentio app). All Homewood Health supports are 100% confidential and can be accessed by you, the employee, and your eligible dependants.
Our goal is to enhance employee health and well-being at work and beyond. Explore our Health, Well-Being and Benefits webpages to support your health – there’s so much to discover! Questions? Email Benefits@viu.ca
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