Public Accountability Statement 2019
Public Accountability
Statement2019
2019 Public Accountability Statement: Message from the President and Chief Executive Officer
2019 was a strong year for ivari
I’m pleased to report that the organization saw a year of profitable growth along with strong sales and service results. Our year-over-year life sales increased by 10%, and for the first time in
thirteen years, we achieved over $100M in paid premium.
ivari’s corporate vision and strategy remains consistent – we will continue to partner with aligned advisors to help effectively reach middle market Canadians and provide them with financial peace of mind through a valuable combination of products and services.
Investing in the employee experience
We are great at what we do because of our team.
ivari attracts and retains driven team members who demonstrate adaptability, collaboration, and take ownership of providing middle market Canadians with insurance solutions. We are devoted to creating a positive performance culture and have put considerable focus and budget behind enhancing the employee experience.
In early 2019, we launched the ivari Employee Voice to formally track efforts in enhancing our culture and the employee experience. Through this new tool, we generated more frequent team conversations around alignment of priorities and the organization’s key areas of focus.
In mid-2019, we wrapped up renovations to make our head office more modern, functional and collaborative. We used valuable feedback from our employee focus groups and design teams to achieve our collective vision.
Consistent with our investments in previous years, we offered our employees the chance to fulfill professional and personal goals through wellness programing, rewards and recognition, flexible work arrangements, classroom courses, webinars, workshops, and tuition reimbursement.
Giving back to the communities where we live and work
We are firm believers in demonstrating active citizenship and encourage our teams to support the wellness and development of their communities. In 2019, our corporate donations totaled over $440,000 and spanned many areas of social need from disaster relief to disease prevention.
Through ivari’s Healthy Steps Program, we supported organizations that help teach young people skills to develop healthy habits, particularly in areas like active living, healthy eating and health education. We also sponsored local sports teams and offered employees the opportunity to have their charitable donations matched by ivari.
Our annual United Way/Centraide employee-led campaign, in support of building healthy and strong communities, saw one of the highest participation rates in years.
Finally, members of our team rolled up their sleeves and participated in a Habitat for Humanity Build Day to help provide homes for families in need during one of our giving back initiatives.
This is just a brief glimpse – this Public Accountability Statement will provide you with specific information about our philanthropic activities, charitable donations, and other contributions.
Please take the time to learn more about our organization and great team.
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Our head office is in Toronto with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, London and Montreal.
About Usivari is a leading provider of individual life insurance with $9.9 billion in total assets under
management and total gross premium revenue of $872 million.
ivari Gives BackTotal donations for
the fiscal year:
$447,529.74
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Demonstrating active citizenship and encouraging all employees to support the wellness and development of their communities is an important part of the ivari experience. Our voluntary Charitable Giving committee, made up of employees from across the organization, has put this commitment into action through a number of giving back initiatives:
ivari’s Healthy Steps Program Total donated: $200,000 As a life insurance company, we have a sound understanding of what it takes for people to
lead long and healthy lives. We also know that healthy habits like eating well, and getting enough exercise are best formed when they’re learned as children.
ivari’s Healthy Steps Program focuses on supporting organizations that help young people develop healthy habits, particularly in areas such as active living, healthy eating and health education. Through our program, young people can get a head start on a lifetime of healthy living, and that’s important to us!
Here are the organizations and causes we supported this year:
Organization Donation Our donations support…
Children’s Health Foundation $25,000 The Adapted Fitness Centre at Thames Valley Children’s Centre
East Side Boxing Club (Network of Inner City Community Services)
$20,900 After-school boxing program to introduce youth to exercise and a variety of life skills
Heart & Stroke $18,000 Education for indigenous youth
Lung Association $25,000 After-school lung health/asthma awareness program
KidSport Squamish $5,000 Providing kids with the opportunity to participate in and benefit from organized sports
Right to Play International $18,562 Programs that protect, educate and empower children to rise above challenges through the power of play
Boundless Adventures Association (The Boundless School)
$15,000 Outdoor camps / education for children who are at-risk or suffering from mental health issues
Nanny Angel Network $10,000 Free in-home relief program for children whose moms have cancer or are in palliative care
Sick Kids Foundation $20,000 Mindful eating and healthy lifestyle education programs
Children’s Aid Foundation $25,000 Children in foster programs participating in athletic programs
Wiggles ‘n Giggles $2,538 A range of community and school-based youth & family programs
Dixon Hall $15,000 Team sports to provide mentorship and address youth violence
United Way
In 2019, our annual United Way campaign, in support of building healthy and strong
communities, raised over $172,000. Over the last 7 years we have contributed over
$970,000 to this cause.
Why United Way? It’s simple: we choose this organization because their mission – to improve
lives and build communities by engaging and mobilizing collective action – aligns with our
fundamental commitment to embody active citizenship. Their outcome-based approach to
alleviating poverty, building healthy, strong communities, and allowing children to be all they
can be, helps make our communities better places to live and work. Employees from across
the country participate in our annual campaign which includes special events, contests,
guest speakers, and more.
Matching gifts
Our employees open their hearts and wallets to help those in need by making personal contributions to Canadian
charities. To show our support, we double their impact by matching employee donations of $50-$500 to Canadian
registered charities. Together, we raised $15,020 for charities in our community.
Special initiatves
Every year our Charitable Giving committee allocates funds for special initiatives. In 2019 we made significant contributions
toward sports sponsorships, Habitat for Humanity, Ride for Heart, Big Brother Big Sister Paddle Royale and several disaster
relief funds (Cyclone Idai, Ontario/New Brunswick/Quebec flooding, Hurricane Dorian Bahamas Relief and Philippine
typhoon appeal). These contributions totaled $59,781.77.
Employee Volunteer Program
As part of this program, we grant each employee up to 12 hours a year to volunteer with a registered charity that is close
to their heart.
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Total Raised: $172,727.97
Employee online donations:$83,508.26
Corporate Match$83,508.26
Special events$5,711.45
No. of Donors UW Region Dollar Amount
320 Toronto $ 76,933.86
6 Calgary $ 1,691.02
1 Saskatchewan $100.00
8 Montreal $1,718.10
5 Other $3,065.28
340 $83,508.26
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Heartwarming highlights
Here’s a closer look at how we got involved to help make a difference in our communities.
The Adapted Fitness Centre at Thames Valley Children’s Centre
Through the Children’s Health Foundation, ivari supports The Adapted Fitness Centre at Thames Valley Children’s Centre.
This facility was specially designed for children and youth with varying disabilities that make it difficult for them to use a
conventional community gym. With customized programs, specialized equipment and ongoing support, The Adapted
Fitness Centre provides an excellent alternative that allows children like Leo to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle.
“ The Adapted Fitness Centre has helped me get stronger, gave me better balance and helped me with my disability.
I like coming here because it’s a smaller atmosphere and I get to work with someone who pushes me to do my best.
Thank you for donating…it really means a lot to people like me.” – Leo, a client at Thames Valley Children’s Centre
Habitat for Humanity Build Day
We strongly believe in the Habitat for Humanity vision – A world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live.
That’s why for the past three years, ivari employees have rolled up their sleeves to participate in the Habitat for Humanity
Pinery Trail Build. Last September, alongside the experienced Habitat for Humanity crew, ivari employees spent a cool
September day working hard to help build homes for lower income families. Once Build Projects are complete, families
are able to own affordable houses and build financial independence and stability through Habitat’s Homeownership
Program. The most rewarding part is knowing that these families will now have a safe place to call home, where their
children can grow and thrive.
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Investing in our TeamWith a workforce of over 500 employees, we are committed to creating a positive performance culture and we aim to
attract and retain driven individuals who demonstrate adaptability, collaboration, clarity and enthusiasm to take ownership.
That’s why we choose to offer an attractive employee program that supports growth and development. We want our
employees to love where they work just as much as we want our customers to love working with us.
We’ll let these numbers tell the story: In 2019, we had over 71 employees celebrate a 10+ year anniversary with the company.
Here are some program highlights that demonstrate our commitment:
1. Learning and Development
Training summary
An important element of our growing performance culture at ivari is learning and development. We have a skilled
team of adult educators, designers and developers within our Human Resources department who are dedicated
to supporting personal and professional development. We firmly believe in the concept of life-long learning, and
offer numerous, diverse opportunities for employees to grow their skills. Whether it is through classroom courses,
eLearning, online book and video summaries, webinars or workshops, all employees can explore thousands of
options to fulfill their professional and personal learning objectives.
Courses are offered on traditional topics such as The Basics of Life Insurance and Communication Skills in addition
to a whole range of personal interest courses like Getting Things Done, Introduction to Tai Chi, Balancing Work &
Life and Advanced Microsoft Excel. Our internal learning platform (the Learn Centre) along with our external partner
content (Cyber University, getAbstract, Get Control!) allow employees to learn on a variety of topics when it’s most
convenient for them, at work or at home, and even on their mobile devices.
Training hours
In 2019, 549 employees invested over 2,800 hours toward our courses in the employee Learn Centre. In addition,
through our external learning partner sites, ivari employees viewed over 400 productivity-related videos and
personally downloaded over 29,000 book, audio and video summaries for their own development.
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Tuition Reimbursement
In addition to offering courses through our Learning and Development department internally, we also have a
robust tuition reimbursement program for employees who seek out external training and development opportunities.
In 2019, 8 employees took advantage of this program and $9,457.59 was invested in employee professional
development.
Life Office Management Association (LOMA) Program
In 2019, 38 employees successfully completed at least one of LOMA’s courses, furthering their knowledge of life
insurance and the industry as a whole. A total of 78 courses were completed overall. This also included 2 individuals
who earned their Fellow, Life Management Institute (FLMI) designation.
2. Competitive compensation packages
We proudly choose to offer competitive compensation packages that help us attract and retain employees.
Comprehensive compensation for full-time employees includes:
• Market-competitive salary • Extended health care, dental, life insurance and disability benefits
• Merit increases • Opportunity to participate in a company-sponsored pension plan
• Performance bonuses • Opportunity to participate in an employee savings plan
3. Rewarding and recognizing our team
At ivari, we celebrate and recognize our great team of employees who listen, collaborate and work hard to find the
best solution for our customers. Rewarding and recognizing employees for a job well done is an integral part of the
ivari employee experience.
Our Rewards & Recognition program allows employees to nominate each other for a noteworthy performance or
a high degree of consistency in delivering service. Nominees then redeem gift cards for use at over 150 retailers,
restaurants and service providers across Canada.
This fiscal year, 212 employees participated in our Rewards & Recognition program.
We also proudly launched the quarterly ivari Spotlight Award. The award has given us the opportunity to provide
meaningful recognition to employees who have made significant and measurable contributions to moving our
business forward. Management nominates both an individual and a team for each quarter.
4. Enhancing the employee experience
The ivari Employee Voice
In early 2019, we proudly launched the ivari Employee Voice to formally track efforts in enhancing our culture
and the employee experience. Through this new tool, we generated more frequent team conversations around
alignment of priorities and the organization’s key areas of focus. This ongoing process involves gathering feedback
on our culture through short question sets, reviewing the data as a management team, implementing actions and,
finally, sharing targeted questions to determine if employees feel the actions enhanced our culture. Our year-over-
year engagement scores continue to grow.
Modernizing our head office
In mid-2019, we wrapped up extensive renovations to make our space more modern, functional and collaborative.
We used valuable feedback from our employee focus groups and design teams to achieve our collective vision.
Feedback from both our employees and distribution partners has been overwhelmingly positive and we feel well
positioned to meet ivari’s current and future spacing needs.
Renovation highlights:
• Upgraded common spaces: cafeteria, games room, meeting rooms and kitchenettes
• Low-impact gym
• New remote capability technology in meetings rooms
5. Flexible Work Arrangements for a modern workforce
The Work/Life balance theme is becoming a central focus in the Canadian workforce and a greater theme of
corporate discussion. We understand the overall importance of balancing professional and personal commitments –
so we offer flexible work arrangement options to our employees. While employees benefit from a flexible schedule,
we benefit from having engaged employees who are more productive, innovative and committed. At ivari we offer
the following types of flexible work arrangements:
• Flex time • Job sharing • Telecommuting
• Part time • Compressed work week • Working remotely
• Reduced work week
6. Health and wellness is important to us
With more publicly accessible information and resources for managing our health than ever before, we understand
our important role as a company in promoting healthy lifestyles. Our Wellness program provides a combinationof
educational and organizational activities to help employees adopt a healthier lifestyle. In 2019, we offered several
health and wellness initiatives:
• In the spring, together with organizations that promote overall healthy living, we hosted our annual
Wellness Fair at our Toronto office. We invited individuals to share fun ways to get moving and be active and
professionals provided insightful information on diet, nutrition and activities for mental well-being. An exciting
new addition this year was the incorporation of organizations that shared ways to get involved in environmental
sustainability efforts.
• We continued to offer yoga onsite weekly to allow employees to relax and relieve stress. This year, we even
got the opportunity to introduce a beginner yoga series in response to a growing interest from employees.
• We hosted a new “Unwind Hour” series where we introduced lunch hour wellness events and programming
aimed at helping employees de-stress and unwind. During this time, employees participated in a variety of
activities like 30-minute meditation sessions, an introduction to Tai Chi lesson, and Lunch & Learns on various
self-improvement topics. We also held a planting session where employees got to spend time getting their
hands dirty and clearing their minds by planting their own succulents – this was a big hit!
7. Respectful Workplaces
Our Respect in the Workplace policy is actively enforced throughout the organization. In accordance with the
Human Rights Code, employees have a right to equal treatment without discrimination because of race, ancestry,
place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression,
age, marital status, family status or disability. The policy clearly articulates the responsibilities of management and
employees, and is a key module of our leadership training program.
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8. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy describes our practices for the collection, use, disclosure and protection of personal data
collected at all stages of employment from recruitment to completion, and policy acquisition from application to
claims settlements. To further underscore our commitment to ethical business conduct, our Privacy Office works to
address and resolve all privacy issues. The Office also works together with business units and distributors to mitigate
risk, protect corporate reputation and champion privacy awareness throughout ivari.
9. Getting together and having some fun!
We try not to miss an opportunity to get together to celebrate our achievements and have some fun. Maintaining
positive morale is a task we take to heart.
Here’s a look at some of the events and activities we hosted in 2019:
• Two all-employee meetings in Toronto that featured key-note speakers from different levels of the organization.
• Our Annual Employee Appreciation Day celebration with games, giveaways, and a catered lunch.
• A delicious all-employee Thanksgiving lunch.
• Various “desk drops” for employees - healthy granola bars on Blue Monday, ivari lunch bags in the summer, candy
apples to celebrate fall.
• ‘Game Night – The Rematch’ and ‘A Jingle & Mingle Showdown’ – two fun-filled game night events hosted by
ivari’s Young Professionals Group.
We ended the year on a sweet note with an entertaining, ‘Sweet Shop’ themed holiday party for all employees.
Employees across Canada:
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Alberta British Columbia Saskatchewan Ontario Quebec Total
Full time 14 8 1 471 17 511
Part time - - - 2 - 2
Contract - - - 26 1 27
Total 14 8 1 499 18 540
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Supporting Our Customers & Business PartnersWe’re here for you!
ivari is committed to making it easier for Canadians to get the life insurance they need. Creating positive customer
experiences is important to us. That’s why we place such great emphasis on continuous improvement with a focus
on clear communication and consumer awareness about life insurance.
Customer Experience
Getting feedback is an essential part of creating positive experiences for our customers, and the sooner the feedback is
collected, the more valuable it is. That’s why we listen to feedback as part of our quality review. As a coaching tool, we
review a random sampling of every Customer Service Representative’s calls every month.
Our goal is to create a value added experience during every customer interaction. Using our customer service scorecard,
we take a balanced approach in measuring both accountability (completing the task correctly, providing accurate
information) and authenticity (customer experience).
Every year, we participate in an industry-wide survey of advisors to find out how they rate our service. In 2019, we were
rated first in the following categories:
• Overall company service:
– Prompt turnaround times
– Listening and responding to field concerns and issues
• New Business:
– Competitive underwriting decisions
– Ease of contacting a case manager
– Ease of contacting an underwriter
– Ease of use of new business illustration systems
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• Inforce administrative service:
– Fair policy claims decisions
– Prompt and efficient processes for policy claims
– Prompt turnaround times for inforce administration
– Ease of obtaining Head Office help
• Critical Illness:
– Overall service
– Prompt critical illness new business turnaround times
– Ease of contacting a critical illness underwriter
We will continue to focus on creating the best overall customer experience possible. As the Client Services motto goes,
“Make them want to contact us!”
Advisor Education Support
• We provide advisors with opportunities to participate in our accredited seminars and workshops throughout the year.
• Advisors earn Continuing Education Credits for regulatory purposes, while at the same time expanding their
knowledge about industry trends, effective financial strategies, and ethical business practices.
• We provide marketing materials, illustration software and digital tools to help advisors educate their clients on the
need for life insurance solutions, and quickly highlight the most appropriate strategy for their circumstances.
• Our support tools are aimed at enhancing the experience of our policyholders with advisors, strengthening our
partnership with advisors, and advancing a healthy and responsible financial services industry.
Corporate Governance
• Our corporate governance models are well-defined and highly visible. They protect the interests of all our stakeholders
as well as our bottom line.
• On an annual basis, employees confirm both their understanding of ivari’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, and
that they have and will continue to abide by it.
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Supporting Our Customers & Business PartnersRisk Management and Control Practices
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is an established organizational framework with related policies and procedures
that ivari has in place for managing the significant risks associated with its business and operations. ERM consists of the
ongoing process of developing, implementing and monitoring financial and non-financial strategies with the ultimate
goal of achieving ongoing stability to meet ivari’s contractual obligations and increase shareholder value within a
given set of risk tolerances.
The Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for the company’s risk management, and regularly monitors risk
management policies and practices.
ivari
2019 Taxes Paid
Income Taxes Capital Taxes Premium Tax Total
Newfoundland - - 120,338 120,338
Prince Edward Island - - 36,357 36,357
Nova Scotia - - 225,156 225,156
New Brunswick - - 97,035 97,035
Quebec - 5,450 6,209,565 6,215,015
Ontario 201,988 2,287,743 6,950,608 9,440,339
Manitoba - - 440,697 440,697
Saskatchewan - - 546,281 546,281
Alberta - - 4,840,002 4,840,002
British Columbia - - 2,439,510 2,439,510
Yukon - - 17,171 17,171
Northwest Territories - - 18,053 18,053
Nunavut - - 1,250 1,250Federal* 3,770,575 706,918 - 4,477,493
Total 3,972,563 3,000,111 21,942,023 28,914,697
*Includes agreeing provinces.
TM ivari and the ivari logos are trademarks of ivari Holdings ULC. ivari is licensed to use such marks.
CO980 5/20
500-5000 Yonge StreetToronto, Ontario M2N 7J8ivari.ca
With a national network of thousands of independent, professional advisors, ivari provides a full
range of insurance products to help Canadians make the right choice for their protection needs.
The people, products and service that make up ivari have stood the test of time and have been
in the Canadian marketplace since 1928. We are committed to being approachable and transparent
in everything we do, and we will stand by our word. Visit us at ivari.ca.