Key Findings & Highlights:

This NelsonHall vendor assessment analyzes LifeWorks’s offerings and capabilities in Benefits Administration Services.

LifeWorks (previously Morneau Shepell), headquartered in Ontario, Canada, is an HR services and technology provider offering employee and family assistance, health and wellness, recognition, absence management, pension, and benefits administration.

Founded in 1966 as an actuarial and benefit consulting firm, in 1997, W.F. Morneau & Associates merged with Sobeco in 1997 to establish Morneau Sobeco. It expanded to the U.S. in 1987 and began its outsourcing practice in 1996.  Morneau Shepell was then formed in May 2008 through Morneau Sobeco's acquisition of Shepell-fgi, a Canadian employee health management and workplace training education services provider. It continued a path of acquisitions and, in 2019, made a significant acquisition of Mercer’s large market stand-alone health and pension administration businesses. In 2020 Morneau Shepell rebranded to LifeWorks.

The LifeWorks business is organized into three business lines (with the approximate share of revenues):

• Integrated Health Solutions (48%): a global EAP offering to provide the entire continuum of well-being care to achieve mental, physical, social, and financial well-being. Solutions include a range of well-being and clinical services offered within employee and family assistance plans, along with corporate reward, recognition, and perks programs focusing on employee engagement and workforce productivity, all managed through the LifeWorks cloud-based proprietary platform. In addition, LifeWorks provides end of end solutions related to absence management including attendance support, leave management, disability management and workers’ compensation. Solutions across EAP and absence management are easily integrated into a seamless user experience.
• Administrative Solutions (40%): includes pension administration, H&W benefits administration, HR call centers, pension and benefits software, and total rewards communication
• Retirement Solutions (12%): includes actuarial services; asset and risk management; compensation consulting; DC consulting; employee communication services; implemented consulting; international regulatory consulting; investment consulting; legal consulting, compliance, and governance support; pension design; pension regulatory services; retirement planning; and total pension outsourcing.

In addition, LifeWorks has a dedicated communications division that supports clients across all its businesses.  LifeWorks has 7k employees supporting ~25k clients and ~36m plan participants.  Its clients include:

• Plan sponsors
• Public sector organizations
• Not-for-profit organizations and associations
• Third-party administrators:
  • Insurance companies which require billing administration for individuals and groups
  • Outsourcing vendors who use LifeWorks as their back-office solution for DB pension and H&W programs.