Chair's message to shareholders

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to extend my appreciation to all our employees for delivering another year of impressive business performance for LifeWorks and for their resilience through an extraordinarily challenging period related to COVID-19.

The Board is pleased by the commitment of the Company’s leadership team to ensuring that the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees continues to be our top priority. This is not only the right thing to do but, as the Company’s record employee engagement and client satisfaction levels in 2020 indicate, very good for business. It is a source of pride that our clients have increasing confidence in our Company to support the wellbeing of their workforce during a difficult time for so many. The Company’s intention to change its name to LifeWorks is up for approval at our Annual Meeting of Shareholders this year. This proposed name change, fully endorsed by the Board, is timely given the growth of the Company and the evolution of wellbeing markets. The Company’s LifeWorks total wellbeing platform is well-established today as a global market leader, continuing to innovate by offering services in fast-growing health areas such as telemedicine and iCBT. The Board believes that under the LifeWorks name the Company’s brand has a greater potential to grow and evolve as the global power brand in wellbeing markets being transformed by integrated digital platforms that deliver high-quality, affordable health and wellbeing services.

2020 was pivotal on multiple strategic fronts for the Company. During the year there was continued progress in strengthening the company’s presence in fast-growing wellbeing markets and expanding its portfolio of digital wellbeing solutions. The final integration phases of the LifeWorks and Mercer acquisitions were completed. The Company is well prepared strategically and operationally to build on its long track record of delivering sustainably profitable growth as a leader in its core businesses. In recent years, environmental social and governance (ESG) issues have risen to the top of the agenda in public companies. At Morneau Shepell we are committed to ensuring our workplace culture and operating standards meet best practices. Given the context of COVID-19 and the prominence of the anti-racism fight that has rapidly expanded into a global civil rights movement, it’s never been more urgent for companies to demonstrate a strong commitment to the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. In addition to the Company publishing an annual ESG (previously CSR) report for the first time in 2020, the Board updated its Board Diversity Policy to better align it with the Board’s diversity objectives.

This year, at our annual meeting, Kish Kapoor will step down from the Board after almost three years as a Director. As a distinguished business leader in the financial services sector, and an experienced corporate director, we will miss Kish’s contributions to our deliberations and his high-spirited collegiality. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Kish for his contributions to Morneau Shepell and we all wish him well on his future endeavours.

Last fall, we were very pleased to welcome three new Board members – Robert Courteau, Brad Levy and Chitra Nayak – each recognized as leaders in their respective fields.

In closing, the Board is confident in the Company’s leadership and the capabilities of its employees in taking the Company forward successfully. On behalf of the Board, I’d like to thank our leadership team, our dedicated employees across the company, and our shareholders, clients and partners for their contributions to the Company’s success last year.