A company should review its mission, vision and values on a regular basis to ensure that they correspond to its current reality and reflect its key orientations. AGA Benefit Solutions carried out this process in recent months, and it led to developing a new brand promise: The best of people and technology. In this interview, Martin Papillon, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Chantal Dufresne, Senior Vice President, Finance and Operations, discuss the path that led to the new mission, vision and values, and what this means for our current and future clients.

Why did AGA decide to review its mission, vision and values?

Martin Papillon (MP): Since 2020, we’ve expanded considerably, both through organic growth and six strategic acquisitions. So it makes sense to pause and see if our raison d’être is still the same, if it’s clear, and if it’s well communicated both inside and outside the company.

Chantal Dufresne (CD): We’ve often expressed our desire to grow from a regional leader to a nationwide player. When we arrived at AGA in 2013, the company had 80 employees; now it has over 300. One of the benefits of the mission-vision-values exercise is to ensure that everyone is aligned and understands the framework for making their decisions.

How did the revamp go, and did you have any surprises in the process?

CD: (Laughing) It’s a bit like going to the psychologist... It’s an opportunity to ask fundamental questions, like ‘What makes us unique?’, ‘Where do we want to go from here?’... Along with external partners specialized in corporate strategy, we dug right in and consulted our Executive committee, interviewed clients, and dissected our employee surveys...

I must say that one of the surprises was that, over time, we’ve stayed true to what sets us apart: our unique position as a third-party payer / administrator (TPP/TPA), our personalized customer care, and our technology, which is constantly adapting to simplify our clients’ lives. The picture that emerges is that we’ve stayed the course, and that the employees who’ve joined AGA have embraced our principal objectives.

Among other things, the mission talks about helping clients strengthen their corporate culture. In concrete terms, how can AGA play that role?

MP: There was a lot of talk 10 to 15 years ago about benefits ‘coming to an end’ – that the new generation only wanted a salary and that the rest didn’t matter anymore. This hasn’t happened! Now, more than ever, companies are looking for ways to stand out, and their benefit plans are part of promoting their employer brand. They want to be sure to offer their employees peace of mind so they’re able to focus on being as efficient as possible at work. With the products we offer and our easy-to-use administration platforms, we enable organizations of all sizes to provide attractive plans at reasonable prices, and that’s a plus.

Definitely, benefits are a way for an organization to shape its culture, to convey a message about its personality and what makes it unique in a context of attraction and retention.

The vision is ambitious and mentions ‘redefining the future of work.’ How can AGA help with this?

MP: The recent launch of our Exclusive Benefits for Members program, with its unique offers at discounted prices on physical, mental and financial health, is tangible proof that employee benefits are changing with society. Of course, we’ll always need antibiotics and a visit to the dentist, but employers and employees have a growing interest in distinctive products. Ten or 15 years ago, an employee benefit offering would not have mentioned sleep therapy, support for finding a retirement home for their parents, or help for dealing with a chronic illness... But now, complementary products are booming.

And savings plans have diversified. People are now putting money aside not just for retirement, but to buy property, for personal projects... and employers can facilitate this. We have the resources to support employers in doing so.

CD: The future of work is also about how technology is evolving. Our strengths include our plan administration services and HRIS software such as Cangaroo. HR managers have access to high-performance tools, so they can spend less time on administrative aspects and fulfill their role more effectively. We’ll continue to invest heavily over the next few years to improve our administration systems and self-service portals for employers and employees, so that people can do more and more things online, more easily.

Tell us about the three values. Why were they chosen to embody the culture of AGA and its employees?

MP: “Stronger Together” has always been part of AGA's DNA. First of all, we get our people to work together and we encourage knowledge sharing to be able to offer more to our clients. Of course, it also refers to the acquisitions we’ve made and will continue to make to broaden our portfolio of solutions and have resources across the country.

CD: “Innovate to Lead” is expressed through our role as one of Canada’s leading TPA/TPP, as I mentioned earlier. It also defines us as an agile organization that’s not afraid to try things and to constantly challenge itself. Our employees know that they can always suggest changes, that they’re experts in what they do, and that we expect them to identify opportunities for improvement. This is what has enabled us to get ahead and progress.

MP: “Lift Others Up” is an important part of our new values. It’s not just about working together, but really making sure that we challenge our employees to get them out of their comfort zone, in order to grow our people and the company. It also means lifting up our clients, who are often HR generalists, and not hesitating to share our knowledge with them so that they excel.

You’re taking the opportunity to unveil a new brand promise: The best of people and technology. What’s the meaning behind this?

CD: I’d describe it this way: at AGA, people make technology better, and technology makes people better. It was important to have both aspects in our brand promise. It highlights that our employees are integral to our success and, by extension, to our clients’ success.

MP: We’ve succeeded in offering human-scale technology solutions, designed by our people, at a competitive cost in the Canadian market. We’re recognized in the market for this, and we’re proud of it.

What does the rest of 2025 have in store for AGA?

MP: We’ll be pursuing our national expansion strategy. We’ve formalized our processes for finding and integrating acquisitions, and we’re putting more resources into these processes. We’ve developed expertise in identifying companies that add value, and in integrating them effectively into the AGA model, and we’ll continue to do so.

CD: As everyone can see, 2025 is going to be a year of transition. Our clients are aware of the economic and political upheavals on the horizon, and need guidance to navigate them. Labour challenges are ongoing, and we know that cost management remains an issue. It’s going to be a busy year, but we’re ready for it!