Highest gains expected in Ontario, B.C., Quebec
The projected national average base salary increase is expected to drop to 1.39 per cent for 2016 from the 1.99 per cent predicted in November, according to surveys by the Wynford Group.
The highest provincial base salary projections are for Ontario (1.78 per cent), British Columbia (1.64 per cent) and Quebec (1.62 per cent), found the recent survey of over 270 participants, collected in May 2016.
The industries leading 2016 for base salary increases are:
- software development: 2.48 per cent
- financial services: 2.19 per cent
- public sector: 2.13 per cent
- advanced technology: 2.06 per cent
About 52 per cent of nationwide participants indicated they are expecting business levels to remain unchanged the next six months, with 19.7 per cent expecting growth.
But 44 per cent in B.C. and 36 per cent in Ontario and Eastern Canada are expecting growth, while 27 per cent in Alberta have projected economic decline, according to the Wynford Group.
More than one-half of all organizations are not replacing vacancies to reduce their workforce. Other common strategies to reduce human capital expenses were:
• work / job sharing (often supported by EI)
• increasing employee share of benefits costs or reducing RRSP contribution matching
• offering unpaid vacation or leave
• encouraging or incenting unpaid leave and retirement
• increasing the number of unpaid days off
• reducing paid hours of work on a daily basis (most common in energy services).
