Many organizations often grapple with the dilemma of whether they are offering too little or too much in compensation. Striking the right balance is vital because inadequate compensation can result in high turnover rates and difficulties in attracting top talent. On the other hand, overpaying can negatively impact your organization’s bottom line.
According to the Telus Health Salary Projection Report for 2024, the report predicts that the national average salary increase is expected to reach 3.64%, excluding considerations for salary freezes. When taking salary freezes into account, this figure is slightly lower at 3.56%. These statistics highlight that employers are continuing to increase salaries across Canada. Organizations need to make informed decisions about their compensation strategies to remain competitive and effectively address changes in the labour market.
Article: Pay Legislation Update for British Columbia
Recently British Columbia has introduced new pay legislation to address the issue of the gender pay gap. As of Nov. 1, 2023, all employers with job postings open to BC residents will be required to include wage /salary ranges on all publicly advertised jobs. Additionally, BC employers will not be able to ask prospective employees for pay history information or punish employees who disclose their pay to co-workers or potential job applicants – actions known to contribute to the gender pay gap.
Starting November 1, 2023, BC employers will gradually be required to complete publicly available annual pay transparency reports. Requirement is being introduced in stages, by number of employees, to give employers time to prepare. This requirement will initially apply to BC’s public service agency and Crown corporations, starting from November 1, 2023. By November 1, 2024, it will extend to companies with over 1,000 employees, followed by those with over 300 employees in 2025, employers with over 50 employees by 2026 and eventually all employers in 2027. This progressive approach demonstrates British Columbia’s commitment to closing the gender pay gap and promoting a more inclusive and fair society. Employers should start preparing for the upcoming reporting requirements to ensure compliance with the new legislation.
Salopek offers a comprehensive range of consulting services, carefully designed to enhance a company’s Total Rewards Strategy. These services ensure the strategy’s effectiveness in attracting, motivating, and retaining top talent.
What does this mean for other provinces?
Understanding the importance of this information can provide numerous advantages to the organization, allowing it to proactively prepare for various scenarios. One significant aspect to consider is the requirement to post salary or wage ranges for jobs that are open to BC residents. This specification carries significant implications for recruitment strategies and approaches in other provinces across Canada.
By developing a clear and comprehensive compensation philosophy and understanding of legislative obligations, organizations are better equipped to anticipate potential challenges that might arise. It enables the formulation of effective strategies and the implementation of necessary measures, both of which are critical to ensuring the organization’s success. This allows the organization to stay ahead of the competition by being well-informed and ready to act.
This is where Salopek & Associates can assist you. Salopek offers a wide range of consulting services to help you develop a competitive compensation philosophy and package that not only meets the requirements of the current job market but also contributes significantly to the long-term success and growth of your organization.
Salopek provides an extensive suite of consulting services carefully designed to optimize a company’s Compensation Strategy and ensure its effectiveness in attracting, motivating, and retaining top talent. Support that Salopek’s Compensation Consultants can provide includes the following:
Compensation Philosophy Development: Salopek’s Compensation Consultants work closely with their clients to develop and tailor a Compensation Philosophy that defines an organization’s approach to compensation in alignment with their business needs.
Development and Implementation of Job Evaluation Tools: Salopek’s Compensation Consultants can develop a comprehensive Job Evaluation Tool to support pay is fair and equitable across your organization. as well as ensure ongoing compliance for pay equity. Job evaluation tools help to ensure organizations are effectively and consistently evaluating how jobs are levelled across an organization, which is foundational in ensuring employees are compensated fairly for the work they do, as well as ensuring jobs with similar levels of responsibly and skills are compensated at a similar level. A job evaluation framework requires clear and concise job descriptions which support the foundation for clear expectations and requirements, as related to performance management, can lead to decreased time to hire in recruitment and help support Leadership Teams in determining annual budgets for employee compensation more effectively and accurately.
Total Compensation Review and Analysis: Salopek’s Compensation Consultants conduct thorough and detailed reviews and analysis of an organizations existing compensation offerings to ensure competitiveness in the market. This evaluation covers various components of compensation such as base salaries, bonuses, benefits, and perks, identifying potential areas for improvement and making necessary adjustments to enhance the overall compensation offering.
Custom Salary Surveys: When salary data is not readily available for unique roles or niche industries, Salopek’s team can develop custom salary surveys to help your organization gather salary and benefit data relevant to your industry. This allows the organization to gain a clear understanding of where they stand in terms of compensation and make necessary adjustments to attract and retain top talent.
Expert Guidance on Salary Structure Development: Recognizing the significance of a well-aligned salary structure with the overall compensation strategy, Salopek’s experienced Consultants offer expert recommendations and assistance in developing and optimizing a salary structure. They ensure that it is perfectly integrated with the company’s compensation philosophy and relevant market.
Pay Equity Plans: Salopek can support organizations in developing Pay Equity Plans, in alignment with the applicable pay equity legislation, whether federal or provincial. The work required to establish a Pay Equity plan is dependant upon what the organization already has in place in terms of existing job descriptions and job evaluation. All roles in the organization would be reviewed to determine if the job class (role) is predominantly male, predominantly female, or gender neutral. A comparison between predominately female job classes, doing work of equal or comparable value to the male job classes, would be conducted at each level. The Pay Equity Plan would then be established, and relevant communication and notice required by the applicable Act would be discussed.
Contact us today to find out more about how a compensation expert can support your business goals.