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Tag: Salaries

  • Ontario’s new pay transparency rules will shake up hiring – MoneySense

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    Pay transparency laws are gaining traction across North America, with similar rules already in place in other provinces like B.C. and Prince Edward Island, as well as parts of the U.S.   

    Pay transparency can help level the hiring field

    Some of the key changes coming to Ontario on Jan. 1, 2026, include requirements that employers with more than 25 employees post compensation ranges in publicly advertised job postings and disclose the use of AI in screening, assessing, or selecting applicants.

    “It just overall puts employees and workers in a better position to have that information coming in and to know what a position pays before they decide to apply for it,” said Nora Jenkins Townson, the founder of HR consultancy Bright + Early. “From an employee perspective, I think having a solid understanding of how compensation works at the organization, how those decisions are made, what the ranges are … it’s just a lot fairer, it takes us away from that ‘squeaky wheel gets the grease’ scenario.”

    She said pay transparency can help level the playing field by aligning compensation to a specific job and level of output, creating a more objective system compared with subjective aspects like an employee’s relationship to their manager. She added that companies that have not done the foundational work to develop compensation strategies are “scrambling to catch up.”

    “You can’t really just add a number to a job posting. You need accurate, researched market data. You need a philosophy as to where you pay within that data and why,” Jenkins Townson said. However, she said in other markets where pay transparency rules are already in place, some employers try to sidestep the rules by making pay ranges on job postings very wide.

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    New rules limit pay-range gaps

    Ontario’s upcoming rules stipulate that the annual salary range on a posting must not exceed a gap of $50,000, unless the job pays more than $200,000, or where the top end of the range is more than $200,000.

    Deb Bottineau, managing director at Robert Half Canada, said the new pay transparency rules are a “pretty significant step forward.”

    “It’s going to equalize the playing field,” she said. “That impact will be not only for those applying to positions, but it also creates a greater landscape of accountability and awareness for internal employees as it relates to pay rate ranges and compensation.” It may also help narrow gender or racial pay gaps that exist.

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    The changes may also push business leaders to take stock of what other firms pay for similar positions or risk having trouble attracting and retaining talent, Bottineau said.

    Most job seekers welcome pay transparency

    Data released in November from Indeed found 83% of respondents across B.C., Ontario, and Quebec view the changes positively. The survey was conducted online between Sept. 29 and Oct. 3 and polled 900 individuals. Seventy-three per cent said they would be more likely to apply for a job that included a pay range.

    With employers having to disclose in job postings where AI is being used, Bottineau said the human element in the hiring process will also become more important for companies to maintain their “brand impression” and ability to attract talent.

    “When candidates are applying to jobs, and it’s taking multiple steps before they’re engaging with a human in that process, that gap can be felt both for the employee and the employer,” she said. “I think we’re going to continue to hear a lot of conversation as we head into the new year about the role of AI in recruitment practices. How do we create the right balance so the employer brand (and) the candidate experience are all kept top of mind?”

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    The Canadian Press

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  • Employee Holiday Wishes Include More Money and New Jobs. Here’s How to Handle It

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    Though holiday season spirits are usually merry and bright, concerns about the economy and labor market are leaving many people feeling a lot gloomier. In addition to surveys reflecting how tough it has become to land a new job, a huge majority of employees questioned also said their current work doesn’t pay enough to keep up with the cost of living. Business owners should know their companies aren’t the only ones pulled by economic riptides.

    A recently released poll of 1,200 employees by job posting platform Monster found a whopping 95 percent of respondents reporting their “wage has not kept up with inflation,” and no longer covers their fixed living costs. Only 9 percent of those participants said they’d received a raise in recent months to help them keep pace with rising prices. That led 75 percent of workers questioned saying they’d cut out nonessential expenses — up from 64 percent this time last year — and 42 percent saying they’d taken on debt to finance spending they had made.

    In response to that financial pinch, 56 percent of poll participants said they’d begun looking for higher paying work to stay above water. Yet at the same time nearly 70 percent of respondents acknowledged it has gotten harder to find new opportunities — up from 57 percent last year. Meanwhile, another 50 percent said they worried about losing the jobs they have, as employers cut costs and reconfigure workforces. The reduced headcounts and increased workloads can amplify feelings of burnout and hurt productivity.

    Those concerns are backed up results of other surveys. For example, 49 percent of employees answering a poll by remote and hybrid work posting platform Flexjobs said they were worried being laid off. Moreover, 26 percent of those respondents said fears about losing their jobs were higher than they were just six months ago.

    But that doesn’t mean participants — many of whom complained of burnout, blocked career advancement, or pay levels outstripped by inflation — are enthusiastic about the jobs they have. Fully 93 percent of participants said they’d be eager to ditch current employers for more fulfilling opportunities or increased pay, but acknowledged under acute financial pressures made them stay put.

    A similar willingness to seek jobs paying above cost of living levels voiced in the Monster survey led authors of the report on its findings to warn employers that those attitudes may eventually affect staff stability if left unaddressed.

    “With nearly all workers reporting that their wages are not keeping pace with inflation, the cost-of-living crisis is redefining both financial stability and career choice,” the report noted, warning the survey’s results underlined a “disconnect between wages and economic reality” today.

    “Employees are increasingly open to leaving jobs for higher pay, while financial stress is contributing to lower productivity and higher burnout,” the report continued. “For employers, this signals an urgent need to revisit compensation strategies, benefits, and support systems — or risk losing talent to competitors.”

    There is a caveat in that, however — and it’s a big one for employers.

    Company hiring rates have been virtually flat since May. And despite the most recent data in August showing the unemployment rate was a relatively low 4.3 percent, anemic job creation has most employees hanging on tightly to keep work they have. Trading up for higher wages or better career opportunities is no longer an option for most people.

    Meanwhile, if the labor market looks grim for workers who already have jobs, it’s even more foreboding for people entering the labor market, especially recent college graduates and students preparing to pocket their diplomas.

    According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, companies that have been slashing entry-level positions and using artificial intelligence tools to perform those work tasks iaren’t expecting to reverse course soon.

    The organization’s poll found “employers are projecting just a 1.6 percent increase in hiring for the Class of 2026 when compared to the Class of 2025,” a report on the results said. As a result, 51 percent of business respondents evaluated the current labor market for those younger job hunters as either poor or fair — the highest level since 2020 when 65 percent participants described it that way.

    As a result, a lot of people may be putting finding a new job, or hanging on to the one they have, at the very top of their holiday wish lists, but without being terribly confident they’ll get what they want.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Bruce Crumley

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  • Gen-Z Talks About Their Salaries Openly. Should Your Company Embrace Pay Transparency?

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    Few workplace issues get as much attention as the question of salary transparency, which has been a hot-button topic for years. While there’s an ongoing push toward completely public salary disclosures in the European Union, the U.S. has mostly lagged behind, with compensation historically deemed to be a private, personal matter. A new report says Gen-Z is challenging these norms, as it is with many old-fashioned workplace traditions. Could this prompt your company to be open about your workers’ pay, and even to encourage your staff to chat about the topic? And what benefits can you expect if you make the change?

    New global data from Kickresume, the Slovakia-based AI résumé building service, found that only 31 percent of people say salaries are openly discussed at their job, and 37 percent say their employers actually ban talking about salaries, Newsweek reports. But nearly 40 percent of Gen-Z respondents to the survey said that they openly discuss salaries at their workplace—far above the average across all age cohorts since just 30 percent of Millennials and 22 percent of Gen-X respondents felt the same way, and one in three Gen-X workers say they actually prefer not to discuss the matter at all. In fact, 18 percent of Gen-Z respondents said they are so open about pay transparency that they talk about it even if their employer bans the topic.

    Digging into what’s going on here, the survey also found that an average of 32 percent of respondents remain curious about what their colleagues earn and are interested when someone discusses the topic. Gen-Z is more curious, with 38 percent feeling this way.

    As to cultural differences about the matter, while 34 percent of European respondents say salary is openly discussed, just 27 percent of Americans say the same, and only 24 percent of respondents from Asia. Kickresume’s report says the U.S. is actually leading the movement to “[keep] pay talk off the table, with one in three workers saying they simply don’t want to discuss salary at all.”

    What’s your takeaway from this data?

    Experts have long argued that pay transparency is a good thing for the workforce, often citing a noted study in which some people were kept in the dark about bonuses and pay and others were informed of their colleagues’ details. Workers who weren’t told about pay levels actually performed worse in the experiment.  

    Other research suggests that the trend for secrecy around compensation is slowly changing, with more and more job postings explicitly listing salary levels, even as an increasing number of states are legislating to make all companies post salary levels publicly. 

    Interestingly, in 2022, a LinkedIn survey on workforce confidence found that workers at smaller businesses were less likely than workers in larger enterprises to feel that salary discussions are discouraged by their employer. It’s easy to imagine that in a smaller, more family-like company the sense of camaraderie and familiarity with colleagues encourages this idea of openness. In larger enterprises, management may be uncomfortable with workers at similar levels and with similar skills discovering that, for whatever reasons, their pay levels are different—even though the National Labor Relations Act says workers have the right to talk to each other about pay.

    Meanwhile, Newsweek pointed to a February survey from Delaware-based essay writing service EduBirdie that found 58 percent of Gen-Z people surveyed said they would explicitly avoid applying for jobs at employers where salaries aren’t disclosed ahead of time. 

    Essentially, there’s a large body of evidence that being open about salaries promotes employee well-being and boosts the sense of equality and fairness—assuming that you are a fair employer, and, for example, pay female workers the same rates as male ones. The EU is so set on the idea that member states have to implement the Pay Transparency Directive by next June as part of an effort to make such transparency commonplace across the continent. 

    Savvy business owners may see this new research as a prompt to promote pay and compensation openness among their employees, since the change may boost your productivity. You may have to put up with some difficult discussions about disparities in the short term, however. 

    The early-rate deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, November 14, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Kit Eaton

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  • How to Get Workers and Employers on the Same Page About Salary Negotiations

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    Workers negotiating their pay with their employer is always a sensitive topic. It’s tricky because it goes beyond raw dollar figures, touching on emotions, employee engagement and bottom line financial considerations. The results of a new study might prompt you to rethink some of the ways you hire new talent, and maybe even tweak your annual review processes.

    The data, from research led by Harvard, Brown and University of California Los Angeles, came from over 3,000 job seekers looking for roles in the technology sector. Some survey participants were “encouraged” to negotiate their salaries with employers, with phrases like “companies expect you to negotiate,” while a separate group was offered an alternative discounted coaching option to help boost salary discussion skills, HRDive explains. 

    The results are startling: among the people who were encouraged to discuss different salaries (and who then landed job offers inside a few months) 61 percent of people actually proposed a different salary level to their initial offer. This led to an average increase in pay of over 12 percent, equating to roughly $27,000 extra annually.

    But among the group who were offered merely a discount on a coaching class, very few people took up the offer… and among the 3 percent who did there was “no meaningful effect” on their interest or confidence in negotiating salaries.

    People participating in the study were still early in their careers, aged 31 on average, and they were paid around $220,000 a year on average — a figure that places them significantly higher than the U.S. average, which is about $75,000 annually according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

    At this point you may be thinking that this means the data won’t reflect onto the larger labor market, where non-tech jobs dominate and the average worker is making only a third of the salary of the survey respondents. But where the tech world goes, other industries tend to follow. Plus, as HRDive notes, the study’s results surprised experts in the field. The researchers polled 117 academics and asked them to predict the experiment’s outcome: most predicted the coaching option would be more effective.

    What’s actually happening here is that the workers aren’t pushing for higher compensation because they feel like their employers simply won’t be open to the idea of a negotiation — not because they don’t feel like they have the right interpersonal skills to carry out the negotiation. If the latter were true, then the coaching option may have proven more popular. The fact that the encouragement technique worked simply suggests that people were wary of negotiating salaries, until it was pointed out to them that it was “normal.”

    What’s the takeaway for your company?

    Salary negotiation provides several indirect benefits beyond the obvious financial benefits to workers who successfully boost their earnings. First, if you’re seeking a new job and you handle these negotiations properly, it can signal that you’re a serious worker with confidence about your own skills — something that could boost your reputation with managers in the long term. 

    Second, being open to salary negotiation could contribute to your image as a good employer, among your current staff (possibly boosting your retention power) as much as incoming talent. A recent report suggests this may count more than ever when it comes to attracting top rank workers, with much more focus on a company’s reputation than before. 

    Another thing to be aware of as an employer is that AI hiring tools, which some people use to help them navigate the process of applying for jobs, are sometimes advising women and people of color to ask for lower salaries than for white men. It might be worth checking your HR processes to make sure your salary negotiations are fair and equitable.

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    Kit Eaton

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  • The College-Coaching Carrousel Is Completely Out of Hand

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    In most states, the highest-paid public employee is a football coach. Lately, more and more of them are getting money to go away.

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    Louisa Thomas

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  • A Manager Accidentally Leaked Everyone’s Salaries. The Fix Is Simple—But Rarely Done

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    A manager made a terrible mistake and accidentally sent a spreadsheet with the whole department’s salaries to an employee, according to a post on Reddit’s antiwork group.

    The employee then discovered that they were earning $15,000 less than a similarly situated coworker and that even the new hire is making more than they are.

    This is a rotten position for a boss to be in. Sharing confidential information, such as salaries, in violation of company policy, can get someone in real trouble. And having an employee discover that they are woefully underpaid is also a nightmare. You should avoid this scenario at all costs. I will teach you how, and this works every time it’s tried:

    The secret to avoiding bad reactions to accidental salary disclosure

    Are you ready? Because this may be a little bit difficult to set up but once you do, I guarantee you won’t have any problems with salary leaks. Here it is:

    Stop paying people less than they deserve.

    That’s it. That’s the secret. If the poster had received a salary sheet that showed that all similarly situated employees were earning roughly the same, there wouldn’t have been a post, and there wouldn’t have been a problem. 

    So, paying people properly might be a little more complicated than just keeping salaries confidential, so here’s how to keep salaries at the proper levels.

    First, do an audit

    You need to get everything corrected. And that means conducting an audit, at least every six months, says Brenda Neckvatal, a human results professional and author of The Leadership Survival Manual. “If you are monitoring compensation on a regular basis, this won’t happen.”

    Regular audits catch inequities before employees do, and before they hit Reddit.

    Embarrassing (and often illegal) salary discrepancies often happen through error or bad company policies, rather than maliciousness. But when you have a situation where two people doing the same job have some sort of difference in race, gender, or other protected characteristic, it can be hard to prove to a court that you’re just bad at compensation.

    Fix your bad policies

    Bad salaries happen because of bad policies. Some of these policies you’ll want to review, revise, and eliminate could be:

    • Allowing managers to make job offers or promotions without consulting human resources. It’s not that HR has power over what you should pay someone; it’s that they have the knowledge to say, “Hey, we have three people doing this job and they make $X. You’re offering $X+15k, and that will cause internal equity problems. 
    • Limiting the raise you can give to an internal candidate. Many companies have policies that limit an internal candidate to, say, a 10 percent raise. But if you promote them into a position where everyone else is making 20 percent more than they were, you could end up with bad feelings and the loss of a good candidate. Your policy should be to offer internal and external candidates the same amount.

    These two bad policies permeate businesses, stressing the ideas that they save money and gives managers freedom. But it can make for messy situations.

    Then, make sure it doesn’t happen again by changing how you hire.

    Set the salary for the role before you interview

    Don’t go into interviews with vague ideas. Many states require you to post your salary ranges, but I still see ridiculously wide compensation spans. Don’t do that.

    Before you even post the job, figure out what the salary for that role should be. Yes, there can be variances depending on certain skills. Like, for instance, you might be willing to pay $5,000 more for someone who can speak Spanish or has a master’s degree. That type of difference is fine (assuming they will help with the role.

    Take your qualifications for the position and create a grid that you can match your candidates up against. The goal is that, after interviewing candidates, there will be a clear salary that each one would match up to. That’s the salary you offer.

    Don’t negotiate

    Candidates are taught that there is always a little bit more money out there and to ask. But not everyone does, and not everyone does so well. 

    It makes zero sense to pay someone more money because they ask. People should be paid based on their skills. 

    So make your highest and best offer first. People will still try to negotiate, but just say no, this is my highest and best offer.

    What to do if your employee finds out they are underpaid?

    Now, what would you do if you were this Redditor’s boss? Apologize profusely, get the salary increased to the proper level, and provide back pay.

    That’s the right thing to do. Then go back and audit all positions to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

    Check your attachments before you hit send. But honestly, if people are paid fairly, there’s no reason to keep salaries confidential other than tradition.

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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    Suzanne Lucas

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  • 6 In-Demand Skills That Lead to Higher Salaries

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    It’s a seller’s market for skills that mesh with an increasingly AI driven environment, and a handful of them are at the top of hiring managers’ lists. While the broader job market has stalled since summer, small business hiring remains steady, and AI is having an impact on entry-level hiring for Gen-Z workers. But of course that also means that if you’ve got skills in working with and programming AI systems then you’re in demand. 

    A recent report from recruitment services outfit Robert Half provides estimated starting salaries for key roles across different professional fields, and the big take-away from the data is that 84 percent of the hiring managers surveyed said they’d offer higher salaries for job candidates who have the most sought-after skills.

    The top of the list of skills hiring managers identified as being in-demand, and subject to higher salaries includes:

    • AI, machine learning and data science
    • Public accounting tax and auditing
    • Content strategy, digital project management and marketing analytics
    • Customer support and healthcare administration
    • Legal contract management
    • Compensation and benefits

    It’s no surprise to see AI and supporting subjects like machine learning and data science here. Designing, coding, deploying, and using AI are all specialized skills, needed in specific workplace sectors. They’re so much in demand at some big tech companies that a bizarre billion dollar-scale “war” arose this summer as companies vied for the top talent and even poached key staff from each other. The same tussle for talented workers in this area is clearly filtering down to smaller tech-focused firms, and likely also to non-technology companies who want to deploy AI tools across their organizations in search of the efficiencies and productivity hikes AI evangelists promise.

    Some other specialized skills on the Robert Half list may be surprising, largely because many experts suggest AI is already capable of all but replacing humans working in customer support roles, and certain analytical and financial jobs are also expected to become AI-first work sooner rather than later. It’s possible that the list is a sampling, of sorts of a skills gap evolving between the subjects that students are studying in college and the demands of the real-life economy. 

    Nevertheless, the gap is a problem for hiring managers, as Dawn Fay, the operational president of Robert Half wrote in a press release about the news. “Specialized skills are the currency of today’s job market, Fay noted, adding that to tempt top talent that have the most highly sought-after skills employers will have to step up and provide “competitive pay along with meaningful benefits and perks or risk losing top candidates if their offers don’t measure up.” 

    The report also dug into the kind of perks hiring managers should be offer these skilled job candidates, with 50 percent saying they expect to actually add new benefits to help attract the right talent. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 53 percent of workers said financial incentives were the top perk that would induce them to switch employers, 51 percent said the same for work-life balance perks (flexible or hybrid working schedules, for example) while 42 percent said the same for retirement planning and 39 percent for health and wellness offerings. This tallies with several recent reports that suggest meaningful perks like paid overtime or food catering in the office are top asks for workers nowadays. 

    What can you take away from this report for your company?

    If you’re looking to hire talented workers with skills on the Robert Half list, your HR team may it more difficult than in the past, as there appears to be a scarcity of these skills in the job marketplace. To attract the top talent you may also have to offer higher salaries than you may have planned when deciding to fill a position — talented job candidates with skills like AI or auditing know their worth, and they may be offered higher pay by rival companies vying to hire them.

    Refreshing your benefits and perks offerings is also likely a good idea. Savvy managers may think of tailoring company perks to appeal to the desires of Gen-Z, the generation currently entering the workforce and bringing with them a very different set of expectations—including a focus on mental health, wellness and work-life balance. 

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    Kit Eaton

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  • Why Entrepreneurs Earn More Than Salaried Employees

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    When entrepreneurs list their principal reasons for launching a company, small business owners often cite being their own boss, flexibility in setting their working hours, and turning a commercial concept into reality as their main motivations. Now new data identifies another incentive that may convince future entrepreneurs to take the plunge. According to a recent analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the average self-employed person earns significantly more income during their career than people who work for someone else.

    However, the report’s findings also note the widely varying levels of income among small business owners, and the length of time usually required before stronger earnings start flowing in. Those details may lead some less enterprising prospective entrepreneurs to stick with punching a clock after all.

    The analysis by the Minneapolis Fed differs from most research on small business owners, which often relies heavily on survey responses. The shifting makeup of participants in those inquiries often produce widely contrasting results, creating what Minneapolis Fed authors likened to the parable of the blind men and an elephant: Each poll was essentially “touching only one part of the body,” and led to researchers drawing different and incomplete conclusions. 

    To establish a more complete picture of the nation’s entrepreneurs, the Minneapolis Fed used U.S. tax and Social Security Administration data from 2000 to 2015. That allowed it to determine income those small business owners collectively generated for themselves, and identify why they stuck it out with companies that were often slow to reach profitability. And that wasn’t due to setting their own hours.

    “(W)e find that self-employed individuals have significantly higher income and steeper income growth profiles than paid-employed peers with similar characteristics,” the report said, while also refuting frequent survey results that suggest many entrepreneurs stay in business for the perks of not having to answer to a boss. 

    “Contrary to earlier studies based on surveys plagued by underrepresentation in the right tail of the income distribution, we find that non-pecuniary benefits of self-employment are not substantial when considering the source of most business income,” it said.

    What that means, in non-economist-speak, is that many entrepreneurs earn up to 70 percent more than people working for other employers over their careers, with their income increasing considerably faster than paid workers. That winds up vastly outweighing the advantages surveys often identify of founders setting their own work schedules, or getting to ask employees to fetch their coffee.

    The study found that during the 15-year period, a 25-year-old entrepreneur earned on average about $27,000 per year in 2012 dollars, while an employee of the same age made $29,000. About five years later, that income disparity had typically reversed, and then continued growing larger in small business owners’ favor.

    “By age 55, our estimate is an average (entrepreneur) income of $134 thousand in 2012 dollars — much higher than the estimate of $79 thousand for the paid employed,” the study said. It added that gap was probably even larger before government agencies adjusted small business income declarations by 14 percent to 46 percent to account for presumed underreporting. 

    “These differences in profiles for the self- and paid-employed would be even more striking if we were to (re)adjust reported incomes to account for business income underreporting.” 

    Not every small business owner winds up earning as much as people working for salaries, however — or as much as their more successful peers.

    The study said about 80 percent of the total income of entrepreneurs it identified was generated by people earning $100,000 annually or more. That means a lot of small business owners fared less well than than the more affluent minority at the top. As a result, the authors said in wonky terms, a minority of self-employed people made even less than workers working for someone else..

    “IRS data show that many of the primarily self-employed earned less over the sample years than paid-employed peers with similar characteristics, but in the aggregate this subgroup has a much lower share of the total income than those that earned more than their peers,” it noted.

    The Minneapolis Fed noted some other interesting observations in its findings. 

    One was that many entrepreneurs continued working salaried jobs, or had other income coming in as they supported their still unprofitable new ventures. Those supporting funds improved the cohort’s overall positive revenue figures, even during early lean years.

    “In other words, when starting a new business, owners rely on other sources of labor earnings, through either paid-employment or other business enterprises,” it said. “Thus, even though most businesses have losses, few owners have negative individual incomes.”

    Another significant detail was what the authors said were their use of official data to create a more precise collective financial portrait of entrepreneurs — contrasting the results of many surveys that may  simplify the motives and activities of limited samples of small company owners.

    “(T)he literature on entrepreneurship has an array of narratives, describing the typical business owner in many possible ways: as a gig worker seeking flexible arrangements, a misfit avoiding unemployment spells, an inventor seeking venture capital, a tax dodger misreporting income,” it said, before noting its own use of official income statistics collected from millions of entrepreneurs. “These data provide new insights into the central questions of the entrepreneurship literature and will hopefully prove useful for researchers interested in calibrating models of self-employment and business formation.”

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    Bruce Crumley

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  • The Fight for the Future of Women’s Basketball

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    Napheesa Collier is a smooth, coolheaded forward for the Minnesota Lynx. She is not the most famous player in the W.N.B.A., but she is one of the best. Before injuring her ankle, in early August, she was the front-runner for Most Valuable Player. (She has been the runner-up for the award two years in a row.) And the Lynx was the winningest team in the league during the regular season, and the favorites to win the championship, until Collier was knocked out of the playoffs. During Game Three of the semifinals, against the Phoenix Mercury, she tore ligaments in her ankle after hard contact sent her sprawling. The Lynx lost that game, and then, with Collier in a boot on the bench and her coach suspended for excoriating the referees in her defense, came up short in the decisive Game Four, too. Collier had finished the regular season with historic efficiency, becoming the second W.N.B.A. player to shoot at least fifty per cent from the floor, forty per cent on three-point shots, and over ninety per cent from the free-throw line. Her hallmark is her reliability, not her explosiveness. She does not seem like the kind of person who would burn a league down.

    But on Tuesday, at the start of her exit interview, that was exactly what she appeared to be doing. She sat at the podium with papers in her hands, and, in the course of four minutes, read her prepared remarks. She said that the league office paid lip service to players’ health, that it ignored increasingly urgent concerns about referees losing control of games. It seemed not to care about the quality of the product on the floor. And worse: Collier recounted a conversation with Cathy Engelbert, the commissioner, in February, during which Collier asked how the league planned to address the fact that Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers, some of the most popular players in the league, with huge and rabid followings, were making so little money. (Clark, whose value to women’s basketball is incalculable, earns less than eighty thousand dollars a year.) Engelbert, according to Collier, had responded that Clark should be grateful to the W.N.B.A. for her millions of dollars in off-court earnings, because the league gave her a platform. Collier also claimed that the commissioner went on to say, “Players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media-rights deal that I got them.” Collier pulled no punches. “We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world. But right now we have the worst leadership in the world,” she said.

    Every argument has a rational, emotional, and rhetorical component. Collier excelled on all fronts. She spoke bravely while pointing out the obvious. It’s no secret that the W.N.B.A. has a refereeing problem. Players and coaches have been calling it out for years, though you didn’t have to take anyone’s word for it; you only needed to watch almost any game to see the amount of contact and notice how rarely the referees succeed in ratcheting down the competitive physical intensity. So far, the league’s response has been not to fix the issue but, instead, to levy fines against players and coaches who criticize refs. It wasn’t a shock, either, to hear of the widening rift between the league office and the players. The league and the W.N.B.A. players’ association remain deeply divided on compensation, and the collective-bargaining agreement is set to expire on October 31st.

    The smartest turn in Collier’s speech was to invoke the names of Clark, Reese, and Bueckers—three players with disparate and sometimes misaligned fan bases—pitting Engelbert against not only the players but the world. Her comments about Clark got the most attention, as they were surely designed to. Shortly after Collier spoke out, Engelbert said in a statement that she was “disheartened” by Collier’s characterization of their conversation, though she didn’t deny anything specific. Then, in a press conference before the start of the W.N.B.A. Finals on Friday, Engelbert pushed back against Collier’s description of her comments about Clark needing to be “grateful.” “Obviously, I did not make those comments,” Engelbert said.

    Except it wasn’t obvious. That, after all, is the way many people in leadership positions in sports—and especially in the N.B.A., which owns a substantial portion of the W.N.B.A.—talk about women’s professional leagues for years, justifying low salaries and poor playing conditions. It sounded plausible because it was plausible. And Clark’s fans, who have often noted the exceptionally high level of physicality directed at Clark and who’ve been aghast at the league office’s reluctance to single out her unique star power, had good reasons to believe that the league was self-sabotaging. After Collier’s comments, Clark was one of the many players who backed her up. “I have great respect for Phee,” Clark said, of Collier, “and I think she made a lot of very valid points.” Clark pointed out that the introduction of name, image, and likeness (N.I.L.) rights in college sports has made it possible for players to cultivate huge followings that they can then carry over into the W.N.B.A.—not the other way around.

    Collier said that league leadership, in an effort to avoid accountability, has tried to “suppress everyone’s voices by handing out fines.” She continued, “I’m not concerned about a fine. I’m concerned about the future of our sport.” That’s when it became clear that Collier wasn’t lighting a match. The match had already been lit; smoke was going up. She was sounding the alarm before it was too late, and showing herself to be the kind of person who could lead the way out.

    Collier, as it happens, is not just a perennial M.V.P. candidate; she is a vice-president of the players’ association—and a co-founder of Unrivaled, a three-on-three basketball league that competes during the W.N.B.A.’s off-season. (Her husband is the current president.) In 2026, roughly a third of W.N.B.A. players will compete in it. Unrivaled was not meant to challenge the W.N.B.A.’s status as the world’s premier basketball league; it sometimes had the feel of an exhibition, despite being somewhat successful. (The glitziest stretch last season was a one-on-one tournament, which Collier won.) But it does offer more money: this year, Unrivaled paid players an average salary of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars—close to the top salaries in the W.N.B.A. It also offers players equity, along with better amenities, perks, and an aggressive television deal.

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    Louisa Thomas

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  • Highest-Paying Jobs For Older Adults: New Report | Entrepreneur

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    Are you nearing retirement age?

    Career resources platform Resume Genius released a new report this week, the 10 Best Jobs for Older People in 2025, which reveals the 10 best-paying jobs for adults aged 55 and older, based on high salaries, low physical labor demands, and high job growth.

    The company used data from the BLS’s Labor Force Statistics Current Population Survey, O*NET Online, and the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook to create the report using several parameters, including removing jobs with salaries lower than $49,500 and roles that require education higher than a Bachelor’s degree. The occupations listed also had to have at least 100,000 employees who were 55 or older.

    Related: Here Are the 10 Highest-Paying Jobs with the Lowest Risk of Being Replaced By AI: ‘Safest Jobs Right Now’

    In the top spot was sales managers, who lead sales teams and work to improve customer reach, according to the report. The job requires low physical activity and pays a median hourly wage of $66.38. Other professions in the top five were accountants and auditors. These jobs ask professionals to analyze budgets and file taxes, and are well-suited for older adults because they offer flexible work schedules, such as seasonal tax work and consulting.

    “Experience is highly valued across industries, and many employers are seeking older candidates to step into leadership or managerial roles,” Resume Genius Career Expert Nathan Soto shared in a press release. “Don’t be afraid to venture into fields beyond your previous career; your skills may be more transferable than you realize.”

    Here are the 10 best jobs for older adults, according to Resume Genius.

    1. Sales managers

    Median hourly wage: $66.38

    Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 6%

    2. Computer systems analysts

    Median hourly wage: $49.90

    Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 11%

    3. Management analysts

    Median hourly wage: $48.65

    Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 11%

    4. Accountants and auditors

    Median hourly wage: $39.27

    Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 6%

    Related: ‘Good Career Move’: These 10 Jobs Will Most Likely Get Raises This Year

    5. Social and community service managers

    Median hourly wage: $37.61

    Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 8%

    6. Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing

    Median hourly wage: $35.63

    Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 1%

    7. Property, real estate, and community association managers

    Median hourly wage: $32.07

    Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 3%

    8. Food service managers

    Median hourly wage: $31.40

    Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 2%

    Related: These Are the Most In-Demand Jobs for 2025, According to a New Report

    9. Insurance sales agents

    Median hourly wage: $29.02

    Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 6%

    10. Real estate brokers and sales agents

    Median hourly wage: $28.35

    Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 2%

    Are you nearing retirement age?

    Career resources platform Resume Genius released a new report this week, the 10 Best Jobs for Older People in 2025, which reveals the 10 best-paying jobs for adults aged 55 and older, based on high salaries, low physical labor demands, and high job growth.

    The company used data from the BLS’s Labor Force Statistics Current Population Survey, O*NET Online, and the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook to create the report using several parameters, including removing jobs with salaries lower than $49,500 and roles that require education higher than a Bachelor’s degree. The occupations listed also had to have at least 100,000 employees who were 55 or older.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    Sherin Shibu

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  • How to negotiate working less – MoneySense

    How to negotiate working less – MoneySense

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    “Think about what constitutes performance in [your] job,” he says. In some fields and industries, like marketing or financial consulting, performance is typically tied to a specific project rather than the number of hours an employee spends on the clock. Many freelancers do this by charging flat fees: The amount of time they spend on a project doesn’t matter, so long as they get it done.

    In those cases, Friedman says, you might be able to arrange for a four-day workweek or flexible hours. “If the job is amenable, it has nothing to do with time, it’s not client-facing, you don’t have meetings—then absolutely, you should go and ask for it,” he says. “But you’ve got to have a plan.”

    4. Start with a discussion—not a negotiation

    After all your reflection and research, it may be tempting to rush into your boss’s office and lay out your terms. Kaila-Gambhir advises against that—at least initially. Instead, she says, talk to your boss about the possibility of working less. That way, “you’re not committing to anything. You’re not giving them what your optimal, ideal scenario is just yet,” she says. “You just want to have a discussion—to explore options and see what may be possible.” 

    This phase isn’t just about gathering more information for your proposal. It also lets your boss see that you understand their position as an employer, one who needs to consider their own business needs alongside your request. Then you can book a follow-up conversation to ensure you keep the conversation going, Kaila-Gambhir says.

    If your boss isn’t open to the idea of a hard-and-fast change to your work schedule, this is also a good time to suggest a trial run of your proposal. A conversation, rather than an ultimatum-driven negotiation, can feel less intimidating for an employer. 

    5. Be prepared to walk away

    While it’s tempting to imagine that absolutely everything about a job is negotiable, that isn’t always true. For instance, it would be very difficult for an intensive care unit nurse to convince an employer to allow remote work. Same goes for the manager of a community centre or a barista. 

    In fact, most Canadian jobs have never been worked remotely. In April 2020, at the height of the first wave of COVID-19, it felt like everyone was at home. But the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey reported that 40% of Canadian workers were mostly clocking in from home. As of last November, it dropped to 20%.

    To Friedman, asking for flexibility when your job cannot easily be done through alternate arrangements is a bad strategy. It won’t convince employers, he says, and might come off as entitled. If all else fails, finding a new job that will accommodate your desire to work less might be the best option. Some job postings include information on working from home, flexible hours, part-time status, etc.

    “Do you want a flexible job? Then maybe you ought to apply for another position that has more flexibility,” he says. “I’m not telling you that’s right or wrong—I’m just saying that’s what an employer will say.” 

    Understand what you’re up against

    You may have to accept the reality: a request to work remotely or outside of office hours may not be a possibility in your current job, or your boss may not see your working less as good for their bottom line. 

    But in his experience in coaching executives, Friedman says many are open to changing the ways their employees work. Negotiating a four-day week, a flexible work arrangement, or the ability to disconnect from email at the end of the day is totally possible, so long as you do your homework and know how to ask.

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    Brennan Doherty

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  • How to make the most of your compensation – MoneySense

    How to make the most of your compensation – MoneySense

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    Employees often receive other considerations such as benefits and health insurance, said Cindy Marques, a certified financial planner and co-founder of MakeCents.

    “That will result in dollars saved,” she said. “And essentially, dollars in your pocket when you think about not having to outlay that money yourself.” 

    People often forget what’s included in their package or don’t keep up with changes to group plans, Marques said.

    Make use of company perks and benefits

    Jillian Climie, a compensation expert and co-founder of Vancouver-based consulting company The Thoughtful Co., said employees should take time to research and read up on what the company has to offer in perks and benefits before seeing a human resources representative. 

    “They’re not the most exciting to read but they have a huge value—doing that pre-work yourself,” Climie said. Especially as employees get promoted, she said it’s important to take stock of benefits as new ones roll in, such as funding for professional development and coaching allowances. 

    Fitness allowances such as gym memberships or coverage for at-home workout gear like yoga mats or even treadmills could be included in benefits. Other underutilized unofficial perks could include at-home ergonomic setups, monthly phone bill payments, paid parking spots and travel expenses, Climie said.

    Marques said even the most common benefits such as vacation and health care go underutilized, with workers “not realizing that there’s actually a fair amount of value that they can extract from their workplace.”

    She said people often don’t fully use their paid time off because they can’t afford to travel. “You can still get paid your full wage to just stay at home and relax and give yourself a break,” she said.

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    The Canadian Press

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  • Be mindful of what you post on social media after a layoff – MoneySense

    Be mindful of what you post on social media after a layoff – MoneySense

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    To avoid any repercussions, Gupta suggests using a matter-of-fact tone when sharing the experience online. 

    “The world has changed. We know that jobs are not forever. With most layoffs, there is nothing to be ashamed of, even if you realize, ‘You know what, I wasn’t quite what they were looking for,’” she said. 

    “And if you can show a bit of class and professionalism, it goes a long way.”  

    Kadine Cooper, a career and life transition coach, said the first thing you should do after being informed of a layoff is take time to ground yourself and come to terms with the loss. Once you have processed those difficult emotions, ask yourself what you want to do next, where you can seek out mentorship and surround yourself with individuals who want you to succeed.

    The best way to share a career update

    When you’re ready to share your career update online, make sure to strike a positive and professional tone, as this can set you up for future opportunities, Cooper recommended.  

    “You still have the power, right? So start creating a positive narrative about it,” she said. 

    “Write your posts in a way that highlights your resilience and your adaptability and even maybe start emphasizing some of the experiences you gained during that time with the company.” 

    On the flipside, while some people choose to be candid about their layoff experiences to increase transparency around certain employers or industries, Cooper said “ranting and raging” on social media may hurt your future job prospects and discourage former co-workers from providing you with a reference for another job.

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    The Canadian Press

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  • Economy be damned: Your workers still expect a hefty raise this year

    Economy be damned: Your workers still expect a hefty raise this year

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    Sixty percent of organizations are now sharing salary ranges on their job listings, according to the 2024 Compensation Best Practices Report from compensation software firm Payscale. That’s a 15% year-over-year jump. The biggest challenge for companies today, per the Seattle-based firm’s report, is compensation. Namely: Despite a tight job market and record-high inflation, workers are still gunning for better and better pay. That concern comes ahead of recruiting, retention and engagement for their employers. 

    “While the economy may be in flux, employee expectations have not swayed,” Payscale’s chief people officer Lexi Clarke wrote in the report, which surveyed nearly 6,000 HR company managers. “Transparent pay practices and meaningful raises are now table stakes to attract and retain top talent, but many organizations are falling behind as legislation is only accelerating.” 

    Half of companies lack a compensation strategy or firm messaging on the reasoning behind their pay, which is a problem, because employee engagement “hinges on workers understanding the ‘what’ and ‘why’” behind their salaries, Clarke said. 

    Even worse, despite the pronounced desire for better compensation, fewer organizations are planning on shelling out. (Seventy-nine percent said they plan on giving raises, against last year’s 86%.) On average, companies are planning for a 4.5% base pay increase; last year’s average was 4.8%.  

    Maybe companies have reason not to sweat: Last year’s rate of reported voluntary turnover was 21%, Payscale found, a 4% year-over-year drop. That’s all the evidence bosses need that it’s an employer’s market, and they can probably get away with being less generous.

    In direct response to the pay-transparency boom, more and more workers are asking questions about their pay, companies told Payscale. That’s led, predictably, to some unrest. 

    Fourteen percent of companies say some of their workers have left because they saw an ad for a similar position offering higher pay elsewhere—and 11% saw higher paying roles listed within the company itself. Indeed, pay transparency can be a double-edged sword, but the risks of bad feelings are considerably lower if companies prioritize fairness to begin with.

    The best of the rest

    When it comes to the three pillars of workplace future-proofing—artificial intelligence, skills-based hiring, and flexible work—trying to stave off the inevitable is never a sustainable approach, and Payscale’s findings confirm it. (“If we were to capture how to approach 2024 in one phrase, it might be ‘cautious optimism,’” Payscale’s research team wrote.)

    Each of those three pillars come back to fairness and equity, and each, when executed correctly, can make workplaces fairer places to be. 

    “Fair pay is the bedrock of compensation strategy, yet alarmingly, more than a quarter of employers are not proactive about correcting pay disparities,” Ruth Thomas, a pay equity strategist at Payscale, wrote in the report. “We’re seeing forward-thinking companies, on the other hand, make adjustments for external and internal pay equity, pay compression, and competitive skills—while diversifying their workforce by removing barriers to entry like degree requirements.”

    Just shy of half (49%) of HR leaders are optimistic about AI in their workplace; their top concern is that AI would stand to worsen existing biases rather than mitigate them. Just 7% of HR leaders would feel completely comfortable letting AI carry out pay-related decisions.

    On the skills front, over a third (34%) have removed college-degree requirements from their salaried job postings. Just 22% of firms say a college degree is a requirement for all of their salaried positions this year—a sizable improvement, and part of a rapidly building skills-first wave.

    Then there’s remote work, which is considerably less of a threat than most bosses may fear. Just 11% of the employers Payscale surveyed are fully remote—the same share as last year. But there’s still lessons to be learned among that small group: The voluntary turnover rate at fully remote companies is 13%, compared to 16% at hybrid workplaces and 30% for fully in-person companies. 

    It’s well known that replacing a strong performer is harder (and costlier) work than paying them what they want, so the Payscale report takeaway for employers might be two-fold: Pay your workers above market rate, and if they want to, let them work from home.

    Subscribe to the CEO Daily newsletter to get the CEO perspective on the biggest headlines in business. Sign up for free.

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    Jane Thier

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  • Jobs in healthcare that don’t require an MD—and their salaries in Canada – MoneySense

    Jobs in healthcare that don’t require an MD—and their salaries in Canada – MoneySense

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    Healthcare job Average salary in Canada Annual tuition
    Midwife $111,000 $8,000 to $23,000
    Dental hygienist $98,000 $9,000 to $55,000
    Acupuncturist  $98,000 $5,000 to $45,000
    Physical therapist $94,000 $10,000 to $42,000
    Massage therapist $87,000 $8,000 to $35,000
    X-ray technician $82,000 $7,000 to $30,000
    Paramedic $66,000 $5,000 to $20,000
    Personal support worker $65,000 $2,000 to $4,000
    Ultrasound technician $59,000 $5,000 to $37,000
    Pharmacy technician $50,000 $5,000 to $30,000
    Note: Tuition shown in ranges, as the costs vary from program to program as well as student status.

    10 in-demand healthcare jobs that don’t require a degree

    The following list of healthcare jobs is by no means exhaustive, but it gives you a starting point in your medical career research. The base salaries come directly from those submitted by Canadian healthcare professionals to job posting website Indeed. Think about your return on investment of pursuing relevant training and education in each discipline. 

    Photo by 东旭 王 on Unsplash

    1. Midwife

    Average salary: $111,000
    From the first weeks of conception to well after delivery, midwives provide assistance to those experiencing pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. This includes monitoring fetal health via ultrasounds, screening bloodwork and coaching. Becoming a midwife involves either getting a four-year university degree or a related postsecondary program in the field. It’s a regulated field. Tuition costs can range from $8,000 to $23,000. Like a doctor, this role also requires a period of hands-on training, and licensing rules and costs vary by province.

    2. Dental hygienist

    Average salary: $98,000
    Cleaning teeth is just one aspect of this job, but it also involves monitoring for health risks like gum disease and diabetes, taking X-rays and, of course, assisting dentists in a range of procedures and surgeries. You can become a hygienist typically in two years, depending on which college, university or post-secondary dental hygiene program you chose. Like midwives, this role also involves getting a provincial license after you pass a certification exam. Tuition costs range from approximately $9,000 to $55,000 with licensing and examination fees ranging from $400 to $1,500.

    3. Acupuncturist 

    Average salary: $98,000
    Acupuncture stimulates and balances the body’s energy by inserting tiny needles into the skin. There’s growing support in traditional medicine that it can be a great way to relieve stress, promote better sleep and other health benefits, adding to the demand for acupuncturists and their unique skills. If you already have a bachelor’s degree in science, you can take courses to get more specialized training. Otherwise, you can enroll in a three to four-year diploma program and register with your local provincial or territorial body. Tuition costs range from approximately $5,000 to $45,000. 

    Image by freepik

    4. Physical therapist

    Average salary: $94,000
    Mobility issues can come up through a sports injury, a car accident, habitual movements and restrictions, and/or through the natural aging process. Physical therapists (a.k.a. physiotherapists) work closely with patients on highly personalized treatment plans. This not only involves making detailed assessments of any challenges or limitations in a patient’s movement but setting achievable goals based on a series of exercises and in-office manipulations. Physiotherapy also requires careful ongoing monitoring for signs of progress or the need to change the treatment plan. Physical therapists need a master’s degree to practice in Canada. Courses usually take about two to two-and-a-half years to complete, and tuition costs can range from approximately $10,000 to $42,000. 

    5. Massage therapist

    Average salary: $94,000
    Massage therapists help relieve physical tension and bodily stress, but they also help educate patients on how to continue therapies with stretching and exercises they can perform independently. HWC’s Cohen sees a particular demand for healthcare jobs that support seniors and long-term care providers, and this is a good example. Becoming a massage therapist begins with taking a three-year accredited training program. If you live in B.C., Ontario, or Newfoundland and Labrador, you’ll also have to apply for a regulated license that can cost nearly $1,000 a year. There are a wide variety of accredited massage therapy schools in Canada offering diplomas as well as massage therapy courses you can take across Canada. They can take between 18 and 24 months to complete, with tuition costs ranging from approximately $8,000 to $35,000. 

    6. X-ray technician

    Average salary: $82,000
    It takes two to three years to become an X-ray technician, depending on whether you specialize in diagnostic radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine technology or radiation therapy. You’ll also need to be certified by the Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists, unless you’re working in B.C. or Quebec, where Certification by the Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists is not required. From there, you’ll be able to assist with diagnosing and treating conditions while performing everything from mammography to CT scans. Tuition costs can range from approximately $7,000 to $30,000.

    7. Paramedic

    Average salary: $66,000
    When medical emergencies happen, paramedics are the first responders who assess illnesses, injuries and save lives. Depending on the situation, a paramedic might be applying oxygen, working with defibrillators or helping ensure patients are safely taken to a hospital. Expect to complete a one to three-year paramedical or emergency medical technology program through a college or hospital. Then you’ll be seeking both a provincial license as well as an additional license if you’ll be operating an emergency vehicle. Tuition ranges from approximately $5,000 to $20,000, while annual licensing fees range from $100 to $600, depending on the province in which you work. 

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    Robert Furtado

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  • How to qualify for EI benefits in retirement – MoneySense

    How to qualify for EI benefits in retirement – MoneySense

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    What are EI benefits? What are special benefits?

    Regular benefits are paid to eligible employees who lose their job through no fault of their own, JM. Typically, this would include those who are terminated because of a restructuring or those who work in seasonal industries.

    Special benefits include parental benefits (maternity and parental leave), sickness benefits (for those who cannot work due to injury or illness), compassionate care benefits (for those caring for a seriously ill family member needing end-of-life care) or parents of critically ill children benefits (regardless of their age).

    An optional retirement is not a qualifying reason for EI benefits, JM, because it does not fall into the special benefits categories and regular benefits are not meant to pay out to people who choose to stop working.

    Can you get EI if you quit your job in Canada?

    If your retirement, JM, is not your choice, you may qualify for regular benefits. Of note is that there are several reasons when quitting a job is considered “just cause,” but you must be able to substantiate to Service Canada that quitting was the only reasonable option.

    These reasons may include:

    • sexual or other harassment
    • needing to move with a spouse or dependent child to another place of residence
    • discrimination
    • working conditions that endanger your health or safety
    • having to provide care for a child or another member of your immediate family
    • reasonable assurance of another job in the immediate future
    • major changes in the terms and conditions of your job affecting wages or salary
    • excessive overtime or an employer’s refusal to pay for overtime work
    • major changes in work duties
    • difficult relations with a supervisor, for which you are not primarily responsible
    • your employer is doing things which break the law
    • discrimination because of membership in an association, organization or union of workers
    • pressure from your employer or fellow workers to quit your job

    Can you receive EI and OAS and CPP?

    If you do qualify for EI benefits, JM, your Old Age Security (OAS) pension won’t impact your eligibility for EI benefits, since it is an age-based pension that does not have to do with work or earnings. However, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) or Québec Pension Plan (QPP) benefits will, as they are pensions that are related to work and earnings. Likewise, with employer pension plans and even foreign pensions that arose from employment in another country.

    CPP, QPP and employer pensions generally constitute “earnings” that reduce your entitlement to EI benefits and must be reported to Service Canada. These types of earnings are deducted from your EI benefits.

    There is an impact on your EI if you have earnings while receiving it, whether from employment, self-employment, or CPP/OAS/workplace pension income. You lose $0.50 of your EI for every $1 you earn up to 90% of your previous weekly earnings. For earnings in excess, EI benefits get reduced dollar-for-dollar.

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    Jason Heath, CFP

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  • How new pay transparency and AI hiring rules will impact Canadian workers – MoneySense

    How new pay transparency and AI hiring rules will impact Canadian workers – MoneySense

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    Job seekers should understand that salary ranges are influenced by compensation trends in their chosen field of work, market rates for specific job titles, and even geographic location. For example, some employers may offer a “cost of living” increase if you live in an expensive city. Generally, you can expect entry-level salaries to be within a narrow range. As you progress into more senior positions, you may see salary ranges widen to account for a broader number of factors, such as responsibilities, performance targets and bonuses. 

    Access to salary information in job postings provides an obvious up-front benefit. You could more easily find roles that match your income expectations—and you can overlook the ones that don’t pay enough. If you believe the position should pay more than what’s posted, know that you will have to defend your thinking in an interview. Employers may be reluctant to offer you what you want if they have many other interested candidates. 

    And while you may be tempted to negotiate for the top end of the stated pay range, make sure you have the education, skills and experience the hiring manager is looking for. Otherwise, you may be eliminated from the candidate pool should there be other qualified candidates who are willing to accept a lower salary. 

    Existing employees

    Knowing the pay scale for your current role at your organization—or even what competitors are paying for the type of work you do—can help you figure out if you’re underpaid. If so, you should feel comfortable going to your boss and asking for a raise (with the statistics to back up your request). If you feel valued in your role, you may have the most negotiating power during your performance review. 

    You may believe the longer your tenure at the company, the more competitive your pay will be. Think again—nowadays, it’s often the new kid on the block who’s paid more. That’s because new employees are hired having negotiated their salaries at the current market rates, whereas existing employees often get smaller annual raises. Going into 2024, one study found Canadians could get an average 3.6% bump in pay. 

    Negotiate for other perks

    Whether you’re a new or existing employee, if you’re at the peak of your pay band, it may be impossible to negotiate a higher salary. 

    However, you can always ask for other perks, such as a bonus, stock options, more vacation days, a flexible work arrangement or more benefits. These can be just as valuable as a raise. Make sure to enter negotiations with the same kind of performance and industry information you would use to ask for a salary bump. 

    Focus on jobs that meet your overall “dream job” criteria

    Ultimately, knowing the pay ranges for a job you’re considering can save you time and energy. But remember salary is just one factor to consider when working for a company. Having a good work culture, flexible work schedule, social gatherings, training opportunities and great leadership are examples of non-financial benefits that can also add value to your career.

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    Sandy Yong

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  • Employers Are Lowering Salary Ranges on Job Posts—Here’s Why | Entrepreneur

    Employers Are Lowering Salary Ranges on Job Posts—Here’s Why | Entrepreneur

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    Eight states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington) and six U.S. cities (Cincinnati, Ithaca, Westchester, Jersey City, New York City, and Toledo) currently have pay transparency laws — from requiring pay ranges in job posts to being obligated to disclose salary upon an applicant’s request.

    However, the push for pay transparency isn’t exactly motivating employers to advertise increased salaries, and a new report by job site ZipRecruiter found that almost 50% of employers have actually decreased pay over the past year.

    The salary drop comes after pay and signing bonuses skyrocketed during an acute period of labor shortages amid the pandemic, with wages increasing by 4.5% year-over-year in 2021 — the fastest uptick since 1983.

    The new report signals that pandemic-induced wage growth is slowing down, and, in some cases, companies have started posting lower pay ranges for open roles and are readjusting their offerings.

    “Employers are trying to reset candidate expectations,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, per CNBC.

    In a survey of over 2,000 employers, 48% admitted reducing pay ranges for some positions within the past year. Of small and medium-sized companies, 50% cut pay compared to 38% of large corporations.

    Meanwhile, 41% reported a role going unfilled over the past six months because candidates wanted more compensation than the company could provide.

    Related: The Dark Side of Pay Transparency — And What to Do If You Find Out You’re Being Underpaid

    However, despite regulations promoting transparency, 30% to 40% of employers are not even complying with the new pay transparency laws, according to data from workplace data firm, Revelio Labs, per CNBC.

    Furthermore, the ZipRecruiter report found that while 72% of employers surveyed do disclose pay, 10% don’t, and the remaining 18% only do so in the territories where they are legally required to do so.

    Forty-four percent of employers surveyed reported that they “worry” revealing pay rates could disincline top talent from applying because competitors may post higher wages, the ZipRecruiter report found. Of the 10% of employers that do not disclose pay, 71% said they only discuss pay in interviews, where they have the opportunity to “provide more context.”

    Related: U.S. Workers Want an $80,000 Minimum Salary as Expectations Rise — Here’s What It Means for the Labor Market, According to an Expert

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    Madeline Garfinkle

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  • 10 Most Expensive States for Singles to Meet Basic Needs | Entrepreneur

    10 Most Expensive States for Singles to Meet Basic Needs | Entrepreneur

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    Life is expensive, and in these states, it’s even worse.

    With the ongoing surge of the cost of living, the minimum income required for an individual to sustain themselves has risen across the entire nation. The July 2023 Consumer Price Index reported a 3.2% escalation in prices within the last 12 months on the “all items index.”

    But if you’re looking to move or relocate for a job, there are some states you might need to avoid—or ask for more money—depending on your income.

    Personal finance platform GOBankingRates recently conducted a survey on the living costs for a single person in all 50 states to find the average annual wage one needs to sustain themselves in 2023 and found that Hawaii is the No. 1 state with the highest minimum living wage for singles to get by.

    To calculate the yearly expenses for essentials, the researchers used data from the 2021 Consumer Expenditure Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, focusing on costs for a single person. After obtaining the essential cost data, researchers then doubled it to calculate a living wage, accounting for discretionary expenditures and savings.

    In Hawaii, a single individual needs a six-figure income of $112,411 to meet basic needs. The state with the second highest is Massachusetts at $87,909, followed by California at $80,013, and New York at $73,226.

    Given that housing constitutes a large portion comprising a living wage, it’s no accident that the states requiring the highest average income for an individual have all seen competitive and skyrocketing housing prices. According to a separate report by RentCafe released in August, the four states with the highest living wage requirements are also among the ranks for the most expensive average rent in the country.

    Related: 7 of the 10 Most Expensive Cities to Live in the U.S. Are in One State

    Here are the 10 states in the U.S. with the highest minimum living wages for an individual in 2023, according to the report, as well as the average rent, per RentCafe.

    1. Hawaii

    Income required: $112,411

    Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $2,532

    2. Massachusetts

    Income required: $87,909

    Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $2,737

    3. California

    Income required: $80,013

    Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $2,541

    4. New York

    Income required: $73,226

    Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $2,660

    5. Alaska

    Income required: $71,570

    Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,397

    6. Maryland

    Income required: $67,915

    Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,816

    7. Vermont

    Income required: $65,923

    Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,895

    8. Oregon

    Income required: $65,763

    Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,735

    9. Washington

    Income required: $65,640

    Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,988

    10. New Jersey

    Income required: $64,463

    Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $2,228

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    Madeline Garfinkle

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