25 November 2008

Job cuts loom at Canadian firms: poll

The following article is excerpted from the 24 November 2008 edition of “globeandmail.com”.

More than one-fifth of Canadian employers plan to reduce their headcount in the coming year as the financial crisis forces companies to cut costs, a compensation planning survey showed Monday.

Mercer's updated survey showed 22.6 per cent of employers plan to cut jobs and more than half are considering the move.

Employers are also taking other steps to cut costs. One-third said they plan to make changes to their health and benefits program. And half will lower their salary increases next year to about 3 per cent from the average increase of 3.8 per cent they'd planned in the second quarter – a similar finding as that of a Conference Board of Canada report last month.

Mercer recommended employers boost communication with staff through the economic turbulence. …

Not all sectors are ratcheting down salary increases. In the public sector, only 16 per cent of employers plan to lower pay hikes, the poll said.

The survey results are based on responses from 175 participants.