Compensation & salary structures

Compensationthe full set of working conditions, monetary and non-monetary, that an employer offers in return for an employee's time, effort and expertise: this is what we call total compensation. The monetary side splits in two: direct compensation, meaning base salary, premiums, commissions and bonuses, and indirect compensation, meaning public plans, group insurance, the pension plan, paid leave and other benefits. The non-monetary side covers the working conditions themselves, the recognition given and the satisfaction a person draws from the job.

As a project

I start from your positions as they actually exist in your company, not from a generic model. I first analyze what you pay today, then compare your positioning against the market for your sector and your region. From there we build the total compensation policy and the salary structure.

If your business averages 10 employees or more over a calendar year, Quebec's Pay Equity Act requires a formal exercise. You may as well take the opportunity to run it at the same time as the structure.

  • Total compensation strategy and policy
  • Job evaluation and salary structure
  • Pay equity process, initial exercise and maintenance
  • Market analyses and positioning by job family
  • Written application rules

As ongoing support

A salary structure doesn't hold up on its own. Roles evolve, the market moves, and scales built three years ago stop meaning much. I then take over the upkeep of your compensation: I keep your scales current, I classify your new positions where they belong, and I keep watch over your pay equity compliance.

This is the format that suits companies whose headcount moves enough for classification questions to come up several times a year, but not enough to justify an internal compensation resource.

  • Upkeep and annual review of salary scales
  • Salary classification for new and reclassified positions
  • Pay equity compliance and required postings
  • Market watch and periodic adjustments
  • Support to managers on individual cases
up to 50% of eligible expenses

Part of your project is probably eligible for funding

Most of the businesses I work with are eligible for the measure. The Concertation pour l'emploi measure, through its human resources management support component, funds the fees of an outside specialist. Compensation and employee benefits are on the list. Priority goes to businesses with 6 to 99 employees.

  • A first 30-minute call, no strings attached, to see whether your situation fits.
  • You contact your Services Québec business advisor to confirm the interest of your project and the budget available.
  • I give you in writing what you need to support your request: the scope of the mandate, the schedule and the fees.
Check my eligibility

The rate and the decision belong entirely to Services Québec, which judges according to the nature of the project, your financial capacity and its own budget availability, and the measures change from one year to the next. Note as well that work arising from a legal obligation, a pay equity exercise for example, is not eligible under the measure. The pay equity exercise itself, being mandatory, is not eligible, but the salary structure and the tools around it are.

Frequently asked questions

How many employees does it take for pay equity to become mandatory?

As soon as your company averages 10 employees or more over a calendar year. You become subject to the Act on January 1 of the following year, and you then have four years to complete the initial exercise. Pay equity must be reassessed every five years after that.

Will a salary structure force me to give everyone a raise?

No. What a structure reveals, above all, is where the pay gaps are. Employees sitting below their scale are brought up gradually, over a horizon you set according to what you can afford (or according to the spreading period set out in the Pay Equity Act). Those sitting above keep their salary and see their increases slow down (or freeze, depending on the case). A pay equity exercise, for its part, does trigger mandatory adjustments, but they only touch underpaid predominantly female job classes.

How long does it take to build a structure?

For a small or medium-sized business of about thirty employees, count on six to ten weeks between the first meeting and the delivery of the scales. Most of that time goes to job evaluation, which means meeting incumbents and managers. A pay equity exercise run in parallel adds a few weeks, including the mandatory 60-day posting.

Where does the market data come from?

From published salary surveys, from Institut de la statistique du Québec data and from sector surveys your company may have access to. I always tell you which source a recommendation rests on, and how closely it really matches your size and your region.

A first 30-minute conversation with no strings attached

Let's talk

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