Robert Half’s 2027 salary guide puts retirement plan contributions 15 points behind worker demand
Canadian employers offer cost of living adjustments at 18 percent while 50 percent of workers value them, the widest of six gaps measured between the benefits organisations provide and the benefits workers want.
The 2027 Canada Salary Guide from Robert Half, which covers more than 360 roles across six professional fields in Canada, shows employer contributions to retirement plans offered at 30 percent and valued at 45 percent.
Extended health insurance registers 38 percent and 59 percent, and high-cost specialty drugs 33 percent and 50 percent.
Employers offer flexible work schedules at 52 percent against 66 percent of workers who value them, and annual raises at 30 percent against 41 percent.
Robert Half frames the six gaps as areas where organisations can focus benefits investment.
Benefits manager is one of two human resources roles the guide lists among those expected to exceed the national average salary increase for new hires, at 2.3 percent against an average of 1.4 percent. HR assistant is listed at 1.8 percent.
Across the six specializations, Robert Half projects starting salaries to rise between 1.1 percent and 1.8 percent in 2027.
Six in 10 organisations are increasing compensation budgets to attract and retain in-demand talent despite other cost pressures, the guide states, and 55 percent are offering salaries above their planned range, with 61 percent of those citing specialized skills as a reason.
Sixty-three percent are offering higher pay for relevant AI skills, and 32 percent say AI expertise commands a greater premium than other technology skills.
Koula Vasilopoulos, senior managing director at Robert Half Canada, said demand for AI-related expertise reflects a shift toward specialized skills.
Many employers are “moving away from broad-based pay increases,” Vasilopoulos said, and are paying more for skills that support business priorities.
Seventy percent of companies are taking pay transparency steps beyond legal requirements, Robert Half reports, and 96 percent either include or plan to include salary ranges in job postings.
Employers who share ranges upfront cite higher-quality candidate pools at 49 percent, more efficient salary negotiations at 46 percent, and reduced time to hire at 33 percent.
The guide records 93 percent of employers using or planning to use external market data to benchmark compensation, 64 percent already reviewing salaries for parity, and 56 percent increasing compensation budgets to address pay gaps.
Robert Half ties the shift to pay transparency legislation expanding across multiple provinces.
Vasilopoulos in the same release said organizations that combine market data with compensation practices can make salary decisions, set expectations with candidates, and streamline hiring.
The salary benchmarks cover starting salaries only for someone new to a role and exclude bonuses and annual merit increases.
Robert Half draws them from compensation for professionals it has placed nationwide, validated against third-party job posting data from Textkernel.
Non-salary figures come from online surveys conducted by independent research firms with more than 2,850 hiring managers, business leaders, and employed workers at small, midsize, and large organisations across Canada.
