Recruitment Obstacles

A Maru Public Opinion survey undertaken in 2022 for ADP Canada found that 14% of Canadian workers are looking to change from their current jobs in the coming months. The report states three main reasons why workers would make this choice.

  • 88% of workers look for better compensation

  • 77% of workers desire a career change

  • 71% of workers are after more flexibility


Canadian Workers Are After Better Compensation

This shouldn't come as a surprise. We've seen how recent studies show that Canadian wages could not keep up with inflation in 2022. And what's more, pay raises were also scarce. Within the Maru Public Survey respondents, 68% claimed that they hadn't received a non-performance related pay raise in the six months previous to the survey.

From the ones who got raises, only 9% of respondents claimed to have received a pay raise of 10% or more, while 28% of workers received a raise of 5 to 9%, and 63% of them claimed to have received a pay raise of 4% or less.


Flexibility and New Career Opportunities Could Be the Key to Employee Retention

While the economical factor was paramount to 88% of the Canadian workers who participated in the survey, a new career direction and flexibility are not far behind. When companies are struggling themselves with numbers, putting focus on these aspects could be the solution to employee retention.

With 9 in 10 workers feeling stuck in their roles, changing careers seems the answer for many. While career path plans are the obvious solution to this problem, only 45% of workers say their employer understands their career aspirations.

Canadian employees are not only searching for career flexibility, but also workplace flexibility. And with roughly 40% of Canadian jobs being able to be done from home, workers are not just expecting, but demanding more flexibility.


Employee Retention Could Have a Bright Year in 2023

If we can overcome the aftermath of the pandemic, the faltering economy and the talent shortage, the Canadian workforce and labour market will be very different from previous years. Both employers and employees are familiar now with adopting hybrid or remote work models, so this won’t be such an immense challenge this year.

The obstacles for 2023 may still be the economy and talent shortage. If inflation decreases and keeps a stable range with Canadian wages, workers will not struggle as much with their salaries as they did last year. Regarding talent shortage, the Canadian government is taking several measures to increase the labour force, whether it is with programs for young students or for foreign skilled workers.


What other factors do you think are crucial for Canadian workers to stay in their jobs? Share your perspective in the comments below.  


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