I am a small business based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and I would
like to give my employees a raise. I am looking for an average salary
guide for jobs in Canada and an average of what salary raises people
receive when they preform well and when they need improvement. I am
looking for percentages. Can someone help me out? I am in a real rush
for this as I have an appt. tomorrow with an employee.

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Request for Question Clarification by answerguru-ga on 26 Feb 2006 13:48 PST

Hello modelmaker-ga,

I have found some preliminary resources that I believe meet your
needs, however I wanted to confirm before posting it as an official
answer.

Under typical circumstances, HR departments or small business owners
don't give raises on a percentage scale (such as 5% for good and 10%
for excellent). Instead, jobs are classified as positions (ie. Office
Manager) and have a standard job description.

It is a best practice to use a salary survey to get an idea of how
well people in your area doing that kind of work are being
compensated. Th tool that I have found for you has Calgary data and
breaks down salaries by percentile. This essentially means that
someone in the 80th percentile is making more than 80% of people in
the area doing the same type of work.

If I were in your shoes, I would use this percentile as a means of
determining how much of a raise a person deserves (since these surveys
account for cost of living adjustments as well).

If you would confirm that this method would suit your needs I can
provide you with the appropriate resources.

Thanks,
answerguru-ga

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Clarification of Question by modelmaker-ga on 26 Feb 2006 19:31 PST

ok please post asap ok

Hi modelmaker-ga,

As per your request, I have provided the process for obtaining salary
survey information.

One of the preferred services which has comprehensive data on Canadian
salaries (partially derived from Statistics Canada) is
SalaryExpert.com:

http://www.salaryexpert.com

This site provides basic information (such as salary breakdown by
percentile and bonuses) for free. You can also order a full 20 page
report specific to the job title and location for $29.00. This report
would provide the following additional information:

"Salary Ranges: Low, average, and high base salary and total
compensation levels for your job. (See pages 6-8 of the report.)

Cost of Living Data: What your job's average salary is worth in terms
of the local cost of living.

Job Description: Describes the duties and demands of your job.  
 
Salary Negotiation Advice: Tips on how to negotiate your next pay
increase or promotion."

So you can get an understanding of the typical process one would use
when adjusting an employee's salary, I will go through an example.
Let's say you have an employee who acts as your Office Manager in your
Calgary office.

1. Go to http://www.salaryexpert.com
2. Under "Select a Job" box, enter "Office Manager"
3. Click "Search Job Title" and confirm your choice matches one of the
existing job titles.
4. Select "Select Position" in the popup window to confirm your choice.
5. Under "Select an Area", select "AB - Calgary" from the list
6. Click "Search"
7. Answer the four survey questions so that the employee's specific
experience, skills, and job requirements can be confirmed.
8. At the bottom of the page, select "Create Basic Salary Report" to
generate the basic salary survey data for the data you have provided.

For the office manager, the following information is provided. Other
positions would have similar information:

"The Office Manager working in Calgary, Alberta now earns an average
salary of 37,811. Half of those in this position would earn between
26,373 and 53,348 (the 17th and 67th percentiles). These numbers are
derived from real, area specific, survey data.

When benefits and bonuses are added to this salary, the average total
compensation for this position would be 41,193. The report below also
explains how the cost-of-living in this location affects the actual
value of this salary. "

There is then a chart with a breakdown by percentiles for what other
Office Managers in Calgary are earning according to the survey.

This gives you a range to work within; essentially you want to
consider the following things when determining the actual amount of
the raise:

1. Would you rank this employee as a "star", average, or below average
in terms of their performance?

2. How much does their experience contribute to their ability to
perform on the job?

3. Are you currently paying in line with the cost of living in your area?

4. Are your bonuses and benefits currently in line with the industry norms?

Hopefully this provides you a good footing in being able to determine
how much your employee is worth and how to compensate them fairly.

If you have any questions about the information above please post a
clarification and I will try to respond promptly.

Thanks for using Google Answers :)

Cheers,

answerguru-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by modelmaker-ga on 26 Feb 2006 21:32 PST

i was hoping for a free site. i had been to that site.

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Clarification of Answer by answerguru-ga on 26 Feb 2006 22:25 PST

Unfortunately the data you are looking for requires constant
collection and organization that falls outside of the public domain.
There are no resources that have such comprehensive information
without a fee - from what I've seen SalaryExpert is among the most
competitively priced. In my question clarification, I did mention the
data that you would be able to obtain free of charge, which you are
able to from this service.

It would be valuable to any researcher to have the parameters of the
search defined clearly (ie. a free service that provides X,Y,Z) so as
to avoid any miscommunication.

answerguru-ga