What happened
Almost one in three Canadian hiring managers (28 per cent) expect employee turnover to rise this year, and each departure is costing more, as reported by Talent Canada. The average cost of turnover is now $30,680, up from $29,234 a year earlier. The figures come from an Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll survey of 504 Canadian hiring decision-makers, run in November 2025.
Larger employers are the most worried. Among companies with 100 or more employees, 37 per cent expect turnover to rise, against 22 per cent of businesses with 10 or fewer. Those expecting more turnover give several reasons. 29 per cent point to heavier workplace demands, 29 per cent to a competitive job market (up from 23 per cent last year), 26 per cent to retirements and 24 per cent to better pay and benefits elsewhere.
On pay, 67 per cent of hiring managers expect wages to rise in 2026. Job seekers are more cautious: only 39 per cent expect an increase, and 51 per cent expect pay to stay the same. The article also cites Mercer's Canada Compensation Planning Survey, which estimates the average projected salary increase in 2026 at around three per cent.
Why it matters if you are hiring
The cost of losing someone is no longer a rounding error in a hiring budget. At roughly $30,000 a departure, losing five people in a year costs more than $150,000 before you count the lost output while the seat sits empty.
The gap between employer and job seeker expectations on pay matters too. Most hiring managers plan to raise wages, but most candidates do not expect it. That means an offer with a clear increase can stand out, and an offer that merely matches last year's can lose a candidate who has another one in hand.
Retirements deserve a plan of their own. If a quarter of the employers expecting turnover are counting on retirements, then the people who hold the process knowledge in your plant, finance team or operations group are leaving on a timeline you can see. Larger employers, where concern is highest, have the most roles to cover and the most to lose from slow replacement.
One thing to do this week
Pull your last 12 months of departures and add up what each one actually cost you: recruiting fees, overtime or contractor cover, ramp-up time and lost output. Then list every employee within five years of retirement and name a successor or a hiring plan for each critical role. You will have a real number for your own turnover and a short list of roles to act on.
Traverse helps employers across Canada fill roles across operations, finance, sales, manufacturing and more, with permanent and contract people who can cover a gap now or take over from a departing expert.