The True Cost of a Canadian Employee

The salary on the offer letter is never the real cost. See what a hire actually costs once CPP, EI, workers' compensation, benefits and overhead are added on top.

Reading This Tool

How To Use This Calculator

Enter the salary you're actually offering, then adjust benefits and overhead to match your business.

The stacked bar shows exactly where the extra cost goes on top of that base salary. CPP and EI are federal and identical everywhere, but WCB/WSIB and the provincial health and payroll levy (EHT in Ontario and BC, the Health and Post-Secondary Education Tax Levy in Manitoba, and similar levies elsewhere) are heavily localized, and the health levy in particular depends on your company's total payroll, not just this one hire. This tool models both, using your own WCB rate and your existing company-wide payroll.

Your Inputs

Base Annual Salary $65,000

Province / Territory

Total Company Payroll, Before This Hire $400,000

Your WCB / WSIB Assessment Rate, Per $100 Of Payroll $1.55

Annual Health & Benefit Costs $3,600

Variable Overhead (equipment, software, space) 8%

WCB/WSIB rates vary by industry classification, not just province, enter your own assessed rate for an accurate number. The provincial health levy shown is the marginal cost this specific hire adds to your existing company-wide payroll, since these levies apply above a total-payroll exemption threshold, not per employee.

Fully-Loaded Cost

True Annual Cost

All-in, before revenue this role generates

True Operational Hourly Cost

Based on a 2,080-hour work year

Total Overhead Burden

Above and beyond base salary

Where The Cost Actually Goes

Compliance Reminder

Employer CPP and EI remittances are due to the CRA by the 15th of the month following payroll, whether you run payroll weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Missed remittances are penalized the same way as unpaid tax.

CPP and EI figures are simplified, illustrative approximations of current-range statutory rates and ceilings. WCB/WSIB uses the rate you enter. Provincial health and payroll levy figures (Ontario EHT, BC EHT, Manitoba's Health and Post-Secondary Education Tax Levy, Newfoundland and Labrador's HAPSET, and Quebec's Health Services Fund) are simplified approximations of published rate structures and exemption thresholds; Ontario and Quebec in particular use a more finely graduated scale than modeled here. Confirm exact figures with your payroll provider or provincial tax authority before budgeting a hire.

Let someone else own the remittance deadlines.

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