Beyond the Numbers: A Leadership Perspective on 2026 Compensation Planning.

A Practical Starting Point for Your 2026 Pay Strategy

Organizations across Canada are preparing for another year of economic pressure, shifting workforce expectations, and continued competition for talent. As leaders navigate these dynamics, compensation planning remains one of the most consequential decisions they’ll make. To support thoughtful, evidence-informed decision-making, Stratford Group’s People & Culture practice has prepared a leadership opinion letter offering perspective on 2026 salary increase budgets, market trends, and the factors that should guide pay decisions in the year ahead.

Below, you’ll find an excerpt from our President of People & Culture, Mike D’Amico, introducing the key themes and context behind this year’s analysis.

Mike D'Amico

President, Stratford People & Culture

November 2025 | Opinion Letter: With our continued commitment to supporting leaders and their teams, Stratford Group is pleased to provide our opinion and considerations regarding what may be appropriate salary increase budgets for our clients to use in 2026, as well as considerations around maintaining the competitiveness of their salary ranges. In forming these perspectives, we have drawn on our own client and advisory experience and consulted several reputable compensation sources to inform and corroborate our predictions.

This memo presents our thoughts on this subject and outlines the factors we believe should be taken into account when making these decisions.

For 2026, salary increase budgets are expected to be slightly lower to what we saw in 2025 where increases to both salary budgets and salary structures were also slightly lower to what had been seen in 2024.

Executive Summary

Leaders across Canada are entering 2026 with shifting economic signals, evolving workforce expectations, and growing pressure to balance competitiveness with financial discipline. To support thoughtful, evidence-informed compensation planning, Stratford Group’s People & Culture practice has developed a leadership opinion letter that brings together sector trends, union and non-union forecasts, salary structure movement, and regional insights—all through a practical, real-world lens.

This summary provides a high-level preview of the analysis, guidance, and considerations included in the full letter. Drawing on our advisory experience and several reputable national compensation sources, we outline what employers can expect in 2026 and how to approach salary planning with clarity, fairness, and long-term organizational health in mind.

What You’ll Learn in the Full Letter

Inside the full opinion letter, you’ll find:

1. Clear Salary Increase Forecasts for 2026

Review a summary of the most recent national, sector, and regional salary projections drawn from several reputable compensation sources.

→ National, sector, and regional projections
→ Union vs. non-union trends
→ Expected ranges for salary increase budgets and salary structure movement

2. Factors Driving Compensation Decisions

Gain a high-level view of the economic and workforce influences that are shaping compensation expectations for 2026.

→ Economic pressures, cost-of-living impacts, and post-pandemic normalization
→ Shifts in bargaining patterns, including first-year loading and flat-dollar adjustments
→ Influences of minimum wage, living wage initiatives, and compression

3. A Practical Interpretation of Market Data

Understand how current compensation trends may apply to different sectors and organizational contexts at a broad level.

→ What the numbers may indicate for your organization
→ How trends differ by sector and workforce composition
→ How to use forecasts as a reference point—not a prescriptive solution

4. Stratford’s 2026 Recommendations

Access Stratford’s perspective on reasonable salary and structure adjustment ranges to consider when shaping your plans for 2026.

→ Suggested salary increase ranges
→ Proposed salary structure adjustment ranges
→ Key considerations for adapting recommendations to your context

We hope this overview gives you a meaningful starting point for the year ahead and a reliable reference as you work through the decisions that will shape your 2026 compensation strategy.