The group is also warning employers that job candidates and employees increasingly expect transparency when it comes to salaries.
Quebecers will probably receive a smaller salary increase in 2025 than they did in 2024, according to the latest report by the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés, which represents 12,000 human resources professionals.
Employers in the province will offer an average pay hike of 3.3. per cent, the group forecasts, noting that the figure represents a drop of 0.4 per cent compared with the 3.7 per cent average recorded by Statistics Canada in 2024.
Less than five per cent of firms surveyed expected to freeze salaries next year. In 2024, the Ordre found that 3.25 per cent of Quebec firms expected to freeze salaries.
“There seems to be a lot of caution on the part of organizations,” said Ordre director-general Manon Poirier. “On the one hand there’s a wish for a return to normal and salary increases that are close to their capacity to pay. But on the other, they are facing the challenges of (employee) retention and are carefully watching their position in relation to the rest of the market.”
Poirier noted that labour shortages were less acute than they once were, but they remained in many sectors of activity.
“There’s been less pressure when it comes to non-qualified jobs. But for specialized and qualified jobs the shortage has not disappeared.”
The Ordre is also reminding employers that job candidates and employees increasingly expect transparency when it comes to the issue of salaries.
Last year, the Ordre found that one out of four job candidates withdrew from the recruitment process because that transparency was deemed to be lacking.
“If we look at our neighbours in other provinces … (several have) very recently legislated on salary transparency.,” said Poirier, adding that similar legislation could be tabled in Quebec.
Openness on the issue of salary contributes to “creating a climate of trust that helps to motivate and retain talent,” Poirier said, adding that it also allows workers to “better understand their career prospects within an organization.”