Our Impact

Since its first release over 40 years ago, our annual Compensation Planning Outlook survey has grown a devoted and loyal following among compensation experts. Each year, the Outlook provides organizations with the information they require to inform their pay planning and compensation decision-making.

As part of our commitment to research excellence we regularly evolve our survey based on comprehensive practitioner feedback. In our most recent interviews and focus groups with compensation and total rewards professionals, they emphasized the importance they place on the information we provide.

A mainstay in our human resources subscription service, the Compensation Planning Outlook is relied on by HR professionals across Canada for its trusted, actionable insights.

2022 releases:

HR leaders told us:

If I just need one sound bite to say to the executive or board briefing it’s usually The Conference Board of Canada. It has a good reputation, and we don’t question the information.

I use that as an anchor to kind of reflect back on the other survey data, just to see where that sits in relation to that planning survey. It’s a go-to document.

[While] [w]e use a variety of the well-known compensation reports, it’s always nice to have the Conference Board reports and presentations because [they give] us that true, unbiased look, and I never have to worry about that.

The Centre for the North (CFN) is one of The Conference Board of Canada’s longest-operating multi-funded centres. With over a decade of research on issues facing Canada’s North, the Centre has focused thematically on supporting capacity development, regionally driven engagement, and Indigenous skills inclusion in the socio-economic development of the North.

In 2022, we released Fly-In, Fly-Out Labour in Canada’s North: Benefits, Challenges, and Social Impacts. This work provides one of the most comprehensive reviews of how Northern communities can better leverage local talent and make the most of temporary workers in the North. This is an example of the Centre for the North working with its members to identify long-standing challenges for Northern communities.

Our work generates research-based insights that address gaps in knowledge and support informed decision-making. The Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO), a CFN member, relied heavily on our research to inform their feasibility study for procurement in the mining sector across the North.

One of CESO’s senior executives noted:

First, [the Conference Board’s] analysis on the existing business development supports available to Indigenous entrepreneurs across the North provided a key list of service providers that were included in the toolkit CESO produced for communities and Indigenous entrepreneurs. This list saved us time and staff resources, allowing us to complete the feasibility study earlier.

The second area where we had an opportunity was disseminating our findings and toolkit of information across key sectors across the North. The CFN worked with us to learn more about our project, prepare a written communication for CFN members, and [share] the information with the CFN network. As a result, CFN members have contacted CESO directly to look for opportunities to explore partnerships in delivering capacity development support to Indigenous entrepreneurs in the North.

Our commitment to the North and its peoples is reflected in the growing body of research and analysis created by the Centre for the North.

The Conference Board of Canada’s many research projects related to skills development and skills identification are increasingly being used to inform post-secondary institutions (PSIs) in their self-assessments of program effectiveness. The mismatch between the skills of new graduates and the skills that employers need is costing the Canadian economy billions in lost productivity. Our research Lost Opportunities: Measuring the Unrealized Value of Skill Vacancies in Canada estimates the unrealized value of skills vacancies to be over $25 billion.

Our multi-pronged research in the space in 2022 includes:

Orbis Communications provides a platform, Campus Connect, that is used by nearly all of the PSIs in Canada to host information on work- integrated learning programs and employment opportunities for students after graduation. Orbis had adopted our skills framework as a core component in the new “Anchor Competencies” that it uses to describe skills in its platform. The Campus Connect platform reaches over 1 million student accounts.

Preparing Canadians for the job market of the future—and helping them see where their skill set can take them today—is a key element of our significant investment in skills research

Finding new ways to generate electricity with reduced carbon emissions is critical to meeting Canada’s 2050 net-zero emissions target. The Conference Board of Canada’s Sustainability knowledge area has been at the forefront of discussions on how new energy sources can be leveraged to achieve these goals. Our research has centred on the opportunities presented by small modular reactors (SMRs). In 2022, our research focused on one of the greatest hurdles facing this technology: access to financing.

Our research in 2022 includes:

Our research in this area is having an impact. Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Ontario released a joint strategic plan for the deployment of small modular reactors in March 2022 to address the country’s energy needs.

That strategic plan drew on the Conference Board’s analysis to highlight the economic benefits of SMRs for Ontario and Saskatchewan. Our research tells us that this technology offers Canada an opportunity to reclaim its position in the vanguard of nuclear power and has the potential to make a significant contribution to achieving our targets for reducing carbon emissions.

The Conference Board of Canada’s analysis of the pandemic’s impact on immigration, Counting on Immigration: Measuring the Pandemic’s Effect and Building Back Stronger, along with subsequent research and presentations, led us to be invited by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to take part in the consultations on regional immigration levels plans. These virtual consultations inform the government’s annual levels plan report, which sets the immigration target for Canada on a three-year rolling basis.

This platform provides us with an opportunity to share our research with all federal and provincial immigration ministers in each region of Canada. We’ve been invited back to the table for at least the next two years and will be bringing our rigorous analysis and insights to help inform Canada’s immigration policies.