The start of the calendar year is the perfect opportunity for organizations to review their Human Resources practices, policies and documents. Here are a few areas you may wish to review to ensure 2026 starts off on the right foot:
- Statutory Holidays: Review the statutory holidays in the provinces where you have employees. Note any holidays that fall on non-working days and consider publishing a statutory holiday calendar to your employees.
- Payroll: Review this year’s payroll schedule to determine if there are any conflicts in dates for processing payroll or paydays. Note any minimum wage increases or changes to benefits/statutory deductions that may be occurring in 2026. CPP/QPP and EI deductions also restart for many employees – you may wish to advise employees to pre-empt questions relating to lower net pay cheques.
- Employee Information: Confirm with your employees that their personal information on file remains up to date (ex. address, emergency contact, licenses, work permit expiry dates, tax deductions, etc.). Review your record keeping practices to ensure you remain compliant with privacy and record keeping legislative requirements.
- Employment Agreements, Policies and Employee Handbooks: Review to ensure that all still apply, remain enforceable, are up-to-date and comply with changes to legislation that occurred throughout 2025 - better yet have us review them!
- Vacation: If December 31 marks the end of your vacation year, ensure you have properly addressed 2025 vacation and any balances/carry over have been allocated for. Ensure that 2026 vacation entitlements and accruals are accurately set up in your vacation tracking system.
- Job Descriptions: When was the last time you reviewed your job descriptions? If it has been a while, the start of the year can be a good time to dust these off. Job descriptions should be in a state where they accurately reflect the duties of your employees. They are living, breathing documents that can evolve over time and regular review ensures they do not end up outdated when you most need them.
Prioritizing these reviews on a yearly basis will ensure the rest of the year runs smoothly and you remain compliant with legislative changes. If you have any questions or would like our support, please do not hesitate to contact ClientCare.