ann m

I know I am lucky with what I get but it proves the jobs and employers are out there. I get 25 days vacation (was 15, then 20, now 25, been here 5 yrs), 11 flex days, all stat holidays plus 5 Xmas leave days. I'm staying put 😉

plasticcanuck

If the OP is moving to a senior position he should be able to negotiate his vacation time and disability programmes (STD and LTD).

itsasmallworld

Ditto what others have said. The mandated leave is not great but what happens in practice is often different. My husband was offered the usual 4 weeks paid leave plus some "floating"days accumulated each month plus the statutary holidays. It was maybe a couple of days less than he would have in the UK. There was no need to negotiate. He has a good engineering manager job but it is not exec level.

Healthcare does have some issues in Canada with each province having different systems. Again in practice you will probably find that prescription cost and dental work are largely or wholly covered by workplace insurance which is commonly offered as part of the package. We have not paid any excessive bills in Canada so far in relation to healthcare or dental work.

DandNHill

I worked for 6 months for TD Insurance last year... I left because I just didn't enjoy the job...worked very well as a stop gap though.

Anyway right from the get go I got...

3 weeks holiday (paid)
1 week personal time (paid)
All the stat holidays (paid)
Sick pay (not sure how many days but in those 6 months I had two off sick and was paid for them)
1 week compassionate (paid)

Added to that I received health benefits from day one for myself, my husband and my 2 boys for $27 biweekly. Full cover on the health and 80% on dental.

So as far as TD is concerned I really believe they can compete with the UK. I believe other banks are competitive or they wouldn't have any staff!

BristolUK

And a bonus for a dose of

gryphea

It really varies by location and employer type. Just because there are minimum mandated standards doesn't mean you will end up with those at all. Both me and my OH started on 4 weeks, he got offered it straight up, I negotiated, I now get more. Both of us get up to 10 days sick and we have long-term sick for sickness periods of 3 weeks or more. We get paid the stat holidays. Health insurance offered through work pays 80% of prescription and non-cosmetic dental. This seems all fairly standard in my neck of the woods in slightly professional settings.

We would never have moved for 10 days leave. Some people thinks this means we don't love Canada enough, because we wanted more leave. Whatever.

adele

As others have said, it varies widely from employer to employer. I get:

4 weeks annual leave (started on 3 and went up to 4 after 5 years' service - increases further to 5 and 6 weeks after 10 and 15 years' service)
Plus all 10 BC stat holidays, on top of which we are also closed and paid for Easter Monday, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year's Eve
21 hours (equivalent to 3 days) per year in personal obligation time to use in chunks for appointments
12 paid sick days per year, and they are banked and rolled over into the next year if unused
Short and long-term disability
Life insurance (3 x salary for most positions, may be more for more senior staff)
MSP premiums fully covered by the employer
Excellent extended health insurance plan - fully paid by the employer and most things covered 100% (including prescriptions, dental check-ups and cleanings, basic extractions and fillings, etc. etc.)
Defined-benefit pension plan :-D
Transit subsidy (75% paid by the employer)
Compassionate leave
Maternity leave top-up - depends on length of service, but after 5 years's service you get your EI topped up to 75% of your salary for the full 52 weeks

I'm a Senior Admin Assistant, nothing managerial or exec-level. I'm not complaining, I know we are lucky to work for a generous employer. I would never have got thousands of dollars' worth of chiropractor, massage therapy, acupuncture, dental work, prescriptions, etc. for free in the UK!

scrubbedexpat091

I must just get stuck with Canada's worst companies...

dgagitw

If it's banking in Toronto then you're not going to notice any real difference to your Australian T&Cs. A major Canadian bank (one of the big 5, which I just happen to work for) has the following things relevant to your various questions:

- insurance for prescriptions for you and dependents (plus dental, glasses etc etc)
- 3 weeks holiday to start with at the junior end with more senior roles getting 4 or even 5 weeks. It depends entirely what level you're coming in at as to which of these you'll be offered.
- 3 'personal days'. They're like sick days but you don't have to actually be sick. Used for things like a childcare emergency or whatever.
- fully paid sick leave up to a week at a time
- short term insurance paid sick leave for a couple of weeks
- long term paid sick after that
- full pay for all statutory holidays (it's a bit complex as banks have some extra federal ones but it's around 10 a year in total).

The only piece of negotiation advice around this lot is make sure that they enrole you in the benefit scheme from day 1 of your employment, they will possibly say you have to wait for 3 months. They're all negotiable on this point though so don't take no for an answer.

plasticcanuck

But haven't you previously stated you don't deal well with supervision, direction and criticism?

scrubbedexpat091

No. None of my jobs in Canada had any direct supervision, and the type of job they have been, the work has to be done by end of the shift, but just the nature of graveyard shifts since managers/supervisors have no desire to be up in the middle of the night.

I probably said at one point I like to be left alone to let me do my work, that just stems from the jobs I have had, none needed or had direct supervision and going months without seeing/talking to the supervisor was common.


I have just found when it comes to front line jobs in Canada, companies just don't give benefits. All the companies I have worked for offered benefits to majority of the employees, just not us on the front line.

Dorothy

Didn't you say you live in Sydney Australia? No free prescriptions/£50 dental fillers and cleaning here in Australia, mate, since there's no NHS.

Notsosure

I meant in the UK! Bloody hell I would never pay out of pocket for dentist in Australia it's ludicrously costly. I have colleagues flying to Thailand for more complicated procedures.

I got Oz PR but have no intention of staying here for more than a few years. Just keen to travel and see the world while young and get some overseas experience under my belt.

Personally, I think the NHS in it's current form is the best universal healthcare system in the world despite all the criticism it gets.

sharkus

trying to remember what I got / get.
Fairly sure I started with 2 weeks (not bad for a startup), and I think I have 4 weeks as I've been there for five years.

Sick days are paid. Not sure how many I actually have, don't use them that often.

I get all stat holidays, and they are fully paid. We have for the past two years had an extra day for the summer stat holidays, for example, if a stat day was on a monday, we'd also be given the Friday, and this was fully paid.

The company is very flexible when it comes to taking time for appointments. typically I'll work from home on such days, unless it's something I can do very early in the day, or after work hours.

Shirtback

I've lived/worked through several variations of annual leave/sick leave/healthcare benefits here.

No benefits, 2 weeks (I.e. 10 working days) annual leave, but unlimited unpaid leave (negotiated by me). No paid sick leave. No statutory pay rises.

At the other end of the spectrum*: 4 weeks paid holiday (to start with), 7 days paid sick leave (doctor's certificate required after 3), 7 "personal" leave days paid (cumulative year to year), short & long term disability/sick leave paid through employee health insurance program (contributory); possibility to have overtime hours paid, or take 'em as time-in-lieu, or accumulate year-to-year. Annual pay rise.

*Unionized workplace.

In Quebec, all bank/statutory/public whatever you want to call them holidays are paid. Pro-rata if part-time.

At management level, much is down to one's negotiating skills.