Please read this Reporting Guide before entering your information on the questionnaire. It will help you to understand the requirements for this survey. Please keep this Reporting Guide for future reference.
Introduction
Survey purpose
The Business Payrolls Survey measures the month-to-month trends of payroll employment, paid hours and earnings. This survey together with data from the Canada Revenue Agency's PD7A payroll deduction remittances, provides the base data for the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) program estimates. Your participation is critical to ensure an accurate reflection of your industry, region and business size. Completion of this survey is a legal requirement under the Statistics Act.
This guide contains definitions and instructions on how to complete the survey.
For the purposes of this survey, an employee is considered any person receiving pay for services rendered in Canada or for an employer paid absence, and for whom the employer is required to complete a Canada Revenue Agency "Statement of Remuneration Paid" (T4 slip) form. These persons may work on a full-time, part-time, casual or temporary basis.
Note that Question 1 covers the total number of employees in the last pay period, paid out during the reference month. For Questions 2 to 15, the number of employees, the regular gross pay and hours all relate to the last pay period payable of the reference month for each of the employment categories. The special payments questions collect information on payments made at any time during the reference month and the periods that the payments cover.
Confidentiality
Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada will use the information from this survey for statistical purposes.
Reporting Period
The survey reference month is on the electronic invitation.
All employees including board members (Question 1)
Any person receiving pay for services rendered in Canada or for an employer paid absence, and for whom the employer is required to complete a Canada Revenue Agency T4 slip. These persons may work on a full-time, part-time, casual or temporary basis.
Report the total number of employees that are receiving pay for work performed or employer paid absence for the last pay period of the month. Include part-time employees and board members if applicable.
All employees including board members (Questions 2-15)
The following questions concerning the number of employees, the dates, the regular gross pay and the number of hours all relate to the last pay period payable of the reference month. It does not matter that the payroll cheques have yet to be issued for this period. Be aware of the special payment question, which requires data for payments made at any time during the reference month. The dates to be reported are for the period covered by the payments.
Report your data by employment category. If within each employment category there is only one payroll, report the information in the first column. Use the additional columns on the form to report more than one payroll within an employee category.
Employment Categories:
- Employees Paid by the Hour:
- Any employee whose basic wage is expressed as an hourly rate.
- Salaried Employees:
- Any employee whose basic remuneration is a fixed amount for a period of at least one week.
- Other Employees:
- Any employee not already reported in the previous categories – for example, board members.
Example:
A business has two different pay frequencies for their salaried employees; some are paid every week and others are paid every two weeks. To report information for the last pay period, the salaried employees paid weekly would be reported in the first column, with dates corresponding to a weekly period and those paid every two weeks would be reported in the second column, with dates corresponding to a two week period.
Number of employees (Questions 2, 7 and 12)
Select the appropriate employment category and report the number of employees that received pay during the last pay period of the reference month. This pay can be for work performed or for employer paid absence such as statutory holidays, vacation days, etc. Report an employee in only one employment category.
Dates relating to the last pay period
Start and End dates (Questions 3, 8 and 13)
The last pay period of the reference month is the last payroll accounting period recorded in the books as an accrued expense. It does not matter that the payroll cheques have yet to be issued for this period.
Report the start and end dates for the last complete pay period of the reference month for each applicable employee category. If your last pay period runs three days or less into the next month, you may report that period.
Regular Gross Pay (Questions 4a, 9a and 14)
Report the regular gross pay payable for the last pay period of the reference month. Include any overtime pay for hours worked in the same period.
The regular gross pay payable, before deductions, includes:
- regular wages and salaries;
- regularly scheduled or incidental overtime pay relating specifically to overtime worked in the last pay period of the month;
- regularly paid bonuses relating to the last pay period of the month (for example, production, incentive or isolation bonus); and
- employer paid absence for the last pay period of the month.
The regular gross pay payable, before deductions, excludes:
- all payments that are not for the last pay period being reported;
- worker's compensation advances paid pending settlement of a claim;
- compensation in kind;
- taxable and non-taxable allowances and benefits;
- travel expenses; and
- fees for directors who are not employees of the company.
Overtime payments (Questions 4b and 9b)
Report the overtime pay payable. These are payments for all hours worked in excess of the standard workday or workweek in the last pay period of the reference month. Overtime pay represents the payment due after rate factors have been applied. (Please refer to "Regular Gross Pay" and "Special Payments" sections for additional details.)
Total number of hours payable (Hourly Employees only) (Question 5a)
Report the total number of hours payable for work performed and employer paid absence for the last pay period of the reference month. Include overtime hours and other paid hours such as paid absence, holidays, vacation, sick leave, and jury duty. Round the number to the nearest hour.
Example:
A company has 7 employees paid by the hour that are paid on a weekly basis:
- 2 employees work full-time 40 hours a week;
- 3 employees work full-time 37 1/2 hours a week; and,
- 2 employees work part-time 24 hours a week.
For the last pay period of the month, the employees worked their normal hours, except for:
- 1 employee off 1 day on paid sick leave; and
- 1 part-time worker on leave without pay for 4 hours.
- There were also 3 hours of overtime worked.
The total number of hours payable for work performed and paid absence for the last pay period in the reference month would be 240 hours.
(See the following example of the calculation)
Calculation:
2 full-time x 40.0 hours (includes 1 day paid absence for sick leave)
2 part-time x 24.0 hours = 48.0 hours (less 4 hours leave without pay)
3 hours overtime (before rate factor application)
Total 239.5
Rounded to 240
Total number of overtime hours worked (Hourly Employees only) (Question 5b)
Report the total number of overtime hours worked for the last pay period of the reference month before rate factors have been applied. Only the actual number of overtime hours worked is required.
Example:
If an employee worked 2 hours at an overtime pay rate of time and a half, then the overtime hours actually worked would be 2 hours.
Average number of scheduled working hours (Salaried Employees only) (Question 10)
Report the average number of hours of work normally scheduled in a workweek for the last pay period of the reference month. It is important that the reported number is for a single week.
If all your salaried employees have the same number of scheduled workweek hours, then report this number of hours. Report partial hours in decimals.
If your salaried employees work a different number of regular hours a week, then report the average number of hours worked by these employees. (See example below)
Example:
If 4 full-time salaried employees work 40 hours a week and 2 part-time salaried employees work 24 hours a week, then the average for these employees would be:
((4x40) + (2x24)) ÷ (4+2) = 34.66 average hours
Special payments made at any time during the month (Questions 6, 11 et 15)
Special Payments are amounts paid to employees for work performed or for other entitlements that:
- do not relate exclusively to the last pay period of the month;
- are made at any time during the month;
- are not part of regular wages and salaries; and
- are usually recorded in the books using the "cash" method of accounting. (Cash basis accounting is financial accountability when obligations are paid or monies received.)
Special payments exclude all remuneration recorded as regular wages and salaries, as well as non-taxable allowances and benefits. The inclusion of special payments in the last pay period payroll, or monthly dates for special payments that cover longer periods would give an inaccurate reflection of average earnings.
If payments are regularly paid (i.e. in each pay period), they can be included with Regular Gross Pay, but if the payments are irregular (i.e. not in each pay period), they must be reported in the special payments section.
The following examples constitute a partial list of possible special payments. There may be other payments unique to your company. Interviewers at the regional office are available for assistance in case of any doubt on whether an amount qualifies as a special payment or not.
- bonuses: annual, contract, Christmas, incentive, monthly, productivity, recruitment, retention;
- cost of living allowance (COLA);
- overtime, covering a different period than the last pay period;
- regular leave (statutory and sick) covering a different period than the last pay period;
- retroactive pay;
- retiring allowance;
- separation/severance pay;
- vacation pay covering a different period than the last pay period;
- board members' salary covering a different period than the last pay period.
Start and End dates that the Special Payment covers (Questions 6, 11 and 15)
Report the start and end dates for the period that the special payment covers for a category of employees. It is essential that the special payments dates reported reflect the period covered by the special payment and not the payroll month in which they were paid. Do not give the dates when this pay was given to the employees.
Example:
On March 24, employees received a production bonus totaling $2,200 for work performed from January 1, 2011 to February 29, 2011. The type of payment to be reported would be "Bonus", dates to be reported for this special payment in the March survey reference month would be from 2011-01-01 to 2011-02-29 and the amount would be $2,200.
For all special payments made during the reference month, report the type of special payment, the amount paid and the period that the special payment covers.
General information
Data-sharing agreements
To reduce respondent burden, Statistics Canada has entered into data-sharing agreements with provincial and territorial statistical agencies and other government organizations, which have agreed to keep the data confidential and use them only for statistical purposes. Statistics Canada will only share data from this survey with those organizations that have demonstrated a requirement to use the data.
Section 11 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with provincial and territorial statistical agencies that meet certain conditions. These agencies must have the legislative authority to collect the same information, on a mandatory basis, and the legislation must provide substantially the same provisions for confidentiality and penalties for disclosure of confidential information as the Statistics Act. Because these agencies have the legal authority to compel businesses to provide the same information, consent is not requested and businesses may not object to the sharing of the data.
For this survey, there are Section 11 agreements with the provincial and territorial statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon.
The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.
Section 12 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with federal, provincial or territorial government organizations. Under Section 12, you may refuse to share your information with any of these organizations by writing a letter of objection to the Chief Statistician and returning it with the completed questionnaire. Please specify the organizations with which you do not want to share your data.
For this survey, there are Section 12 agreements with the statistical agencies of Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
For agreements with provincial and territorial government organizations, the shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.
Record linkages
Your responses for this survey will be combined with your business' monthly payroll deduction files received from the Canada Revenue Agency. Statistics Canada may also combine the information you provide with other survey or administrative data sources.
Thank you for your collaboration!
