MNP and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce release handbook for Ontario’s Business Community
Trent Hills, Ontario, October 23, 2017 – The Trent Hills Chamber of Commerce (THCC) alongside the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) and MNP, Canada’s leading accounting firm, have released a comprehensive handbook for Ontario’s business community that provides strategies to help businesses navigate the incoming changes from Bill 148 (Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act). The handbook outlines the potential risks to employers from the incoming legislation and offers human resources and operational strategies to help businesses better understand what these changes will mean.
“There is no question that Bill 148 has the potential to add challenges and new costs for our local businesses here in Trent Hills,” said Jeff Hamilton, Chair of the THCC. “We believe this handbook will provide some help to our members when navigating through these significant changes. That said, Bill 148 is going to have serious unintended consequences and the government must also provide support to help businesses transition. We need to know that relief is coming.”
Bill 148 will bring in a number of reforms to Ontario’s current labour and employment standards laws, most notably instituting a $15 minimum wage by January 2019, representing a 32% increase. The handbook outlines the impacts businesses are likely to see from the numerous changes and identifies that small businesses are most likely to face four main issues:
- Profitability: businesses may not be able to keep up a sustainable profit margin;
- Staffing levels: businesses may not have the capacity to maintain current staffing;
- Competition: to keep their doors open, businesses will be forces to raise prices; and
- Taxation: with higher wages comes higher payroll taxes and contributions to EI and CPP.
The handbook also includes information on how to adapt to the changing workplaces, and outlines best practices for refining and changing process in the workplace. See the full handbook here, Steering Through Change, A Handbook to Help Ontario Businesses Understand and Manage Bill 148.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Nancy Allanson
nancy@trenthillschamber.ca
705-653-1551
Trent Hills Chamber of Commerce