July 22, 2024
Dear NACCB Members,
Following meetings with our Ottawa Chapter and with ACSESS, we are pleased to share an update regarding the response of both Associations to the ongoing situation (Overbilling issue) with Public Services Procurement Canada and several of our member organizations.
We will continue to work closely with the named suppliers as they retain legal counsel to align on an appropriate response to PSPC. We are hopeful that this can be resolved swiftly in accordance with the high ethical standards we uphold as an industry.
The cooperative efforts of NACCB and ACSESS will also include expanded work with StrategyCorp Inc., which will provide advice to our management and legal teams on an appropriate communications approach that aligns with our operational response. How we choose to resolve this situation will influence what further level of support may be required to help us manage the reputation of our members with clients and other stakeholders.
We will be sure to keep you informed as this situation progresses. Please do not hesitate to reach out should you have any questions.
Michael Leacy
NACCB President
March 20, 2023 - Sent to NACCB members sent on behalf of Mike Leacy, President, NACCB
You may not be aware but there is pay transparency legislation that is going into effect in several US states. Indeed has taken a position to prioritize pay transparency to Canadian jobs in order to increase traffic and interest as well.
This legislation has only been enacted in PEI and there are no plans to move forward with this in other Provinces. Indeed wants to arbitrarily implement this change without having spoken with or reviewed the impact that this has on the Independent Contractors, Canadian Staffing firms and our clients.
As an agency you will need to accept their estimated rates that will be based on salary ranges AND/OR provides rates which will share competitive markup/rates across the industry.
Our intent is to meet with Indeed to understand its position on Pay Transparency for the Independent Contract (IC) worker in Canada as we disagree with the stance that all jobs posted on Indeed are treated equally and should disclose rates. This is not the nature of contract work in Canada for the professional IC’s.
This risk goes beyond the Staffing agency and will impact the end client that utilize contingent workers. The spend for contract workers in Canada is $10.3B with $5.6B reflecting the professional IC and the changes Indeed are proposing puts the industry and spend at risk.
The independent contractor (IC) in Canada is different than the contract worker in the US as there are multiple ways a worker can be engaged on an assignment within Canada. In the US, the worker will typically represent as a W2 whereas in Canada they can represent in 1 of 4 different statuses (T4, Sole Proprietorship, Partnership or Incorporated). The different statuses include levels of cost and risks that the staffing agency and the client must bear which impact the pay rate to the consultant.
The items we plan to discuss are:
Our intent with our email is to update you all on this issue and when speaking with your Indeed Reps you can bring this matter to their attention. Indeed has an implementation plan that goes into effect in the next few months, and we are hoping to discuss this issue as it goes against many of the recent changes to legislation that we have made as an industry to make special recognition for the IC worker.
In summary:
Indeed will use estimated rates that will be based on salary ranges AND/OR as an agency you will need to provide rates which will share competitive markup/rates across the industry
Anchoring candidates on low or high rates will potentially open up conversations surrounding INC which could be misconstrued as misclassification as you will be starting with rate vs. how they would like to present.
Client procurement of Independent Contractors and staffing vendor evaluation is based on ability to meet or below rate card, by displaying rates on postings, achieving rate card compliance will be difficult.
The global landscape, along with mergers, acquisitions and insolvency, are making the notion of full-time job security an illusion. When it comes to labour, companies only have a few options available to them. They can resist increases to the pay rates for their employees. Where those companies are unionized they can risk strikes or close their doors. They can automate, replacing jobs with machines. They can send all or part of their operation off shore.
Or they can engage labour under contract in order to be more responsive to economic change.
However, our government does not appear to be engaged on this issue. On one hand they are leaving workers at the lower pay rates to their own devices while targeting knowledge-based workers who offer their services under contract through a corporation.
We must require that out government get ahead of this change and adopt rules of engagement that protect our workers from unscrupulous employers while deterring them from going offshore to meet labour needs.
In this global workplace, we need to accept the reality of change. In the meantime, small steps can be taken by government to mitigate abuse and turn contract work into something much less “precarious.”
The CRA conducted an audit project between September 2009 and October 2010 and looked at the Personal Services Business (PSB) issue across all industries and across the country. The results of the project are as follows:
Representatives from the NACCB met with the Canada Revenue Agency on December 1, 2010 to discuss the recent audits of IT contractors and to provide information on common business models within the IT Services sector.
