What is a total rewards statement?
A one-page annual summary per employee of everything the company spends on them: pay, benefits, retirement contributions, time off and development, itemized and totalled.
Group Retirement · Total rewards strategy
What is a total rewards strategy for a 20 to 500 person Canadian company?
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A total rewards strategy is a written, deliberate answer to one question: what does working here actually pay, in every form, and why is it shaped that way? For a mid-sized company it does not require a consulting engagement. It requires an honest inventory of what you already spend, a decision about what to anchor it with, and a one-page statement your managers can repeat. Here is the working version, in five steps.
The five steps
- 1
Step 1. Inventory what you already spend.
Salary, bonus, benefits premiums, any retirement match, paid time off, training budgets, parking, phones. Most owners have never added this up per employee; the total is usually a bigger and better story than anyone has been telling. Money is the leading source of stress for 43 percent of Canadians, ahead of health, relationships and work (FP Canada 2026 Financial Stress Index), so the money story is the one your people are already tuned to.
- 2
Step 2. Ask your people what they value, and believe them.
A short anonymous survey beats assumptions. The published evidence says owners guess wrong specifically on retirement: 83 percent of employers without retirement benefits assumed staff would prefer cash while 63 percent of surveyed workers preferred the pension (HOOPP, 2024), and yet 60 percent of members would trade their health benefits for $10,000 (Benefits Canada, 2025). Preferences are lumpy; measure yours.
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Step 3. Anchor with the reward that compounds.
A group RRSP with a visible match, usually paired with a DPSP for the employer dollars, is the one reward that grows on a statement every month and can vest to reward staying. Design it before you decorate the edges: the group retirement hub.
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Step 4. Write the one-pager.
One page per employee, once a year: everything you spend on them, itemized, totalled. This is the total rewards statement, and it converts invisible spend into a felt number. Managers get the same page so the offer conversation and the retention conversation use the same math.
- 5
Step 5. Review annually, against evidence.
Voluntary turnover in the roles that hurt, offer acceptance rates, exit-interview mentions, plan participation. Cut what buys no loyalty, feed what does, and keep the governance file your retirement plan expects along the way.
What it costs to run
Steps 1, 2, 4 and 5 cost time, not fees. The anchor in step 3 is the real budget line, and it is a design choice: the worked numbers for a 50-person company are here, every assumption labelled: our worked 50-person example, with the tax treatment that shapes the employer side here: the employer tax-advantages guide.
Total rewards strategy questions
How is a total rewards strategy different from a benefits package?
A benefits package is one input. The strategy is the whole inventory plus the decisions about its shape. The full comparison: total rewards versus a benefits package.
Where should a mid-sized company start?
With the inventory. Until you know the per-employee total you already spend, every other decision is a guess.
Why anchor total rewards with a retirement plan?
It is typically the largest reward dollar after salary, the only one that visibly compounds, the one with survey evidence behind employee preference, and the one that can vest to reward tenure.
Do we need a consultant to do this?
No. The five steps above are the working method. Where design expertise genuinely helps is step 3, and that conversation with us takes ten minutes to start.
Prepared by RiskX
Written by Jarod Smith, CEO, RiskX Insurance Brokers Inc. Reviewed by Gordon Smith, RiskX Insurance Brokers Inc.
Published: August 20, 2026. Updated: August 20, 2026.
Group retirement