Actual Base Salary: The annual salary paid to an employee. This amount does not include overtime, car allowances, cash bonus, or long term incentives (such as stock options), or any other form of cash compensation.

Actual Bonus: Typically a lump sum cash payment earned based on pre-determined objectives from the previous year, and received the following year. It may also be referred to as a Short Term Incentive. The data is provided as a single, yearly bonus figure.

Actual Other Annual Cash Compensation: Total amount paid to the incumbent, in cash ($), over the course of the year as other compensation (not expressed as a percentage). The data is provided as a single, yearly amount.

Average: The sum of the observations reported, divided by the total number of observations in the sample. Also known as the arithmetic mean.

Bonus Payment: Typically a lump sum cash payment earned based on pre-determined objectives from the previous year, and received the following year. It may also be referred to as a Short Term Incentive.

Breaks: Includes all paid time given to employees for which they do not have to conduct work (e.g coffee break, lunch).

Commission: A sum of money earned upon completion of the sale of a product or service or upon the achievement of a specific quota or target. Commission may be based on a percentage of sales or a flat rate.

Community Service: This industry category includes all charities, foundations, not-for-profit groups, associations, councils, or other community service based organizations with mandates outside private or public sector trade.

Compensation: Any form of payment given to an employee for a job performed.  This can be a base salary, benefits, incentive payments, pensions, bonuses, etc.

Defined Benefit Pension Plan: A pension plan that specifies the benefits, or the methods of determining the benefits, but not the level or rate of contribution.  Contributions are determined on the basis of the benefits expected to become payable.

Defined Contribution Pension Plan: A pension plan from an individual account for each participant with benefits based on the amount contributed to the participant’s account plus any income, expenses, gains and losses, and forfeitures of accounts from other participants that may be allocated to the participant's account.  The benefit amount to be received by the participant at retirement is unknown until retirement.

Employee: A person that occupies a particular job. Your organization may have one job with many employees, ie: several people engaged in the same job function.

Employee Weighted: Employee weighted data is based on all employees included in the sample, regardless of the number of organizations reporting. The employee weighted median is the mid-point of all employee data. The employee weighted average is the average (or arithmetic mean) of all employees included in the sample.

Executive: An employee group that includes overtime exempt level salaried professionals.  Advanced college and/or on-the-job knowledge of multiple business units. Main responsibilities include ensuring operations of multiple business units are completed.  Has advanced interpersonal communication skills and application of problem-solving ability.

FTE (Full Time Equivalent): Refers to the number of employees working at full-time capacity. An FTE of 1.0 means that the person is equivalent to a full-time worker, while an FTE of 0.5 signals that the worker is only half-time. Participants are asked to provide data based on FTEs. In cases where part-time work may occur, salary information may be annualized, based on the standard number of hours for full time employees.

Gain Sharing: A technique that compensates workers based on improvements in the company's productivity.

Goal Sharing: A business management and incentive system that rewards employees for continuous improvement toward strategic business unit goals.

Gratuities: Tips received in the hospitality industry

Hours Worked Per Week: The total hours paid to an employee for a seven day period, including paid breaks.

Hybrid Pension Plan: Retirement plans that involve characteristics of both defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans.

Industry: A form of business that is carried out by similar organizations.  Examples of industries include Agriculture, Transportation, Finance, Manufacturing, etc.

International: An organization whose operations are located both inside and outside of Canada.

Less than description: The job responsibilities include some, but not a significant amount of the responsibilities of a job summary (i.e., less than 80% match).

Local: An organization whose operations are located only within the province.

Long Term Cash: A long term incentive program based on cash payments, typically tied to specific performance conditions.

Long-term Incentives: Incentive plans that have a payout period more than one year from the date of grant.

Management: An employee group that includes typically overtime exempt level salaried professionals.  Advanced college or on-the-job knowledge of specific field.  Main responsibilities include ensuring operations of a group of employees doing varying tasks in the same field are completed.  Has understanding of interpersonal skills and problem-solving ability.  May not have supervisory responsibility but has large monetary responsibility.

Match: The job responsibilities include a significant amount of the responsibilities of a job summary (i.e., 80% - 100% match).

Median: Known as the 50th percentile or the middle rate, 50 percent of all observations in the sample are at or below this point and 50 percent of all observations are at or above this point.

More than description: The job responsibilities include a significant amount of the responsibilities of a job summary and more responsibilities beyond that (i.e., greater than a 100% match).

National: An organization whose operations are located only within Canada.

Organization Weighted: Data is achieved by calculating the average based on the number of employees reported for each organization. This single average is then combined with all other organization averages for each item reported. The organization-weighted median is the mid-point of these organization averages. The organization-weighted average is the average (or arithmetic mean) of all organization averages.

Other: An employee group that includes salaried professionals and hourly employees not considered to be Management or Executive.  Main job responsibilities are to offer varying forms of support to all levels of the organization or main responsibilities are in specific field of knowledge and to ensure day-to-day portion of that field is completed.

Other Cash Compensation: This is other forms of cash received, such as: Discretionary Cash, Commission, Gain Sharing, Goal Sharing, Profit Sharing, or Gratuities. Amounts could be paid as a percentage of salary or a flat rate, and could be consistent throughout the year, or vary from pay cheque to pay cheque. It does not include long term incentives. The data is provided as a single, yearly amount.

P25: The 25th percentile, also known as the first quartile. 25 percent of all observations in the sample are at or below this point.

P75: The 75th percentile, also known as the third quartile. 75 percent of all observations in the sample are at or below this point.

Performance-Accelerated Stock Options: A long term incentive. Performance-accelerated stock options require that certain financial goals are met before the option is exercisable. If performance levels are achieved, vesting is accelerated.

Performance-Contingent Stock Options: A long-term incentive plan in which options vest only when certain performance measures are met. If the goals are not achieved within a specified time frame, the options expire.

Performance Share Plan: A performance share plan allocates shares or rights to shares, the vesting of which is subject to the satisfaction of performance targets measured over a specified period of time.

Phantom Share or Rights: Phantom share plans or phantom rights/option plans typically provide an employee with a contractual right to a bonus equal to the value or growth in value of a number of real shares. These plans are generally used where it is not possible or undesirable to award real shares.

Profit Sharing: A lump sum payment, the amount of which is dependent upon company profits for the year. The potential amount received is generally based on a percentage of base salary.

Restricted Share Units: A notional unit awarded to an employee that is redeemable for either a company share or for cash equal to the value of a company share at a future date and subject to an employee meeting specific conditions, typically related to performance.

Restricted Stock: Restricted stock, in this context, refers to a form of compensation granted by a company, allowing the shares to be transferred when certain conditions are met (period of time, or performance conditions, such as the company reaching earnings per share goals or financial targets).

Salary Range: The range of pay rates, from minimum to maximum, established for a pay grade or class.  Typically used to set individual employee pay rates.

Scope: The measure of the size of an organization based on total revenue, assets under administration, or operating budget in an organization.

Sector: An area of business that classifies the objectives of similar organizations.  The main sectors of business are Private, Public, and Non-Profit.

Stock Grants: A grant or award of stock.

Target Base Salary: Also known as the job rate at full proficiency, this is the amount paid to a fully competent employee with satisfactory performance and a high level of experience (approx. 3-5 years).

Target Bonus: Expressed as a percentage of base salary, the target is intended to reflect what would be paid when the bonus plan is achieved. This is not necessarily the maximum bonus achievable.

Total Cash: The sum of actual base salary plus any additional commission or profit sharing but not including long-term incentives.

Total Rewards: The compensation structure of an organization.  It encompasses all areas of compensation and rewards for employees including, but not limited to, base pay, incentive pay, pensions, benefits, bonuses, etc.

Traditional Stock Options: Traditional stock options are financial instruments conveying the right, but not necessarily the obligation, to engage in a transaction on a security (stock in the employee's company) granted as a long term incentive.