# Do our hourly and shift workers need a different kind of financial support?

> For hourly and shift-based workers, money strain often comes from how the work is set up: hours that move, gaps in paid sick leave, and low pay in certain industries. Here's what Statistics Canada data shows, and what employers can change.

Topic: Research & Insights · Audience: employers and HR leaders

Canonical URL: https://mybuffer.ca/blog/hourly-shift-workers-financial-support

## Key takeaways

- For hourly and shift-based teams, how predictable income is can matter as much as how much they earn.
- In Statistics Canada's pre-pandemic 2020 survey, 22.6% of workers had an irregular schedule, and 58.4% of them would have preferred a regular one.
- Paid sick leave is uneven: in 2023, 72.2% of full-time employees had it in their main job, compared with 23.3% of part-time employees and 21.9% in accommodation and food services.
- Low pay is concentrated by industry. In 2024, 62.5% of employees in accommodation and food services and 52.1% in retail trade earned less than $20.00 an hour.
- Employers control real levers, like schedule notice, accurate and on-time pay, clear sick-leave rules and benefits that reach part-time staff. A borrowing benefit can't replace them.

Ask why a salaried office worker and an hourly warehouse worker might handle a surprise $600 bill differently, and most people will say income. That's part of it. But for hourly and shift-based teams, the shape of income often matters as much as the amount. How predictable is it? What happens when you're sick? How much of a cushion does the job let you build?

Employers have a hand in all of that. Here's what the Canadian data shows.

## How much do hours actually move?

Statistics Canada's most recent detailed look at work schedules is getting old. It comes from the Survey on Quality of Employment, collected in February and March 2020, just before the pandemic. At that point 22.6% of workers had an irregular schedule, and for most of them (62.3%) both the schedule and the number of hours varied ([Statistics Canada](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210322/dq210322a-eng.htm)).

Most of them didn't choose it. Among people with irregular schedules, 58.4% said they'd have preferred a regular one, and 22.0% worked fewer hours than they wanted. For workers on regular schedules that figure was 8.8%.

We haven't found a newer national estimate using the same measures, so treat these as a pre-pandemic baseline, not a current count.

### What a short pay period does to a budget

*This is a hypothetical example for illustration only. It isn't based on any real employee.*

Say someone earns $22 an hour and gets paid every two weeks. In a good pay period they work 32 hours a week, so 64 hours, for $1,408 gross. If their hours drop to 24 a week for one period, that's 48 hours and $1,056 gross. They're $352 short, a 25% drop, before any deductions.

Rent, the phone bill and the car payment don't drop by 25%. One short pay period can be enough to push a fixed bill onto a credit card or into overdraft, even if the person's income averaged over the year looks fine. Variable income comes in on an unpredictable rhythm while the costs stay put, and that's a problem even when the yearly average looks okay.

It ties into a broader finding. In the National Payroll Institute's June 2026 survey of employed Canadians, 28% said they'd struggle to meet their financial obligations if their paycheque were delayed by just one week ([National Payroll Institute](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/canadians-are-on-a-financial-crash-course-808837328.html)). For someone already absorbing swings in hours, a late deposit or a payroll error can do a lot of damage.

## What happens when being sick costs a shift?

Paid sick leave is one of the clearest dividing lines between kinds of jobs. In 2023, 64.0% of Canadian employees had paid sick leave in their main job. For part-time employees it was 23.3%, against 72.2% for full-time employees, and in accommodation and food services it was 21.9%, according to Statistics Canada's report on [sick leave entitlement in 2023](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/14-28-0001/2024001/article/00008-eng.htm).

Without paid sick leave, getting sick is a financial event too. Every missed shift is missed pay, often in the same weeks as a pharmacy bill or extra childcare.

**British Columbia is an exception.** It's one of the few provinces that require employers to provide paid sick leave to most employees. Statistics Canada notes that BC employees are entitled to [five days after working 90 days](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/paid-sick-leave) for the same employer. BC also had the highest share of employees with paid sick leave in 2023, at 69.1%, after a jump that lined up with the new rule. Rules differ elsewhere in Canada. Federally regulated workplaces have their own entitlement, and most provinces don't require paid sick days at all.

## Which industries have the most low pay?

In 2024, 18.5% of Canadian employees earned less than Statistics Canada's low-pay threshold of $20.00 an hour, which is two-thirds of the median wage. The share was much higher in accommodation and food services (62.5%) and retail trade (52.1%), and a lot lower in transportation and warehousing (11.5%) and manufacturing (12.1%), based on Statistics Canada's [Employees with low pay, 2024](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/14-28-0001/2025001/article/00002-eng.htm).

That spread is a useful reality check, because frontline and hourly cover very different situations. Statistics Canada itself points out that part-time share, union coverage and industry-specific factors all affect low-pay rates. A unionized manufacturing plant and a quick-service restaurant might share a shift pattern and still look nothing alike financially. Whatever support you design should start from your own workforce rather than a national stereotype.

## What can employers actually change?

None of this means hourly workers are bad with money. The data points to structure: irregular hours, uneven access to paid leave, and pay that leaves little room. Some of that is set by the market and the law. Some of it is set by employers.

**Schedule notice and stability.** Posting schedules further ahead, keeping minimum hours as steady as operations allow and limiting last-minute cuts all reduce the kind of swing in the example above. They take management attention, not a new benefit.

**Getting pay right, and on time.** For workers with little cushion, a payroll error or a late deposit can do real harm. Fixing errors fast, and making off-cycle payments when you get it wrong, matters more than it might seem.

**Clear sick-leave rules.** Make sure people know exactly what they're entitled to, especially in provinces like BC with statutory paid sick days, and that using it won't quietly count against them in future scheduling.

**Benefits that reach part-time staff.** If your EAP, financial counselling or other supports are open to part-time and casual employees, say so explicitly. People often assume they're left out.

**Help with the timing gap itself.** When a one-time cost lands before payday, workers without savings often face expensive choices. [Emergency fund support, savings options and access to counselling](https://mybuffer.ca/blog/financial-wellness-beyond-workshops) can each help in different situations.

That one's last for a reason. [A borrowing benefit](https://mybuffer.ca/blog/questions-before-offering-emergency-loans) can help someone get through a short-term shock. It can't stand in for predictable hours, fair pay or paid sick days, and it shouldn't be offered as if it could.

## Questions and answers

### Why can a short pay period cause problems even when yearly income looks fine?

Fixed bills don't shrink when hours do. In the article's hypothetical example, a worker at $22 an hour who drops from 64 to 48 hours in a two-week period earns $352 less gross, a 25% drop, while rent and other bills stay the same.

### How common is paid sick leave for part-time workers in Canada?

Much less common than for full-time workers. Statistics Canada found that in 2023, 23.3% of part-time employees had paid sick leave in their main job, compared with 72.2% of full-time employees.

### What can employers of hourly teams actually change?

Posting schedules further ahead, keeping minimum hours steady where operations allow, fixing payroll errors fast, making sick-leave rules clear and telling part-time and casual staff which supports they can use.

### Can a borrowing benefit solve these problems?

No. It can help someone get through a short-term shock, but it can't stand in for predictable hours, fair pay or paid sick days, and it shouldn't be offered as if it could.

## Sources and references

1. [Aspects of quality of employment in Canada, February and March 2020 (The Daily)](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210322/dq210322a-eng.htm) · Statistics Canada
2. [Sick leave entitlement, 2023 (Quality of Employment in Canada)](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/14-28-0001/2024001/article/00008-eng.htm) · Statistics Canada
3. [Paid sick leave](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/paid-sick-leave) · Province of British Columbia
4. [Employees with low pay, 2024 (Quality of Employment in Canada)](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/14-28-0001/2025001/article/00002-eng.htm) · Statistics Canada
5. [Canadians are on a Financial Crash Course (news release)](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/canadians-are-on-a-financial-crash-course-808837328.html) · National Payroll Institute

*Product facts in this article were supplied by Buffer Financial Inc. This article is general information, not personal financial advice or an offer of credit.*