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Creative Agencies in Ontario

HR software for marketing, creative, and PR agencies in Ontario

Creative Agencies teams of 5–50 in Ontario need HR software that understands provincial rules — minimum wage of $17.20/hr, the 10 statutory holidays observed here, and the compliance particulars below. WalnutsHR handles all of it in one workspace, priced in CAD.

Last reviewed: April 2026

ON min wage

$17.20 /hr

Stat holidays 2026

10

WalnutsHR

$10 CAD/emp/mo

What marketing, creative, and PR agencies in Ontario deal with every week

  • Project-based staffing with freelancers and contractors: your core team is stable, but per-project you onboard and offboard contractors constantly.
  • Billable vs non-billable visibility: which designer is fully utilized and which one has bench time? HR systems rarely answer this; timesheet tools do.
  • Retention in a competitive talent market: agency creatives leave for other agencies fast, and comp transparency matters when you're trying to keep them.

Ontario specifics for marketing, creative, and PR agencies

  • The Employment Standards Act (ESA) applies to most employees in Ontario.
  • Working for Workers Four Act introduced job-posting pay-transparency rules.
  • Federal employees (banks, telecom, airlines) are covered by the Canada Labour Code instead.

Governing body: Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

How WalnutsHR handles it

  • Contractors and freelancers kept in a separate records space — onboard in 10 minutes with minimal paperwork, offboard just as fast.
  • Employee profiles capture role level and compensation so you can run comp reviews against market benchmarks without spreadsheets.
  • Time-off and documents in one place, so the creative director isn't chasing signatures while managing a deck deadline.

Try the payroll calculator

Pre-filled for a median creative agencies salary in Ontario. Adjust any of the inputs.

Your details

Estimate

2026 tax year · paid biweekly

Net pay per period

$1,971

Annual take-home: $51,235 of $65,000

DeductionPer periodAnnual
Gross pay$2,500$65,000
CPP / QPP$141$3,659
EI / QPIP$41$1,066
Federal tax$255$6,622
Provincial tax$93$2,418
  • • Estimated using 2026 tax brackets.
  • • Assumes only the basic personal amount; other TD1 credits (spousal, dependants, disability, tuition) would further reduce tax.
  • • Does not include RRSP contributions, taxable benefits, or pension adjustments.
  • • For official deductions, use CRA's Payroll Deductions Online Calculator (PDOC).
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FAQ for marketing, creative, and PR agencies in Ontario

We use freelancers constantly. Can we onboard them fast?+
Yes — contractors get a lighter record type with just the essentials (name, contact, contract, insurance if required). No full SIN/TD1/banking flow unless they're paid through payroll.
Does WalnutsHR track billable hours or project utilization?+
We track time off and attendance; detailed billable-hour tracking per project is a timesheet tool's job (Harvest, Toggl, FreshBooks). Pair WalnutsHR with one of those for the utilization dashboard.
Can we run comp reviews across the team?+
Yes — compensation history and role level are stored per employee with role-based visibility (managers see their team, not the whole agency). Benchmarking data isn't included; you'd pair with industry salary reports.
What about remote-first agencies with people across Canada and the US?+
Canadian employees are handled fully, including multi-province payroll. US employees aren't supported on our Canadian product. If you need both, look at dual-country platforms (we can't currently cover that combination).

Related reading

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