Education Sessions

Payroll is evolving beyond automation, and Agentic AI is leading the next transformation. Discover how payroll leaders can harness AI-powered systems to reduce complexity, strengthen compliance, and unlock strategic business value. This forward-looking session explores how to modernize global payroll operations, eliminate data silos, improve decision-making, and build organizational confidence in AI-driven processes. Whether you’re just beginning your AI journey or planning your next transformation, you’ll leave with practical strategies for building a smarter, more agile payroll function.

Every pay cycle is an opportunity to strengthen employee trust. This session introduces the Payroll Loyalty Loop, a framework for understanding how payroll experiences influence confidence, engagement, and organizational reputation. Explore the role of communication, responsiveness, payslip clarity, self-service tools, and employee support in shaping perceptions of your organization. Learn practical ways to improve the payroll experience while strengthening relationships and reinforcing trust with every payroll interaction.

Employment law continues to evolve, bringing new compliance requirements and workplace challenges for employers. This timely session explores the latest legislative updates impacting payroll and HR professionals, with practical insights on employee relations, accommodation, terminations, and flexible work arrangements. Gain a clear understanding of emerging obligations, potential risks, and best practices that can help your organization stay compliant while effectively supporting today’s workforce.

Networking doesn’t have to feel awkward or overwhelming. Join Canada’s Networking Expert®, Jolene Watson, for an engaging session designed to help professionals build authentic relationships with confidence. Through practical techniques, personality insights, and real-world communication strategies, you’ll learn how to start meaningful conversations, strengthen your professional presence, and create lasting connections. Whether you’re naturally outgoing or prefer quieter interactions, you’ll gain tools to expand your network and open new opportunities for career growth.

Payroll is about more than accuracy and compliance. Every interaction is an opportunity to build trust and shape the employee experience. This session explores how adopting a service-focused approach can elevate payroll from a transactional function to a valued organizational partner. Learn practical techniques for improving communication, handling challenging situations with confidence, and delivering exceptional service while maintaining compliance. You’ll leave with actionable strategies that strengthen relationships, credibility, and influence across your organization.

Some payroll questions don’t have straightforward answers. Join a panel of Compliance Services experts as they reveal some of the most complex and intriguing questions they’ve tackled from payroll professionals across Canada. Through real-world cases, you’ll gain insight into the research, analysis, and critical thinking required to navigate challenging compliance situations. Discover how experts approach uncertainty, interpret legislation, and reach defensible decisions while gathering practical lessons you can apply to your own payroll challenges.

Too often, payroll is brought into projects after key decisions have already been made. This interactive session explores how payroll professionals can become trusted advisors and influential project partners from day one. Learn practical approaches for engaging stakeholders, communicating payroll requirements, identifying risks, and driving better project outcomes. Through real-world examples, you’ll discover how to strengthen your influence, contribute more strategically, and position payroll as a critical voice in organizational change and transformation initiatives.

Les affectations internationales peuvent entraîner des répercussions importantes sur la paie, la conformité et les obligations fiscales, tant pour l’employeur que pour l’employé. Cette séance offrira un aperçu des principaux enjeux à considérer lorsqu’un employé travaille à l’extérieur du Canada ou change de pays de résidence fiscale.

Les participants exploreront les incidences possibles sur les retenues à la source, les cotisations sociales, les obligations de déclaration et divers risques de conformité pouvant découler d’une mobilité internationale.

À la fin de cette séance, les participants seront en mesure de :

• Identifier les principales répercussions des affectations internationales sur la paie canadienne.
• Comprendre les impacts potentiels sur l’impôt, le RPC/RRQ, l’AE, le RQAP et les autres charges sociales.
• Reconnaître certains risques liés à la fiscalité corporative, aux avantages sociaux et à l’imposition des employés.
• Mieux évaluer les obligations de conformité tant au Canada qu’à l’étranger.

As AI reshapes the workplace, organizations are discovering that technology isn’t replacing people, it’s transforming how work gets done. This thought-provoking session explores how AI is changing workforce structures, talent strategies, and organizational culture while creating new opportunities for innovation and growth. Discover where human expertise remains essential, how HR can lead successful AI adoption, and why building a culture of continuous learning will be critical for future success.

What happens if your payroll expert is unexpectedly unavailable? Strong continuity planning ensures payroll stays accurate, secure, and on schedule no matter the disruption. This practical session explores how to identify vulnerabilities, document critical processes, establish backup protocols, and strengthen organizational resilience. You’ll leave with a framework for protecting payroll operations, reducing key-person risk, and maintaining compliance during absences, system changes, staffing transitions, and other unexpected events.

Bring your toughest workplace questions to the Legal Hot Seat. This interactive Q&A session puts today’s most pressing employment law and HR issues front and centre, offering practical guidance from legal experts on navigating an increasingly complex workplace environment. Whether you submit questions in advance or participate live, you’ll gain valuable insights, clarity on emerging challenges, and actionable advice to help balance compliance, risk management, and organizational success.

Constant deadlines, compliance demands, and high expectations can challenge even the most experienced payroll professionals. This session explores how to sustain performance without sacrificing wellbeing. Discover practical strategies for improving focus, building resilience, managing energy, and preventing burnout in high-pressure environments. You’ll learn how small, intentional habits can strengthen decision-making, enhance effectiveness, and support long-term professional success, helping you perform at your best when it matters most.

The future of payroll technology is being shaped by the people who use it every day. This interactive session explores how payroll professionals can influence product design, feature development, and emerging AI capabilities without being technology experts. Through real-world examples and guided discussion, you’ll discover how to turn everyday frustrations into meaningful feedback that product teams can act on. Leave with practical techniques for helping shape smarter, more effective payroll tools and a new appreciation for the impact of your voice.

Is your organization seeing a temporary decrease in business activity beyond your control? Does your organization offer employees any short-term disability plans or paid sick leave? Come discover how to retain your workforce through the Employment Insurance (EI) Work-Sharing program and pay less in EI Premiums through the EI Premium Reduction Program. Learn about the benefits, eligibility criteria, and application processes that can help your organization save costs and avoid layoffs.

Technology, compliance, analytics, and AI are transforming payroll at an unprecedented pace. As expectations grow, so does the need for new skills and capabilities. This session explores how payroll leaders can identify emerging skills gaps, develop talent from within, and build future-ready teams. Learn practical strategies for strengthening technical expertise, increasing adaptability, and creating a culture of continuous learning that supports long-term success in a rapidly evolving profession.

Information coming soon.

What if audit readiness wasn’t a last-minute scramble? This forward-thinking workshop explores how AI can help payroll teams move from periodic reviews to continuous compliance monitoring. Learn how to identify high-risk audit trigger points, determine where automation can strengthen oversight, and understand where human judgment remains critical. You’ll leave with a practical framework for building stronger controls, reducing risk, and maintaining audit readiness throughout the year.

British Columbia presents unique payroll requirements that can challenge even experienced professionals. This session takes a deeper look at provincial legislation, privacy obligations, WorkSafeBC requirements, and common compliance risks. Through practical examples and expert insights, you’ll gain a stronger understanding of the complexities specific to BC workplaces and leave better equipped to navigate evolving obligations with confidence.

Payroll decisions rarely stay static. Changes to employee roles, work locations, legislation, and technology can quickly introduce new compliance risks. Through engaging case studies and practical examples, this session explores how organizations can strengthen Indigenous payroll governance, improve decision traceability, and build proactive monitoring processes. Learn how to create sustainable controls that support compliance, protect sensitive information, and keep pace with an increasingly complex payroll environment.

Stress affects everyone differently, and understanding your natural responses can be a powerful advantage. In this engaging session, you’ll explore how personality preferences influence behaviour under pressure and learn practical strategies for maintaining balance during demanding periods. Gain valuable insights into communication, emotional regulation, and resilience while discovering tools that can help you navigate workplace challenges with greater confidence, adaptability, and professionalism.

Payroll professionals often find themselves delivering difficult news, resolving conflicts, and navigating emotionally charged conversations. This highly practical session explores the psychology behind challenging interactions and provides strategies for responding with confidence, empathy, and professionalism. Learn techniques for reducing defensiveness, managing emotions, and maintaining trust while addressing sensitive issues. You’ll leave better prepared to handle even the toughest payroll conversations effectively.

Remote work has expanded opportunities for employees, but it has also introduced significant payroll and compliance challenges. This session explores the often-overlooked risks associated with employees working across borders, including tax implications, source deductions, social security obligations, year-end reporting, and employer compliance requirements. Gain practical insights into how organizations can identify potential risks, maintain compliance, and navigate the increasingly complex realities of a borderless workforce.

Information coming soon.

Dans un contexte où la paie évolue rapidement, savoir transformer une erreur en opportunité devient une compétence stratégique. Cette conférence explorera comment adopter une approche constructive face aux incidents afin de renforcer les processus, les contrôles et la communication. Grâce à une gestion transparente, à l’analyse des causes profondes et à l’implantation de correctifs durables, les erreurs se transforment en leviers d’innovation et de leadership. En misant sur l’apprentissage et la collaboration, les équipes de paie développent résilience, maturité professionnelle et efficacité, tout en réduisant les risques futurs et en renforçant la confiance organisationnelle.

À la fin de cette séance, les participants seront mieux outillés pour :

• analyser les causes profondes d’une erreur;
• transformer les apprentissages en améliorations concrètes;
• renforcer les processus et réduire les risques futurs.

How do you prove payroll’s value beyond processing pay accurately and on time? This session explores how meaningful KPIs can help payroll teams measure performance, identify opportunities, demonstrate impact, and support investment decisions. Using real-world examples and benchmarking insights, you’ll learn how to build a practical scorecard that transforms payroll data into compelling stories for leadership. Leave with ideas and tools to strengthen reporting, support decision-making, and elevate payroll’s strategic influence.

Strong leaders know that accountability and empathy are not competing priorities, they’re complementary strengths. In this dynamic workshop, you’ll explore how balancing performance expectations with genuine understanding can drive engagement, retention, and organizational success. Discover practical techniques for strengthening trust, improving difficult conversations, and creating a workplace culture where people feel both supported and accountable. This session offers valuable insights for leaders seeking to elevate their impact and effectiveness.

Terminations and Records of Employment are among the most complex and high-risk responsibilities in payroll. Through interactive exercises, real-world scenarios, and hands-on learning, this workshop helps participants navigate common pitfalls while strengthening compliance knowledge. Learn how to apply legislation, complete critical ROE fields accurately, and confidently manage challenging termination situations. You’ll leave with practical tools, valuable experience, and increased confidence in handling these complex payroll processes.

Payroll sits at the intersection of finance, HR, legal, IT, operations, compliance, vendors, and employees, yet each stakeholder views its priorities differently. This session explores how payroll professionals can strengthen their influence by adapting their message to different audiences and framing risk, value, cost, complexity, and opportunity in language that resonates. You’ll gain practical strategies for communicating with greater clarity, contributing more effectively to strategic decisions, and positioning payroll as a trusted cross-functional partner.

Le changement peut susciter de la résistance et du stress, mais il peut aussi créer des occasions de croissance et d’innovation. Dans cette séance interactive, les participants exploreront comment l’intelligence émotionnelle peut aider les leaders à mieux naviguer à travers les changements organisationnels, avec plus de résilience et d’impact.

En s’appuyant sur la courbe du changement de Kübler-Ross et sur des concepts clés liés à l’intelligence émotionnelle, les participants découvriront comment les émotions influencent nos réactions face au changement, comment l’optimisme favorise l’adaptabilité et comment les leaders peuvent mobiliser leurs équipes et susciter leur engagement pendant les périodes de transition.

À travers des moments de réflexion, des discussions et des exercices pratiques, les participants développeront des stratégies pour mieux gérer leur propre état d’esprit et accompagner les autres.

À la fin de cette séance, les participants seront en mesure de :

• Expliquer le rôle de l’intelligence émotionnelle dans la capacité à diriger efficacement à travers les changements organisationnels.
• Comprendre les différentes réactions émotionnelles que peut susciter le changement à travers la courbe du changement de Kübler-Ross.
• Comprendre comment l’optimisme contribue à la résilience, à l’adaptabilité et à l’efficacité du leadership.
• Mettre en pratique des techniques pour recadrer le discours intérieur négatif et développer un état d’esprit plus constructif.
• Utiliser des émotions telles que l’espoir, la fierté et l’enthousiasme pour motiver les équipes et favoriser leur engagement pendant les périodes de transition.
• Développer des stratégies concrètes pour soutenir les employés et favoriser l’adoption positive du changement au sein de leurs équipes.

How do you prove payroll’s value beyond processing pay accurately and on time? This session explores how meaningful KPIs can help payroll teams measure performance, identify opportunities, demonstrate impact, and support investment decisions. Using real-world examples and benchmarking insights, you’ll learn how to build a practical scorecard that transforms payroll data into compelling stories for leadership. Leave with ideas and tools to strengthen reporting, support decision-making, and elevate payroll’s strategic influence.

Strong leaders know that accountability and empathy are not competing priorities, they’re complementary strengths. In this dynamic workshop, you’ll explore how balancing performance expectations with genuine understanding can drive engagement, retention, and organizational success. Discover practical techniques for strengthening trust, improving difficult conversations, and creating a workplace culture where people feel both supported and accountable. This session offers valuable insights for leaders seeking to elevate their impact and effectiveness.

Terminations and Records of Employment are among the most complex and high-risk responsibilities in payroll. Through interactive exercises, real-world scenarios, and hands-on learning, this workshop helps participants navigate common pitfalls while strengthening compliance knowledge. Learn how to apply legislation, complete critical ROE fields accurately, and confidently manage challenging termination situations. You’ll leave with practical tools, valuable experience, and increased confidence in handling these complex payroll processes.

Payroll sits at the intersection of finance, HR, legal, IT, operations, compliance, vendors, and employees. Everyone depends on it, but not everyone understands it.

This session explores how payroll professionals can strengthen their influence by adapting their message to different stakeholders. Attendees will learn how to communicate payroll risk, value, cost, complexity, and opportunity in language that resonates with CFOs, CHROs, CIOs, legal teams, HR, and business leaders.

Payroll does not need a louder voice. It needs a sharper one.

Learning objectives:

1. Understand what different stakeholders need from payroll conversations.
2. Learn how to frame payroll issues in business, financial, compliance, and technology terms.
3. Develop practical approaches for increasing payroll influence in strategic decision-making.

AI can deliver impressive efficiencies, but what happens when no one is watching? This thought-provoking session examines the risks of relying on unreviewed AI outputs in payroll and compliance environments. Through practical examples and real-world lessons, attendees will learn how AI failures occur, why governance matters, and what critical questions to ask before adopting AI-enabled tools. Leave with a clearer understanding of responsible AI, stronger governance practices, and greater confidence in evaluating emerging technologies.

Payroll implementations can create lasting success or years of frustration. Designed for payroll and business leaders, this session provides a practical roadmap for planning, governing, and executing successful payroll transformations. Learn how to align business requirements with system design, address compliance challenges early, strengthen testing processes, and reduce implementation risk. Leave with proven strategies for launching payroll solutions that are accurate, compliant, and built to support future growth.

What separates high-performing payroll organizations from the rest? It often comes down to their operating model. This session explores the essential building blocks of an effective payroll function, including people, processes, technology, governance, and organizational design. Learn how to assess payroll complexity, identify opportunities for improvement, and develop a framework that supports efficiency, compliance, and long-term success. Gain practical insights to help optimize and future-proof your payroll operation.

Payroll teams are increasingly targeted by sophisticated fraud schemes that put organizational funds and employee data at risk. This fast-paced session examines how direct-deposit diversion, business email compromise, and phishing attacks unfold, along with the behavioural and process controls that can stop them. Drawing on real-world experience with more than 100 Canadian organizations, you’ll learn practical techniques for verifying change requests, recognizing red flags, and strengthening payroll’s role as a trusted control point.

Organizational change can create resistance and stress, but it can also open the door to growth and innovation. This interactive session explores how emotional intelligence and optimism can help leaders navigate change with greater resilience and impact. Drawing on the Kübler-Ross Change Curve, you’ll learn how emotions shape responses to change and gain practical strategies for reframing negative thinking, supporting employees, inspiring engagement, and fostering positive change adoption across your organization.

Privacy regulations and AI innovation are reshaping the payroll landscape at the same time. This timely session explores what evolving privacy requirements mean for payroll professionals and how organizations can responsibly govern AI-enabled technologies. Learn practical approaches for conducting vendor due diligence, evaluating AI capabilities, managing risk, and building governance frameworks that support compliance. You’ll leave with actionable strategies for navigating a rapidly changing technology and regulatory environment.

Managing U.S. payroll requires a clear understanding of the federal and state wage and hour rules that shape employee pay. This session explores how minimum wage and overtime requirements interact across jurisdictions, along with the rules governing child support and creditor garnishment withholding. You’ll gain practical insights to help navigate these complex obligations, strengthen compliance, and administer U.S. payroll with greater confidence.

Joignez-vous aux cadres de l’ARC et aux experts des programmes pour une présentation des principales mises à jour et des enjeux qui influent sur les domaines de l’impôt et de la paie. La séance offrira également aux participants l’occasion de poser des questions et d’échanger directement avec des représentants de l’ARC.

Les participants pourront ainsi :

• prendre connaissance des principales mises à jour présentées par l’ARC;
• mieux comprendre certains enjeux touchant l’impôt et la paie;
• poser leurs questions directement aux représentants de l’ARC.

Join CRA executives and program experts for a presentation of key updates and issues impacting the tax and payroll landscapes. The session will also provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions and engage with CRA officials directly.

Emerging technologies are transforming payroll faster than ever before. This session explores how AI, automation, and other innovations are improving accuracy, efficiency, compliance, and decision-making across the payroll function. Through practical examples and real-world applications, you’ll learn where technology can create the greatest value, how to approach adoption responsibly, and what skills payroll professionals need to thrive in an increasingly digital future.

Employee benefits programs must continually evolve to remain competitive, cost-effective, and responsive to workforce needs. Join benefits expert Jeffrey Stinchcombe for an engaging look at 10 practical ideas organizations can put into action in 2027. You’ll explore current best practices in governance, risk management, flexible benefits, and procurement, gaining actionable strategies to strengthen your plan, manage costs, and deliver greater value to employees.

Every interaction with payroll shapes how employees, leaders, and business partners perceive the profession. Whether handling a pay error, explaining a legislative requirement, responding to an urgent employee query, or collaborating on organizational change, payroll professionals have opportunities to build trust, strengthen relationships, and increase their strategic influence.

This session explores how common payroll moments can either enhance or erode credibility. Through practical examples and discussion, participants will learn how to approach payroll interactions with a service mindset while maintaining compliance, professionalism, and organizational integrity.

Navigating U.S. payroll taxation requires a clear understanding of both federal and state requirements. This session examines key taxation rules, including when common fringe benefits are taxable and how to calculate taxable wages accurately. You’ll also review the requirements for completing Forms 940, 941, and W-2, gaining practical insights to strengthen compliance and confidently manage essential U.S. payroll reporting obligations.

Payroll sits at the intersection of people, process, technology, and compliance, creating new opportunities to deliver value beyond the pay run. Drawing on insights from the National Payroll Institute’s 2026 Benchmarking Report and global payroll transformation experience, this session explores five perspective shifts that encourage curiosity, upstream thinking, and stronger collaboration. You’ll discover practical ways to identify improvement opportunities, expand your influence, and help shape the evolving role of the payroll professional within your organization.

Information coming soon.

Learn from real payroll compliance failures and the lessons they provide. Through CRA assessments, employment standards complaints, audit findings, and other real-world case studies, participants will explore how errors occurred, their organizational impacts, and the corrective actions taken. The session provides practical strategies to identify risks early, prevent costly mistakes, and strengthen payroll controls and compliance practices.

La conformité en matière de vacances ne se résume pas à l’octroi de jours de congé. Rejoignez Karima Balfoul, PLP, spécialiste en conformité technique, pour une session pratique consacrée aux exigences législatives, aux risques de non-conformité et aux considérations stratégiques relatives aux droits aux vacances à travers le Canada.

À la fin de cette séance, les participants seront mieux outillés pour :

• comprendre les principaux enjeux de conformité liés aux vacances;
• reconnaître les risques potentiels dans leurs pratiques de paie;
• intégrer les exigences législatives à une gestion plus efficace des vacances.

AI is transforming payroll beyond basic automation, creating new opportunities to improve how teams work and make decisions. This session explores how AI can learn from payroll processes, policies, compliance requirements, and organizational practices to reduce manual effort, standardize workflows, strengthen training, and enhance quality control. You’ll gain practical insights into responsible adoption, governance considerations, and how payroll professionals can evolve from transaction processors into more strategic business partners.

Payroll fraud remains one of the most common forms of occupational fraud and can expose organizations to significant financial and reputational risk. This session will explore common payroll fraud schemes, including ghost employees, unauthorized pay changes, falsified time records, and expense reimbursement fraud. Participants will learn how to identify red flags, apply practical audit techniques, and strengthen internal controls to reduce risk and improve compliance. Through real-world examples and actionable strategies, attendees will gain the knowledge and tools needed to safeguard payroll processes, support audit readiness, and protect organizational assets.

A successful payroll implementation begins long before go-live. In this practical training session, you’ll learn how to establish clear goals, conduct effective discovery, prepare clean data, document processes, and makes sure payroll stakeholders are involved from the start.

Payroll touches every employee while serving as one of an organization’s most critical financial controls, yet there is no universal agreement on where it belongs. Should payroll report to Human Resources, with its focus on employee experience and policy, or Finance, where governance, controls, and financial accuracy take priority? This interactive session explores how reporting structures influence payroll’s priorities, technology, compliance, and strategic impact. Through real-world examples and discussion, attendees will examine the strengths and challenges of each model and gain practical strategies to strengthen cross-functional collaboration, elevate payroll’s strategic role, and position payroll as a trusted business partner.

Payroll transformation can place significant pressure on teams already managing complex, high-stakes operations. This practical session explores how leaders can move beyond reactive problem-solving and guide their teams through change with greater clarity, confidence, and resilience. You’ll gain a practical framework for navigating transformation, strengthening team readiness, and building a more proactive payroll operation that delivers better outcomes for employees, leaders, and the business.

Payroll professionals are trusted with some of the most sensitive and important aspects of the employee experience. The ability to build strong relationships, communicate effectively, and navigate challenging conversations is essential to building credibility and influence. This session explores how emotional intelligence strengthens trust, enhances collaboration, and helps payroll professionals create meaningful connections across their organization.

Expanding into Canada often seems straightforward until payroll begins. While global organizations may have well-established payroll practices, Canadian legislative requirements, provincial differences, and local payroll processes can create unexpected challenges. Relying on real consulting experiences, this session explores common issues encountered when international organizations establish payroll operations in Canada. Participants will gain practical insights into balancing global or organizational standards with local compliance, avoiding common implementation issues, and strengthening payroll governance to build a compliant Canadian payroll in the long run.

Vous maîtrisez la paie. Vous comprenez les données, anticipez les risques, connaissez les pistes de solution. La prochaine étape? Se faire entendre à la table de direction. Cette session livre l’outillage exact dont les leaders de la paie ont besoin : comment décoder l’intérêt de vos parties prenantes, structurer vos idées en une vision qui résonne avec vos exécutifs, et présenter avec authenticité et aplomb.

À la fin de cette séance, les participants seront mieux outillés pour :

• Établir le profil des parties prenantes afin d’aligner vos propositions sur les priorités de la direction,
• Apprendre à formuler vos idées en un argumentaire clair et convaincant,
• Maîtriser une méthode de storytelling pour présenter les initiatives de votre service de la paie,
• Apprendre à conserver une présence calme et assurée devant la haute direction.