{"id":605563,"date":"2026-04-15T11:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/605563\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:38:08","slug":"more-canadians-are-bracing-for-layoffs-heres-how-theyre-preparing-financially-even-before-being-let-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/605563\/","title":{"rendered":"More Canadians are bracing for layoffs. Here\u2019s how they\u2019re preparing financially, even before being let go"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Nav Dhillon at her home in Vaughan, Ont., on Tuesday. Ms. Dhillon negotiated a mutual termination with her employer by raising concerns that her role responsibilities had materially changed after layoffs.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Nav Dhillon learned about the layoffs on her team between diaper changes and juggling nap time for two young children. Just months into her maternity leave, the Toronto-based accountant was one of the few in her department whose position was left untouched.<\/p>\n

But even after surviving successive rounds of layoffs, Ms. Dhillon, 33, said she still felt nervous about her footing with her employer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see how the management starts speaking, more meetings happening,\u201d she said. \u201cWhispers about change coming \u2026 there was a lot of uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of waiting around, she went ahead and asked for a mutual termination, and negotiated her own terms, which, alongside six months of emergency savings, allowed her family to stay comfortably afloat for at least a year. But this also required sacrifices such as postponing a house purchase, paying for a life-insurance policy out of pocket and slowing investments. <\/p>\n

Many Canadians are finding themselves straddling the same shaky ground, holding onto their jobs while watching a growing number of people around them get laid off \u2013 a situation that brings distinct challenges and financial-planning hurdles.<\/p>\n

In the age of AI and late-career layoffs, a second act can be a financial hedge<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearly 40 per cent of Canadians say they fear job loss in their household, according to the quarterly MNP Consumer Debt Index published Monday \u2013 up about two percentage points from late 2025. It was one of few indicators that worsened across the index, which measures Canadians\u2019 attitudes toward their debt and ability to pay their bills and stayed relatively flat over all compared with last quarter. <\/p>\n

\u201cTrade, global wars \u2026 people fearful that AI\u2019s gonna take over their job,\u201d said Grant Bazian, president of MNP\u2019s insolvency practice. \u201cPeople who are uncertain, get conservative \u2013 they just sort of hunker down and wait for the uncertainty to pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly three-quarters of survey respondents said they were cutting back on spending, and 84 per cent said they were more cautious about taking on new debt. The data were compiled on behalf of MNP by Ipsos from March 10 to 11 across a sample of interviews with 2,000 Canadians.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But while the first impulse for many people facing the prospect of a layoff might be to bulk up cash savings, being overly cautious can mean missing out on financial growth opportunities. This worry often stems from a lack of awareness about employment rights, which may result in passing up additional income.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost Canadians end up leaving money on the table,\u201d said Tara Vasdani, an employment lawyer and founder of Toronto-based Remote Law Canada. <\/p>\n

Many don\u2019t realize that severance packages are typically negotiable, which can ease some anxieties. \u201cThe number on the page is often not their full settlement,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

In Ms. Dhillon\u2019s case, with most of her department gone, she realized she would be expected to absorb a massive increase in responsibilities upon her return from maternity leave. She negotiated a mutual termination by raising concerns that the role responsibilities had materially changed.<\/p>\n

Instead of accepting the first offer, she negotiated for more money and adjusted the termination date, \u201cwhich gives me more time to access work benefits and a smaller gap on the r\u00e9sum\u00e9,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

CBS News shuts down its radio news service as part of layoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

However, factoring business severance payments into an emergency fund is not always advisable. A three- to six-month buffer should be extended to nine months for more volatile industries, according to Owen Winkelmolen, a certified financial planner based in London, Ont.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusinesses go bankrupt, and there isn\u2019t a lot of money left for severance,\u201d he said. While employees will generally receive at least the legal minimum, payouts might get delayed.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Mr. Winkelmolen cautioned against being overly conservative when increasing cash savings. \u201cCash doesn\u2019t provide a great growth rate,\u201d he said, adding that the goal is to strike a balance between safety and continued investing in tax-advantaged accounts. <\/p>\n

For some, saving three to six months of expenses isn\u2019t feasible. Jackie Porter, a financial planner based in the Greater Toronto Area, recommended temporarily moving investment gains into cash within a registered retirement savings plan to create a buffer that isn\u2019t exposed to market volatility, allowing flexibility if funds are needed.<\/p>\n

She also advised putting severance pay into an RRSP when possible to maximize the tax benefits. Funds can later be withdrawn, often at a lower tax rate if income drops, she said.<\/p>\n

While Ms. Dhillon was able to negotiate a larger severance and avoid pausing investments, it wasn\u2019t an all-around win. Getting laid off \u2013 even on her own terms \u2013 meant having to postpone upsizing the growing family\u2019s home. \u201cYou don\u2019t have employment income to show when applying for a mortgage,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Agreeing to a termination also meant losing life-insurance coverage from her employer, which was a risk with young children. \u201cWe decided to buy life insurance separately so whatever happens at our job, we\u2019re locking in a rate while much younger,\u201d she said. Getting laid off also drove her to develop other income streams, including monetizing her social media by sharing tips for other moms navigating financial uncertainty. <\/p>\n

But going through the layoff itself and knowing she can negotiate the terms of a layoff has given her long-term peace of mind. \u201cYou should always fight back,\u201d Ms. Dhillon said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Nav Dhillon at her home in Vaughan, Ont., on Tuesday. Ms. Dhillon negotiated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46,2741],"class_list":["post-605563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-pf-ca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}