The concept and the rule of thumb. “Fully-loaded” (or “total”) cost = base salary plus employer-side statutory contributions, benefits, paid time off, and overhead. The most commonly used budgeting rule of thumb is that total employee cost runs 1.25 to 1.4 times base salary. This is a planning convention, not a measured constant — it is widely cited across HR and accounting sources but the true figure depends heavily on benefits design, the role’s seniority, and overhead allocation.

Ontario statutory components (2026 figures, verified against CRA / Ontario / ESDC). For an Ontario employer the mandatory, non-negotiable employer-side costs are:

CPP: Employer matches the employee at 5.95% on pensionable earnings between the $3,500 basic exemption and the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE) of $74,600, to a maximum employer contribution of $4,230.45 per employee for 2026.
CPP2: An additional 4.00% on earnings between the YMPE ($74,600) and the second ceiling (YAMPE) of $85,000, to a maximum employer contribution of $416.00.
EI: Employers pay 1.4× the employee premium rate. For 2026 the employee rate is $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings (down slightly from $1.64), so the employer rate is $2.28 per $100 of insurable earnings, on maximum insurable earnings of $68,900 — a maximum employer EI premium of $1,572.30 per employee for 2026 (up $63.83 from 2025; per ESDC/CEIC).
Employer Health Tax (EHT): Ontario-specific. Eligible employers (Ontario payroll under $5M) get a $1,000,000 exemption (in place through 2028, indexed in 2029); above that, the rate is graduated up to 1.95% (employers with payroll over $400k use the 1.95% rate on the taxable portion). Most 20–200-person employers will exceed the $1M exemption and pay ~1.95% on marginal payroll.
Statutory vacation pay: Ontario’s Employment Standards Act requires 4% of wages (two weeks) rising to 6% (three weeks) after five years of service. For salaried staff this is usually embedded in salary, but it is a real statutory cost for hourly workers.

What it sums to. On a $90,000 Ontario salary, the mandatory statutory load (max CPP $4,230.45 + CPP2 $416.00 + EI ~$1,572.30 + EHT ~1.95% on the marginal portion ≈ $1,755) is roughly $8,000, or ~9% of base, before any benefits. Add typical private benefits (health/dental, group retirement matching, life/disability) — commonly another 10–15% of salary — plus equipment, software, space and admin overhead, and the 1.25–1.4× total-cost rule becomes a realistic envelope for a 20–200-person K-W employer. Statutory employer payroll burden in Canada is generally lower than in the U.S. (no employer-side health-insurance premiums of U.S. magnitude, no U.S.-level FICA), so U.S. “fully-loaded” figures don’t transfer cleanly and should be rebuilt from Canadian inputs.

Caveats. The concept is industry-consensus; the specific multiplier is directional because benefits richness varies enormously. CPP/EI maximums are statutory and exact for 2026; EHT depends on total payroll and exemption eligibility.

Anchor: Rule of Three component. This is the dollar base that Notes 1, 3, 4 and 5 multiply against.