Succession and Pipeline Planning in Canada

To stay competitive, businesses must address tomorrow’s workforce concerns today. Foremost among those issues is identifying a company’s future leaders and preparing them to take the reins when executives and senior managers change jobs or retire.

Succession planning is easy to put aside while striving to keep business initiatives on track. But when a key executive or top performer departs — taking years of institutional knowledge with them and forcing the company to find a suitable replacement — projects can go awry, morale can suffer, and investors can lose faith in the company. Having plans in place helps minimize disruptions and reputational risks.

Lack of
strategic
clarity Lower quality
of products/
services Failure to
support
business needs Loss of
institutional
knowledge Low trust in
leadership Diminished
company
reputation Lack of
strategic
clarity Lower quality
of products/
services Failure to
support
business needs Loss of
institutional
knowledge Low trust in
leadership Diminished
company
reputation

C-suite C-suite

Executive Executive

Director Director

Manager Manager

Make sense of shifting job market dynamics

Our Labour Market Overview puts the latest reports from Statistics Canada in context. Get data on employment trends and unemployment numbers, as well as our exclusive analyses of job posting data. 

Get the latest info

Company leaders use a range of strategies to plan and manage their talent pipelines to ensure they have the right people in place to meet future needs. Those who are proactively building up their pool of pre-evaluated candidates do so in several ways.

Working with
talent solutions
firms Offering
referral
bonuses Providing
mentorship-
programs Offering
paid
internships Working with
talent solutions
firms Offering
referral
bonuses Providing
mentorship-
programs Offering
paid
internships

At Robert Half, we know talent

Our mission: Bringing great companies and skilled talent together to help build successful businesses and rewarding careers. Innovation and high ethical standards have taken us from a small operation to the world’s largest specialized talent solutions and business consulting firm with offices across the globe. Hire Talent Schedule a walk-through

Looking for a job? Search open roles now

*Statistics Canada, seasonally adjusted, September 2025.

The surveys cited were developed by Robert Half and conducted by an independent research firm. Results may not total 100% due to rounding or allowing for multiple responses. Respondents included executives and hiring managers from small (10-99 employees), midsize (100-999 employees) and large (1,000-plus employees) businesses in private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across Canada.

Over 420,000 new positions from more than 5,400 unique independent job boards and company websites provided by TextKernel are represented in our analysis of in-demand roles, including 6,300-plus placements from Robert Half. This dataset includes roles across the finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, administrative and customer support, and human resources professions.