General Manager Salaries in Canada

The average salary for a General Manager is $96,896 per year in Canada. Salaries estimates are based on 2997 salaries submitted anonymously to Glassdoor by a General Manager employees in Canada.

The highest salary for a General Manager in Canada is $143,644 per year.

The lowest salary for a General Manager in Canada is $67,594 per year.

Salaries for general managers vary widely because the title covers a variety of industries and may involve different responsibilities. Typically, general managers make more than departmental managers and may also be entitled to performance bonuses depending on the company. The average Canadian general manager earns close to, or just above, a six-figure salary, with Ontario paying the highest and Quebec the lowest. The ten-year forecast shows demand for general managers continuing and a balanced job and labour supply with 30,900 job openings and 30,500 people filling them.

There’s no singular way to earn more money in your general manager career, because general managers work in a range of fields with their own required skills and levels of earning potential (compare the general manager of a restaurant to the general manager of a professional sports team, for example). What they all have in common, however, are business chops. Formal education like an MBA can teach you in-demand skills like leadership, cost control, and organizational sciences, which are valuable in all realms of business. The best-paid general managers are also experienced in payroll, scheduling, forecasting, and numerous other human resources and administrative functions. Many general managers earn bonuses or incentives for consistently generating profit, so strive to optimize your organization and its processes in a way that’ll do this for you.

To negotiate a higher salary, compare the pay being offered to you with that of other general manager jobs in your area. Factor in the size of the organization, and whether your experience and skills are a match. If you currently work at a smaller organization than your previous one, you can use your time spent managing a larger organization as a valuable bargaining chip. Use measures like cost control, increased profit, or reduced turnover to your advantage in negotiations. Salary negotiations are a great time to try and implement new processes or offer to take on more responsibility. You can usually tie an increase in salary to an increase in work you’re willing to do, so see if your employer is open to this arrangement.

About 71.67% of General Manager professionals feel satisfied with their salary, according to anonymous Glassdoor ratings. An additional $14,285 in potential pay per year, among other factors, can qualify the annual pay of a General Manager in Canada as a good salary.

General Manager professionals in Canada have a wide total pay range, between $49,869 and $212,829 depending on experience, with an estimated total pay of $96,896 following the average career path of a General Manager.