As inflation, tariffs and economic uncertainty ripple through Canadian businesses, commercial brokers are feeling the squeeze from both sides of the balance sheet.

For some, the biggest pressure point isn’t just rising claims or insurer pricing – it’s people.

“Seventy‑three per cent (73%) of our expenses are personnel expenses,” said Josh Pillsbury (pictured right), a managing partner at Summit Cover at a recent panel in Toronto. As wages and hiring costs rise, the brokerages “don't get the benefit of inflation on the front end,” he added, because insurance runs on its own hard/soft market cycles that aren’t directly tied to CPI. The result: staff are more expensive, but brokerages are “not necessarily making more on the products that [they’re] selling,” which has become a real margin ch

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