72% of Ontario Tipped Workers Say Their Tips Fell Over Two Years, Here Is What Servers Can Do

In a survey of 506 hospitality workers, 67% of tipped workers answered that tip amounts had decreased over the past two years, up sharply from 39% in 2024, and in Actual's survey Ontario workers describe the sharpest decline, with 72% saying tips have gone down, the highest of any province. The findings come from a national look by Actual, a tip management and hospitality financial operations company, with the survey conducted by Angus Reid and fielded in August 2026. For Metaintro readers who wait tables, tend bar or work a hotel floor, the survey is only half the story. The other half is Ontario's own rulebook, which sets the minimum wage and decides who may take part in your tips and how they must be paid. Here is what the numbers show, how far they can be trusted, and what the law already gives you.

What Did Actual's National Tipping Survey Find?

The study was released in Toronto on October 5, 2026 through a Business Wire release, and it covers front-line servers, back-of-house staff, managers and owners. The headline is the two-year decline. Sixty-seven percent of tipped workers say the amount they receive in tips has decreased over the past two years, compared with 39% in 2024.

Nearly half of tipped workers, 43%, say they rely on tips to cover essential expenses like rent, groceries, and bills, and that share reaches 51% each in B.C. and Atlantic Canada.

76% of workers say tipping incentivizes better service, and just 6% say it hurts service quality, while 62% believe tips should be tied to quality of service rather than the total bill. That view was held by 67% of female workers and 57% of male workers.

Sixty-two percent of tipped workers say faster access to their tips, such as same-day payouts, would meaningfully improve their financial situation, rising to 69% in Ontario.

Tipping is declining at the exact moment hospitality workers need it most, Actual CEO and co-founder Afshin Mousavian said in the Business Wire release.

How Big Is the Survey, and How Much Weight Can the Ontario Figure Carry?

The full sample is 506 Canadian adults who currently work in the hospitality industry, drawn from Angus Reid's survey pool. A probability sample of that size would carry a margin of error of +/-4.36 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, a figure given for comparison purposes only.

The tip questions are narrower. They rest on the subset of 250 respondents who receive tips as part of their compensation, where the comparable margin is +/-6.20 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The Ontario result of 72% is a slice of that tipped group. The Ontario respondent count is not printed in the release or on Actual's summary page, so the province ranking is a direction, not a precise measure. The full province breakdown sits behind a download form on the Actual study page.

It also matters who ran the study. Actual sells tip pooling, instant payouts and compliance tools to hospitality businesses, and the study page itself makes the case for digital tip payments that remove the manual cash handling entirely. The survey was conducted online by Angus Reid on behalf of Actual, but the framing comes from a company with a product in this market.

How Do Ontario's Results Compare With Other Provinces?

Ontario had the largest share of tipped workers saying tips declined in Actual's survey, at 72%, the highest of any province. It also sits above the national figure of 62% on faster payouts, at 69% in Ontario.

Other provinces stand out elsewhere. Workers in B.C. and Atlantic Canada lean on tips most for essentials, at 51% each. Awareness of how tips are divided is strongest in Atlantic Canada (96%), and lowest in Quebec (73%).

Quebec stands out on service-based tipping, with only 50% of workers agreeing that tipping should reflect service quality, the lowest of any province. In Quebec, any merchant that suggests tip amounts must calculate percentages on the price before GST and QST, offer only the suggested amounts plus an option for consumers to set their own amount, and present the options in a consistent manner, without inciting the consumer to select one choice over another. Those rules took effect May 7, 2025, and the study links that province's lower score to them, MoneySense reports.

What Is the Minimum Wage for Servers in Ontario Now?

Ontario servers no longer have a separate liquor server rate, so most adult servers fall under the general minimum wage of $17.95 an hour for October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, up from $17.60 the year before. Students under 18 who work 28 hours a week or less when school is in session, or who work during a school break or summer holidays, can be paid the student rate of $16.90 an hour.

The Build Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2021 eliminated a class of employees to whom a special minimum wage rate previously applied, namely employees who, as a regular part of their employment, serve liquor directly to customers, guests, members or patrons in premises for which a licence or permit has been issued under the Liquor Licence Act and who regularly receive tips or other gratuities. That special rate was $12.55 an hour from October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, and as of January 1, 2022 those workers are entitled to the general rate instead.

Under the Employment Standards Act, tips are not included when calculating minimum wage, or termination pay, severance pay, vacation pay, public holiday pay and the regular rate used for overtime, so tips cannot be counted toward the minimum wage your employer owes.

A liquor server on $17.95 an hour who works two hours and is sent home is owed a total payment of $53.85 under the three-hour rule, which applies to employees who regularly work more than three hours a day and does not apply to employees whose regular shift is three hours or less, or in some cases where the cause was beyond the employer's control. Compliance is checked on a pay period basis, and the rate is subject to annual indexation based on the rate of inflation.

Who Is Allowed to Keep or Take Your Tips in Ontario?

The starting rule is plain. An employer generally cannot withhold, make deductions from, or make an employee return their tips or other gratuities, except as permitted by the Employment Standards Act. That includes deductions for spillage, breakage, losses and damage.

The legal definition of a tip excludes a portion of the credit card processing fee charged to the employer, equal to the greater of the tip multiplied by the percentage charged by the credit card company for processing the payment, or the tip multiplied by 1.5%. So that portion of a card tip falls outside the definition of a tip or other gratuity. Debit card fees and any other processing fees are not permitted as deductions from tips.

Only three kinds of deductions are allowed, namely statutory deductions, court orders and tip pooling. Statutory deductions most often mean income taxes, employment insurance premiums and Canada Pension Plan contributions.

If an employer is found to have wrongly kept tips, the amount is considered a debt owing by the employer to the employee and is enforceable under the ESA as if it were wages owing.

An employee cannot contract out of or waive this employment standard, even if the employee agrees to do so in writing or verbally, Ontario's tips guide says of the right to keep tips.

How and When Must Ontario Employers Pay Out Tips?

Since June 21, 2024, employers must pay tips by cash, cheque or direct deposit, which includes Interac e-Transfer. With direct deposit, the account must be selected by the employee, it must be in the employee's name, and nobody else can access it unless the employee allows it.

Timing is looser, as there is no requirement under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 for employers to establish a regular period for distributing tips. However, failing to pass tips on within a reasonable time frame may constitute the withholding of those tips, and the length of and reason for a delay are relevant factors.

Card tips have to be collected, divided under the shift's pooling structure and paid out, and in a lot of restaurants that process still runs on spreadsheets, according to Actual, which sells digital tip payouts. Owners and managers in the survey were even keener on faster payouts, at 72%, than front-line workers at 68%.

How Does Tip Pooling Work Under Ontario Rules?

A tip pool lets an employer withhold or make deductions from an employee's tips if the amount collected will be redistributed among some, or all, of the employees at the workplace. Pool terms may be written or oral, employers do not need employees' agreement to take pool deductions from their tips, and joining a pool could be a condition of employment.

Pool money can only come from tips. A server with $500 in sales but no tips owes $0 to the pool because tip pooling amounts cannot come from any source other than tips.

Managers generally may participate in tip pooling arrangements if their employers' policy permits them to do so. An employer can share in a pool only if it is a sole proprietor, partner, director or shareholder and regularly performs to a substantial degree the same work as staff who share in it, or as tipped workers at other employers in the same industry.

Since June 21, 2024, an employer with such a policy must post a copy where employees are likely to see it, and keep each posted policy for three years after the policy is no longer in effect. One gap is worth knowing. The terms of a tip pool cannot be enforced under the ESA, and only the worker whose tips were withheld or deducted can have an order issued under the ESA.

How Much Do Tips Shape Whether People Stay in Hospitality?

Sixty-one percent of tipped workers say tip income has influenced their decision to stay in hospitality, a figure that is 74% among front-line workers, just 35% among back-of-house staff and 73% among workers under 35.

Only 15% of workers believe customers understand the financial impact of not tipping, and 41% say customers understand little to nothing at all.

90% of workers say they're aware of how tips are divided at their own workplace, up from 79% in 2024. Support for clear tip division policies stands at 85%, a slight dip from 91% in 2024, weakest in Quebec (67%) and strongest in B.C. (90%).

What Are Customers and Restaurant Operators Reporting?

93% of respondents said they're annoyed by tip prompts at self-serve locations in a February 2026 Angus Reid survey commissioned by H&R Block Canada, and 67% said they select no tip more often than they did a year earlier. Even 25 to 30 per cent prompts have popped up in everyday transactions, Daily Hive notes.

Eight-in-10 Canadians are cutting back on restaurant visits to make ends meet, a September 2026 Restaurants Canada report found. 64% of operators report lower profitability than a year ago, and 41% are now operating at a loss or breaking even, according to Restaurants Canada figures cited in Actual's October 5 release. Average restaurant profits fell to just 2.8% in 2024, against an industry benchmark of a 10% profit margin for a healthy restaurant, according to Restaurants Canada.

What This Means for Servers and Bartenders, and What Should You Do Next?

The decline is what tipped workers describe, not a payroll measure, and the national tip figures rest on 250 tipped respondents, with Ontario a smaller slice of that group. The wage and tip rules in Ontario's guide to the Employment Standards Act apply either way.

• Budget on the wage, not the tips. For most adult servers the floor is $17.95 an hour, and tips cannot count toward it. Check every stub against your hours, because compliance is judged on a pay period basis.
• Ask to see the pool rules. Pool terms may be written or oral, so ask for them in writing. If an owner shares in the pool, the policy must be posted in a clearly visible place.
• Track your own tips. Note card and cash tips for each shift. If payouts lag, Ontario treats an unreasonable delay as possible withholding.
• Refuse illegal deductions. Tipping out to the house to cover spillage or breakage is not allowed, and the minimum wage page, which links the Employment Standards Self-Service Tool, can help you check your pay.
• Weigh the role, not just the room. Front-line staff in this survey were far more likely than back-of-house staff to say tip income influenced their decision to stay, and if you are weighing a move to the floor or the bar, How to Become a Restaurant Server and How to Write a Bartender Resume Objective That Gets Interviews are two places to start.

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People Also Asked

Q: Are tips going down in Canada?

A: In an Angus Reid survey of 506 hospitality workers, 67% of tipped workers answered that tip amounts had decreased over the past two years, up sharply from 39% in 2024, with Ontario highest at 72%, though the tip questions rest on a subset of 250 respondents.

Q: What is the minimum wage for servers in Ontario?

A: The special liquor server rate no longer applies as of January 1, 2022, so most adult servers get the general minimum wage of $17.95 per hour from October 1, 2026. Students under 18 who work 28 hours a week or less when school is in session, or who work during a school break or summer holidays, can be paid the student rate of $16.90.

Q: Can my employer take part of my tips in Ontario?

A: Only through statutory deductions, court orders or a tip pool, apart from a credit card processing portion that is excluded from the definition of a tip. An employer can share in a pool only if it is a sole proprietor, partner, director or shareholder who regularly performs to a substantial degree the same work as staff who share in it, or as tipped workers at other employers in the same industry, under Ontario's tips guide.

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