Your pay plan worksheet. 9 structures, one page each. Print it, or save it as a PDF from the print dialog.
My Trade Talent · Hiring Manager Command Center
Pay Plan Worksheet
One sheet per structure. The mechanics and the failure modes are printed; the figures are
blank, because the right ones depend on your margins, your market and your mix. Fill these
in with whoever runs your payroll.
Before anything here goes into an offer or a handbook, have your payroll provider or
counsel review it. In particular, a bonus an employee was promised for hitting a target
generally has to be included in the regular rate when overtime is calculated for a
non-exempt employee, and state rules can be stricter than the federal one. We are
recruiters, not employment lawyers.
Pay plan structure
Hourly plus overtime
Most field roles, and the right default until you have a reason for something else.
An hourly rate for hours worked, with overtime at time and a half past forty in the week. Everything else on this page is a layer on top of this one, not a replacement for it.
Your figures Nothing here is supplied
| Base rate or salary, and the step ladder above it | |
| What triggers the variable portion, in one sentence | |
| Amount or percentage, and what it is a percentage of | |
| Gate: what must also be true for it to pay | |
| Measurement window, and whether a bad period carries | |
| Paid when: earned date and payment date | |
| Clawback terms, and who decides | |
| Who can change this plan, and with how much notice | |
What it pays on Pick few, publish them
| Measure | Yours? and how it is read |
|---|
| Hours worked, recorded by the person doing the work | |
What breaks it Say how you will prevent each
| Failure mode | Our guard against it |
|---|
| Overtime becomes the plan. When a technician needs sixty hours to make their number, you are paying a premium for fatigue and you will lose them to anyone offering the same money in forty. | |
| Rate compression. New hires get market rate, long-tenured people get last year's, and the people who know your customers best are the ones underpaid. | |
Settle before it goes in writing Edge cases, agreed
| What the rate is for each step of the ladder, written down, so a raise is a step and not a negotiation | |
| Whether drive time, shop time and training time are paid, and at what rate | |
Pay plan structure
Hourly plus spiffs
Service technicians, where you want a specific behaviour more often than you are getting it.
A flat amount per qualifying event, paid on the next cheque. Deliberately small and frequent rather than large and annual, because the point is the feedback loop, not the money.
Your figures Nothing here is supplied
| Base rate or salary, and the step ladder above it | |
| What triggers the variable portion, in one sentence | |
| Amount or percentage, and what it is a percentage of | |
| Gate: what must also be true for it to pay | |
| Measurement window, and whether a bad period carries | |
| Paid when: earned date and payment date | |
| Clawback terms, and who decides | |
| Who can change this plan, and with how much notice | |
What it pays on Pick few, publish them
| Measure | Yours? and how it is read |
|---|
| Maintenance agreements sold on a service call | |
| Accessories or upgrades quoted and accepted | |
| Jobs closed on the first visit with no return trip | |
| Photos and readings attached to the ticket | |
What breaks it Say how you will prevent each
| Failure mode | Our guard against it |
|---|
| Spiffing the sale and not the outcome. Pay on an agreement that cancels in month two and you have bought a cancellation, not a customer. | |
| Spiffing one thing hard enough that the rest of the job suffers. If accessories pay and diagnostics do not, you will get accessories. | |
| Technicians selling things the customer did not need. The spiff caused it, and the review site will say so. | |
Settle before it goes in writing Edge cases, agreed
| Which events qualify, in writing, with the edge cases named | |
| Whether a spiff is clawed back if the agreement cancels or the job comes back | |
| Who adjudicates a disputed spiff, and how fast | |
Pay plan structure
Hourly plus a billable or efficiency bonus
Service departments with a reliable flat-rate book and dispatch that can keep a truck loaded.
A bonus tied to billable hours produced against hours paid, usually over a month or a quarter so one bad week does not wipe it out.
Your figures Nothing here is supplied
| Base rate or salary, and the step ladder above it | |
| What triggers the variable portion, in one sentence | |
| Amount or percentage, and what it is a percentage of | |
| Gate: what must also be true for it to pay | |
| Measurement window, and whether a bad period carries | |
| Paid when: earned date and payment date | |
| Clawback terms, and who decides | |
| Who can change this plan, and with how much notice | |
What it pays on Pick few, publish them
| Measure | Yours? and how it is read |
|---|
| Billable hours against paid hours | |
| Callback rate as a gate on the bonus | |
| Ticket completeness as a gate on the bonus | |
What breaks it Say how you will prevent each
| Failure mode | Our guard against it |
|---|
| Dispatch, not the technician, controls most of this number. Bonus someone for a metric they cannot move and you have taught them the plan is theatre. | |
| Gating on nothing. Efficiency without a callback gate pays for speed and bills you for the return visit. | |
| Flat-rate book out of date. The plan is only as honest as the times in it. | |
Settle before it goes in writing Edge cases, agreed
| The measurement window, and whether a bad month can be carried | |
| What the callback and completeness gates are set at | |
| Who owns fixing dispatch when the number is dispatch's fault | |
Pay plan structure
Lead or foreman premium
Crew leaders and working foremen who are still on the tools but now answer for other people's work.
A premium per hour while leading, or a step increase on promotion. Paid for the responsibility rather than for the title.
Your figures Nothing here is supplied
| Base rate or salary, and the step ladder above it | |
| What triggers the variable portion, in one sentence | |
| Amount or percentage, and what it is a percentage of | |
| Gate: what must also be true for it to pay | |
| Measurement window, and whether a bad period carries | |
| Paid when: earned date and payment date | |
| Clawback terms, and who decides | |
| Who can change this plan, and with how much notice | |
What it pays on Pick few, publish them
| Measure | Yours? and how it is read |
|---|
| Crew size or jobs run | |
| Rework on the crew's work | |
| Whether the paperwork comes back complete | |
What breaks it Say how you will prevent each
| Failure mode | Our guard against it |
|---|
| The premium is less than the overtime they gave up. A lead who earns less than the technician they supervise will go back to being a technician, and you will have taught the crew what the job is worth. | |
| Paying the premium and still measuring them as an individual producer. | |
Settle before it goes in writing Edge cases, agreed
| Whether the premium applies on every hour or only on days they are leading | |
| What happens to it when the crew is stood down | |
Pay plan structure
Salary plus a margin bonus
Service managers, project managers and operations leaders who can actually move the number.
A salary with a bonus against gross margin on the work they control, paid quarterly or annually against figures they can see throughout the period.
Your figures Nothing here is supplied
| Base rate or salary, and the step ladder above it | |
| What triggers the variable portion, in one sentence | |
| Amount or percentage, and what it is a percentage of | |
| Gate: what must also be true for it to pay | |
| Measurement window, and whether a bad period carries | |
| Paid when: earned date and payment date | |
| Clawback terms, and who decides | |
| Who can change this plan, and with how much notice | |
What it pays on Pick few, publish them
| Measure | Yours? and how it is read |
|---|
| Gross margin on their department or projects | |
| Revenue against plan | |
| A people gate: turnover on their crew, or safety | |
What breaks it Say how you will prevent each
| Failure mode | Our guard against it |
|---|
| A bonus on a number they cannot see until the year closes. If they cannot check the scoreboard, it is not a plan, it is a surprise. | |
| Margin bonuses with no people gate. The cheapest way to make a quarter look good is to run short-handed and defer maintenance on both equipment and people. | |
| Changing the target mid-year. Do that once and the plan never motivates anyone again. | |
Settle before it goes in writing Edge cases, agreed
| Exactly how margin is calculated, including which overheads are in it | |
| What happens to the bonus on a job that slips across the year end | |
| Whether the gate is a threshold or a multiplier | |
Pay plan structure
Base plus commission
Salespeople and estimators whose own effort is the main driver of what gets sold.
A base salary with commission on sold work, usually on margin rather than revenue, and usually paid when the money is collected rather than when the contract is signed.
Your figures Nothing here is supplied
| Base rate or salary, and the step ladder above it | |
| What triggers the variable portion, in one sentence | |
| Amount or percentage, and what it is a percentage of | |
| Gate: what must also be true for it to pay | |
| Measurement window, and whether a bad period carries | |
| Paid when: earned date and payment date | |
| Clawback terms, and who decides | |
| Who can change this plan, and with how much notice | |
What it pays on Pick few, publish them
| Measure | Yours? and how it is read |
|---|
| Gross margin on sold work | |
| Collected revenue | |
| Accuracy: sold margin against delivered margin | |
What breaks it Say how you will prevent each
| Failure mode | Our guard against it |
|---|
| Commission on revenue instead of margin. You will get volume at any price, and the field will eat the difference. | |
| Paying on signature rather than collection. The one deal that never pays is the one that was commissioned fastest. | |
| No accuracy measure. An estimator paid on sold margin and never measured on delivered margin will sell optimism. | |
Settle before it goes in writing Edge cases, agreed
| When commission is earned and when it is paid, which are different dates | |
| Clawback terms if a job cancels or the customer does not pay | |
| How house accounts and inbound leads are treated | |
Pay plan structure
On-call and shift differentials
Any department carrying a rotation, which is most commercial service departments.
A flat amount for carrying the phone, usually plus a minimum callout payment, and a higher rate for hours actually worked outside normal shifts.
Your figures Nothing here is supplied
| Base rate or salary, and the step ladder above it | |
| What triggers the variable portion, in one sentence | |
| Amount or percentage, and what it is a percentage of | |
| Gate: what must also be true for it to pay | |
| Measurement window, and whether a bad period carries | |
| Paid when: earned date and payment date | |
| Clawback terms, and who decides | |
| Who can change this plan, and with how much notice | |
What it pays on Pick few, publish them
| Measure | Yours? and how it is read |
|---|
| Weeks on rotation | |
| Callouts taken | |
| Response time, if you have a contractual one | |
What breaks it Say how you will prevent each
| Failure mode | Our guard against it |
|---|
| Paying for the callout but not for carrying the phone. A weekend where nothing happens is still a weekend they could not leave town. | |
| A rotation that is not actually shared. One person covering most of it is a resignation with a date on it. | |
Settle before it goes in writing Edge cases, agreed
| The minimum paid per callout regardless of how long it takes | |
| Whether a night callout shortens the next day | |
Pay plan structure
Tenure steps and retention bonuses
Any role where the cost of replacing someone is higher than the cost of keeping them, which in the trades is nearly all of them.
Either a published ladder of rate steps against time and credentials, or a lump sum at an anniversary. The ladder works better, because it is visible before they consider leaving.
Your figures Nothing here is supplied
| Base rate or salary, and the step ladder above it | |
| What triggers the variable portion, in one sentence | |
| Amount or percentage, and what it is a percentage of | |
| Gate: what must also be true for it to pay | |
| Measurement window, and whether a bad period carries | |
| Paid when: earned date and payment date | |
| Clawback terms, and who decides | |
| Who can change this plan, and with how much notice | |
What it pays on Pick few, publish them
| Measure | Yours? and how it is read |
|---|
| Time in seat | |
| Credentials earned | |
| Scope taken on | |
What breaks it Say how you will prevent each
| Failure mode | Our guard against it |
|---|
| A retention bonus paid after someone has already started looking. By then it reads as a counter-offer and it buys months, not years. | |
| Unpublished steps. A ladder nobody can see does not retain anyone; it just pays people who were staying anyway. | |
Settle before it goes in writing Edge cases, agreed
| Whether a step is automatic on time or gated on a credential | |
| What the top of the ladder is, and what comes after it | |
Pay plan structure
Truck, tool and phone allowances
Not a pay plan, but part of the number the candidate compares.
A take-home vehicle, a fuel card, a tool allowance or replacement programme, a phone or a stipend. Often worth more to the candidate than the equivalent in base pay, and usually cheaper to you.
Your figures Nothing here is supplied
| Base rate or salary, and the step ladder above it | |
| What triggers the variable portion, in one sentence | |
| Amount or percentage, and what it is a percentage of | |
| Gate: what must also be true for it to pay | |
| Measurement window, and whether a bad period carries | |
| Paid when: earned date and payment date | |
| Clawback terms, and who decides | |
| Who can change this plan, and with how much notice | |
What it pays on Pick few, publish them
| Measure | Yours? and how it is read |
|---|
| Not measured; it is a condition of the job | |
What breaks it Say how you will prevent each
| Failure mode | Our guard against it |
|---|
| Leaving it out of the offer conversation. Candidates compare base pay because that is what they are told; the offer calculator exists to make the rest visible. | |
| A tool programme with no replacement policy. The first time someone replaces a stolen bag out of pocket, every technician hears about it. | |
Settle before it goes in writing Edge cases, agreed
| Personal use of the vehicle, in writing | |
| Who owns the tools when someone leaves | |
