AIBU to think my husbands bosses are complete wankers

[Skarossinkplungerridesagain]

My husband works in a role where he is paid a salary with commission paid on top. We get by on his and my salaries but his commission certainly helps and also pays for some luxuries, most times it can be a few hundred but occasionally (rarely) it can be in the £1000's.But to me the way they do things with regards to payments doesn't sit right with me. Here are a few examples.

1. Commission is paid when the customer makes the first payment. This can be anywhere up to a certain date in the month (the same date as when they process the payroll) so he doesn't know if he's getting paid it until he is paid. He doesn't receive payslips before hand.

2. He was expecting a large commission this month and we were going to go for a last minute holiday. He was told last week, three days before payday that the firm had made a mistake processing the contract and he therefore wouldn't be paid it until the end of August. We can't go away then as I work in a term-time post. So no holiday.

3. He was also told last week that from now on instead of paying commission in full when earned the amount will be split over 12 months. So for example if he secured a contract where he would get £1200 commission instead of the full sum that month they will pay it in £100 installments over the next 12 months. They have admitted this is to stop people leaving.

My husband says that stuff like this is normal and that his contract and every commission based contract has a clause in to say that any commission is at the discretion of the owners. Is this the case?

Paying in instalments to prevent people from leaving is normal, I think.

I think you will have to take a different attitude towards his commission. Could you do something different with it, like overpay your mortgage or buy ISAs? You are depending on it, where you'd be better off depending only on your wage and his basic wage.

Surely 3 should stop 2 from happening? It should be make it much more predicatable

Commission based pay is not something I could cope with so I do sympathise

HollowTalk we don't depend on it as I said we use it for luxuries like holidays and treats.

Glumgloworm the issue with the installments is they will have the money from the customers for the commission and will sit in their bank accounts earning interest for them while they pay in installments.

All perfectly normal and fine. Best thing to do is not rely on the commission, see it as the bonus it is, not part of his salary.

If he resigned before the 12 instalments were paid, would he lose the rest of the commission?

If you know he's getting it at the end of August or a holiday on an interest free credit card for a few weeks and pay it off at the end of the month. 3 should stop this happening in future

To be fair, it won't earn them much interest. Interest rates on savings are really low.

All very normal.

OK so the paying in installments thing seems normal but what about changing the amount to be paid days before it's due because in an error on their part?

Paying in instalments is pretty normal. They may not have communicated the change with much notice but I can't see they've really done anything wrong.

If your husband will get paid the commission from the mistake at the end of August, could you pay for the holiday on a credit card and then pay it off at the end of Aug?

How financially secure is the company?

Smilesweetly yes he would. This happened to a colleague of his when he left and was due £3000 commission on his next pay cheque.

Can’t you get a 0% credit card for the holiday if you know the money is coming? I would find a way to take that holiday.

Changing amount also fine as they notified him, companies are allowed to make mistakes themselves and put them right. Assume it was something like an incorrect start date for a candidate or the company who hired the person hasn't actually paid the invoice yet? (Am assuming he's a recruiter)

Aveabanana The company directors seem very well-off.

No he's not a recruiter. The person processing the contract made a mistake and it had to be reissued meaning the date for customer payment has to be changed.

We don't have a credit card and as we're in the process of applying for a mortgage don't want to take one out.

Ah ok op, it's still ok though, it was a genuine mistake and they notified him. Sucks though I admit but mistakes do happen.

I suppose because I've worked in the public sector for years I'm used to receiving payslips and knowing exactly what I'm being paid.

All sounds normal to me. Like others have suggested, bonus payments (inc commissions) are best not spent until they are received, ime.

Their changing nature (not always the same every month) means they are much more vulnerbable to an error being made that takes time to correct.

The public and private sectors are worlds apart - especially when it comes to issues related to getting paid.

If he doesn't get payslips that's not right, he should get them either before or on the day of the payment.

ADastardlyThing He gets them a day or two after he's been paid.

Thanks for the advice everyone, can I just ask if any of you are paid in the same way?

Im a commissions expert, did calculate comms for many years in different companies.
It is right to only pay commission after company gets paid for the sale-this is the only way to make sure the sale is made is a true sale .
Spread out the comms payment over 12 months is an essence stabilising employees income and is a positive move.
However, we have a commission scheme in place , officially communicated to employees and signed by them ie employees agreeing to terms and conditions. All changes communicated in advance, before new quarter starts.Changes can be implemented only from particular date, quarter in our case.
Also commissions paid month in arrears and commission breakdown are sent to employees during the month with sufficient notice before pay day, so staff can check commission due and raise any queries and if query is valid then amendments to totals can be made.
It is a valid reasonable request to ask for commission breakdown and your DH should raise request and campaign, if you like, for a process where breakdowns sent automatically to all sales employees, either in advance of payday or in retrospective, to show transparency of process and make sure payments are correct.