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?

Thank you Teensandfuture I'll tell him that.

Having a credits card and paying it off in full each month can help your credit score.

My first thought about the payments issue is financial problems with the company. Just because the directors/owners are or appear to be wealthy, it doesn’t mean the company is in a strong position financially. I would look online at the company’s filed accounts.

I get my commission the month after the order, regardless of when the customer pays, as we sometimes get an order several months in advance of when the customer actually needs it fulfilled. There is a clear commission and bonus system and it's never split over installments. I don't know what I'm going to be paid by the pound as it's a complicated system involving percentages and I can't be bothered to work it out but I always know the ballpark figure. This is the only sales job I've ever done and to be honest I find the system you're describing pretty shocking!

*BorlottiBean I didn't think this would be the case across the board!

Teens surely if a sale turns out not to be a true sale you just claim the commission back? If sales are being correctly vetted before being recorded, this should be very rare.

My company wants us to secure large orders now for projects months or even a year away, because it's valuable to them to be able to forecast income long term. They ensure this happens by paying us when we get these orders confirmed - otherwise frankly what's the point in us prioritising them over smaller orders that pay sooner?

I've had several commission based jobs, as has dp and some of my friends. It's been similar in every one, id say Barlottis situation is very, very unusual based on my experience!

borlotti
Clawing back the payments already made is a timeconsuming process , ie offsetting them against next payment and I wouldn't want personally to complicate my work.
Obviously it varies from industry to industry and if your nature of work is that projects are completed in distant future then your company incorporates set of rules that work for you.

Surely if they changed commission payments to installments your husband would have had to agree to that? Isn't there something in his contracts about how commission is paid?

I would not have agreed to that! Basically giving away a huge chunk of your earnings when you resign.

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

When the company pays the commission is entirely down the the commission plan, which will vary from business to business. There is no right about it.

OP your husband should receive his payslip on time and should be provided with a breakdown of how his commission has been calculated. I would have thought that if his commission is paid when the customer pays it's always going to be a bit touch and go though. There is no problem with the error being corrected and this holding things up, it happens. You can't expect the company to go ahead with an incorrect order.

Natural
Mumsnet at its best 😂
Are you a specialist ?
I am, Im a qualified accountant and I base my calculations on reports and confirmed figures.It is right to make payments based on confirmed figures ie confirmed sales , isnt it?

""what about changing the amount to be paid days before it's due because in an error on their part?""

That happens to everyone who has varying income amounts because of commission, or changing/extra shifts. Most people I know who work in Care have the same thing happen.

You have to get a credit card, if no savings and pay it when you get paid.

It will seem odd to you, if you are a fixed hours, public sector worker.

ChikkiTikki it wasn't a thing to be agreed to, they were just told that was what was happening. He could leave but then he would loose around £4,500 commission between now and the end of the year.

Yes it is normal.

Also - FaerieQueene is correct. If you are applying for a mortgage soon, one of the best things you can do to improve your credit score is to take out a credit card and pay it back.

No need at all to lose your holiday.

Tbh, I agree this is also fairly normal.

When I started out in sales I was booking meetings for for the Sales Director to attend - £40 for a first meeting and £60 for second. Commission was only paid if we attended (presumably to avoid people lying that they'd booked meeting only to say "oh, customer's cancelled at the last minute."

Problem was that my boss always rearranged meetings (sometimes 3-4 times) so he didn't have to make multiple trips. In one year, they only attended 75% of the meetings I booked. My target was 12 a month (which I always hit) so you can imagine how much I lost over a year with a quarter unattended, many of which would've also led to second meetings.

There will probably be a clause in the commission terms that it can be changed.

Good luck getting a mortgage with no payslips

Definitely get a credit card

DH worked in sales for years. He was always paid commission in full when the order was booked. It worked really well for us because we got into the habit of saving the commission.

Spreading it over 12 months so that you miss out if you leave is just awful and sounds very dodgy legally.

Tinkly
I think OP confirmed that once employee leaves, all outstanding payments due are paid in the final pay .

Natural
Mumsnet at its best 😂
Are you a specialist?

Yes, I'm head of sales compensation for a global organisation

All sounds completely normal.

We have spreadsheets for sales staff so it is all agreed when commission is being paid and what jobs for.

Teens sorry if I didn't make it clear. Once an employer leaves they forfeit their commission

It's not legally dodgy at all Tinkly.

Well it's certainly morally dodgy to make someone forfeit their hard earned commission.

And it would make the initial period of working for the company very hard while the commission was just trickling in.