Change in commission

j83man

Hi, I currently work for a company where I am based on a wage plus commission.  A few weeks ago we were been informed that the commission payment is changing.  Whilst the banding is staying the same depending on commission earned (current band is 5%, 10% and 15% depending on the amount), we have been told if we do not get 3 customer reviews per month, our commission will not be upped from the lowest band.  How is this fair when it is out of our control? We cannot make customers leave reviews despite us asking on every sale.  

DullGreyGuy

There are always strategies to achieve targets; a former place a long time ago only paid commission on sales paid by certain methods and you got nothing for a sale paid for by a new DD.

Changing goal posts are annoying but manageable. At a recent place the sales team had to get each of their customers to sign a form... some guys emailed out the blank form and were chasing for responses etc. The ones that were more successful were filling the forms in for the customer other than the signature and at the next scheduled contact were just putting it in front of them to sign before starting the meeting proper. 

j83man

Its all online, we don't deal with customers face to face, and the review surveys are sent out by someone else, again not in our control so just seems like its going to be impossible to earn money now. 

Undervalued

j83man said:

Hi, I currently work for a company where I am based on a wage plus commission.  A few weeks ago we were been informed that the commission payment is changing.  Whilst the banding is staying the same depending on commission earned (current band is 5%, 10% and 15% depending on the amount), we have been told if we do not get 3 customer reviews per month, our commission will not be upped from the lowest band.  How is this fair when it is out of our control? We cannot make customers leave reviews despite us asking on every sale.  

Sadly it doesn't have to be "fair" it only has to be lawful!

Whether it is or not would depend on the exact wording of your contract. Bonus and commission schemes are very often "discretionary" which gives the employer wide scope to change the rules. Even if it is contractual then they still may be able to change the terms if there are good business reasons to do so.