Sales Commission: Employer unilatera changing the goalposts

Hi there,

perhaps someone could give me some advice on this.
I am with my current employer over a year and work on the sales side of things. As a result my salary is part fixed, part commission as was agreed before I joined and is noted in my contract.

A couple of months ago, my boss mentioned a thing called the "60%" rule which is an internal procedure whereby sales people get paid commission if they are at 60% of there quarterly target. I had never heard of this in all my time there (15 months had passed at this stage), have never seen or signed a policy document up to then or indeed since. (It didn't affect me up untill then, as I had been above the minimum for all quarters since I joined).

Just to be clear - I am based in internal sales, have no other perks (i.e. no health insurance, no pension, no car, minimum hols etc..) and have a very, very average salary, hense I rely heavily on my commission.

I spoke to my boss about it this morning and he mentioned that in theory they could me much more hard core about it and introduce a rule whereby if quarterly targerts are not met, no commission would be payable and there would be no chance to recover it etc... In addition, I learned this morning that this has now changed into the 66% rule! (This is the second conversation I have had on the topic.)

Does anyone know the situation on this? As mentioned, it was not discussed in my negotiations and I was verbally informed 15 months into the job. Do I have any rights to a compromise at all here or is this all at my employers discretion?
Honestly, I feel completely backed into a corner on this.


All the best,

Mark2004

Re: Is my employer entitled to do this?

First action is to ask for the policy in writing.

Re: Is my employer entitled to do this?

Hi Rainyday,

I got a copy of this document today. Basically it details the policy, but I really don't know where to go from here.
For some reason, this was never discussed with me before I agreed to join or indeed during the first year and a half that I was there.

Any ideas?

Mark2004

Re: Is my employer entitled to do this?

There is a general principle that your employer can't unconditionally change your terms & conditions without consultation and/or agreement. It sounds like this would be a change.

You could try talking to a union and/or Dept of Enterprise to check out your rights.

But as with most of these things, it is probably going to be down to individual negotiations. What will happen if you go into your manager, pointing out your concern that this condition was not known to you at the time that you joined? What do you want to achieve out of this for yourself?

Variable Pay

I suppose it all comes down to how your incentives are calculated. In our company we only start paying from 90% of the target and upwards. (i.e. 89% = no commission)

Variable Pay

Thanks for the responses.

ACA, the company did/do have a policy (still not seen this in writing) on calculating incentives. The Problem is, I was not informed of this before I joined or indeed for the first year on the job. Its not in my contract (nor is there a catch all for enforcing the companies policies) and not mentioned or detailed in any correspondence from my employer. Furthermore, this lack of awareness, has had an impact of the various targets I agreed to.

If I had been aware of this policy, it is unlikely that I would have taken the job in the first place. Now 15 months on, I don't know what to do.
I have discussed it at length with my boss whose position is along the lines - "are you sure you weren't aware? Well, you should have been and thats the policy"
There is absolutely zero recognition of the difficult position this has now put me in or indeed responsibility taken for omitting to tell me.

Surely, they are obliged to make me aware of such policies before I agree to join? Can they just enforce them now?

Re: Variable Pay

apologies, I was cleaning up some old posts (renaming with more meaningful titles) and I inadvertently bumped this to the top of the list. Sorry.
ajapale