Salaried Pay Or Base + Commission?

[Lee]

In your opinion, what is the best way of actually paying full-time employees when it comes to adult related work, programming, design, ad reps, etc, etc?

We're currently putting together a couple of different compensation packages but right now, Gary is of the mindset that a salary will suffice however, i personally would like to offer a basic salary plus some kind of 'performance' related pay structure.

His thinking is that by offering a competitive salary, we'll be able to pick up some good hires who will actually work for what they are getting paid and, they should know enough about the roles they will be doing for us not to have to worry (too much) about what they are actually doing during the working day.

My line of thinking is that by offering a basis salary, plus commissionable performance related pay, we wont actually have to worry about whether the employees we hire are going to be working because ultimately, if they dont work, they wont make much by way of pay for their jobs.

Your thoughts, do you think either pay structure is going to work better than the other or, do you think we should look at trying an alternative to the two structures we're currently debating?

Regards,

Lee

[nn_sean]

Hey Lee,


For the most part, a strong salary for certain positions will definetely allow you to attract better talent, but when it comes to any type of sales position, to not set it up with some sort of performance based compensation is asking for trouble.

[basschick]

when i think about the people i know who were hired with a base salary and commission, they are not the people i'd hire if i was hiring. the people i see take a base rate and commission are only reps - no designers or programmers ever - and they aren't making a good living in adult. some are making a living, but not doing well.

after all, there's a certain amount of speculation on the part of a talented person who knows what they're doing, too. some programs just don't pick up as well as others.

besides, many program owners promise you the world when it comes to hiring a rep - content for affiliates, a design to make what affiliates need quickly, technical support, a reasonable amount of time to help existing affilaites - and then don't follow through on their promises. and without the things they need, the reps CAN'T get things going, so it's a gamble on both sides, not just the program owners.