Paying your team
The bonus program
The bonus on each member's monthly invoice comes from your organization's bonus program: a few rules you choose, such as a flat monthly amount, a daily-update streak or an hours target. Every rule that pays is its own line on the invoice, so members can see why they got what they got. Managers find it under Financial → Bonus program (also a button on Payments), and the streak rules under Daily Update → Streak rules.
How a bonus is worked out
A program is a list of rules, and each rule has five parts. The member's bonus is what every rule pays, added up.
- 1
Who gets it
Every member of the organization, or only the members you pick: a team bonus for support, a streak bonus for engineers.
- 2
What it measures
Nothing, for a flat amount every month. Or one thing about the member in the invoice month: their daily-update streak, how often they filed an update, or their hours.
- 3
Tiers
Thresholds and what each pays. The member gets the highest tier their value reaches, and nothing below the first one.
- 4
What it pays
A percentage of base pay, or a fixed amount in your invoice currency.
- 5
Limits
Optionally, a reward for each step past the last tier, and the most the rule can pay.
You can also cap the whole bonus at a percentage of base pay. When the rules together would pay more, every line is scaled down by the same share, so each keeps its part and the lines still add up.
What a rule can measure
Pick the one that matches what you want to reward. A program can mix them.
Flat amount
Nothing to reach: the rule pays its one amount every month the member tracked time, as a fixed amount or a percentage of base pay. A month with no tracked time pays nothing. The simplest bonus, and the one to pick when every member, or a chosen few, should get the same amount.
$100 every month, for the three support members.
Daily-update streak
The member's streak without a break, counted in days, or in complete weeks or months. You choose how many streak days make a week (5 by default) or a month (20 by default); leftover days do not count yet.
A 32-day streak is 6 weeks of 5 days.
Daily-update rate
The share of the month's update days on which the member filed a normal update. Update days follow your streak rules (weekdays, or every day when weekends count), from the day the member joined, and leave out organization holidays and days the member was away.
21 of 22 update days is 95.5%.
Hours vs expected
Tracked hours as a percentage of the member's expected hours: their weekly hours over the month's working days, less holidays and recorded leave, as on the utilization screens. A member with no expected hours set gets nothing from this rule.
166 hours against 160 expected is 103.8%.
Hours tracked
The hours tracked in the month: the same time the base pay is priced on.
162.5 hours tracked.
A streak rewards never breaking the run, and one long gap with no chances left resets months of it. The update rate is gentler: one missed day costs a little, not everything. Many teams find it fairer.
Streaks and chances
Every member has one streak. It grows by a day with each normal update, and your streak rules decide how forgiving it is.
- Chances (2 by default). Each gap in a member's updates uses one, however many days it lasts, and the streak is kept. A gap with none left resets the streak to 0. Any normal update refills them.
- Weekends (off by default). When off, Saturday and Sunday updates change nothing and missing them is not a gap. When on, they count like any other day.
- Leave. A leave update keeps the streak without adding to it.
| Days | Member | Streak | Chances | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Files | 11 | 2 | A normal update adds a day. |
| Tue | Misses | 11 | 2 | Nothing changes until the next update. |
| Wed | Files | 11 | 1 | The gap on Tuesday uses one chance; the streak is kept. |
| Thu | Files | 12 | 2 | A normal update adds a day and refills the chances. |
| Fri | Files | 13 | 2 | A normal update adds a day. |
| Next Mon | Files | 14 | 2 | The weekend is not a gap. |
| Tue – Thu | Misses two days, files Thursday | 14 | 1 | One gap uses one chance, however long it is. |
| Fri – Mon | Misses Friday, files Monday | 14 | 0 | Friday is a gap: it uses the last chance. |
| Tue – Wed | Misses Tuesday, files Wednesday | 0 | 2 | A gap with no chances left resets the streak. |
The rules apply wherever members file: the web app, the desktop app and Telegram. A change applies from each member's next update.
A worked example
Priya tracked 80 hours at $25, so her base pay is $2,000. Her streak is 32 days, and she filed updates on 21 of the month's 22 update days. The program has two rules: the default streak table, and $25 at a 90% update rate or $50 at 95%.
| Invoice line | Measured | Tier reached | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base pay | 80 hours × $25 | — | $2,000.00 |
| Streak bonus | 6-week streak (32 days) | 6 weeks → 15% of base pay | $300.00 |
| Update rate bonus | 95.5% of update days (21 of 22) | 95% → $50 | $50.00 |
- Bonus
- $350.00
- Invoice total
- $2,350.00
With the whole bonus capped at 15% of base pay, it would be at most $300.00. Both lines shrink by the same share: the streak line to $257.14 and the update-rate line to $42.86.
Percent of base pay or a fixed amount
- Percent of base pay suits performance bonuses: it grows with the work. If you deduct from base pay, it follows. In the example, deducting $200 makes the streak line 15% of $1,800, which is $270.
- A fixed amount suits flat rewards, such as $50 for a high update rate. A base-pay deduction does not change it.
- A bonus you set by hand on an invoice replaces the program's lines with one fixed line, Bonus set by manager.
The default program
Every organization starts with one rule: a streak bonus counted in weeks of 5 streak days, paid as a percentage of base pay.
1 week
5%
2 weeks
7.5%
3 weeks
10%
4 weeks
12%
5 weeks
14%
6 weeks
15%
7 weeks
16%
8 weeks
17%
9 weeks
18%
10 weeks
19%
11 weeks
20%
12 weeks
20.1%
Past 12 weeks, each further week adds 0.1%, up to 100%. Keep it, change it, or add rules next to it. To start fresh, use the templates under Add rule: flat monthly amount, daily-update streak, update rate, hours target and hours tracked.
Changing the program safely
A bonus is pay, so change it the way you would change pay.
- Preview before you save
- In the program, What would this pay? runs your edited rules on a month for every member, next to what they get now, with the change in total. Nothing is saved or changed.
- Change at the start of a month
- A change applies to invoices created after you save. Members who already created this month's invoice keep theirs, so a mid-month change gives two rules for one month.
- Created invoices never change
- Each invoice keeps its bonus lines and a record of how they were worked out: the program version, every rule's measured value and the tier it reached.
- Tell your team
- Members can open How it works on their invoice preview to read the current rules in plain words.
Keep a program to one to three rules: each paying rule is a line on the invoice, and fewer lines are easier to explain. Every save is kept in the audit log with who made it.
Who can use it
Organization managers change the bonus program and run its preview, on plans with member invoicing (Starter and above; see Pricing), and change the streak rules on any plan. Every member can read the program and the streak rules, and sees their own bonus lines on the invoice preview. Roles are explained in Roles and permissions.
Questions
Can I pay everyone the same amount every month?
Yes. Add a rule from the Flat monthly amount template, set the amount, and leave Who gets it on Everyone. To pay only some members, pick them under Who gets it; a member who joins later is not on the list until you add them. Each member gets the amount every month they tracked time.
Why does a member get no bonus?
No rule is for them (every rule names other members), their value is below the first tier of every rule (for example, a streak of 4 days when the first tier is 1 week of 5 days), the program is turned off, or a rule could not measure them, such as Hours vs expected for a member with no expected hours. The invoice preview lists every rule with what it measured, so the reason is visible there.
Which streak does an invoice use?
The member's streak on the day the invoice is created. Colabio keeps the current streak, not a history, so an invoice for a past month also uses today's streak.
I changed the program. Do invoices already sent change?
No. Every invoice keeps the bonus it was created with. Only invoices created after you save use the new rules.
What happens to the bonus when I deduct from base pay?
A percentage bonus follows base pay: deduct $200 from $2,000 and a 15% bonus becomes 15% of $1,800. A fixed amount stays the same. A deduction from the whole invoice does not change the bonus lines.
Can I set a member's bonus by hand?
Yes. Open the invoice under Financial → Payments and edit the bonus. Your amount replaces the program's lines with one fixed line, Bonus set by manager, and stays the same if base pay changes later.
Is a month a calendar month?
No. A month is the number of streak days you choose (20 by default), because a streak only counts days with an update. A calendar month has about 21 or 22 weekdays.
Does a holiday break a streak or lower the update rate?
Holidays and recorded leave are left out of the update rate. For a streak, file a leave update on a day off: it keeps the streak without adding to it.
How do I go back to the Colabio default?
Open the program and choose Reset to default. It restores the streak table shown in this guide. Invoices already created are not affected.
Still have a question about bonuses? Email support@colabio.org.