Incentive Bonuses for Non-Sales Staff

As a small business owner, you may want to reward non-sales employees with cash bonuses for reaching specific profit benchmarks throughout the year. Here are some ideas.

You can create an annual incentive plan for non-sales employees by first establishing your target revenue for the year, and setting that at 100 percent. Then assign a percentage of your employee's salary — 10 percent, for example — as the cash bonus. If the target is reached by the end of the year, the employee receives the cash bonus.

Using this bonus plan as an example, let's say an employee's annual compensation is $30,000. If the company reaches 100 percent of its target revenue, the employee receives 100 percent of his or her bonus — in this case $3,000. If the company surpasses its profit benchmark by 10 percent, the employee would receive an additional 10 percent of his or her salary. In this example, that additional 10 percent equals $300, making the total bonus amount $3,300. You can increase the bonus incrementally as revenue targets are exceeded. You can also use this formula quarterly if it's appropriate for your company's revenue cycle. Be careful, however, to choose bonus percentages and targets that are consistent with your company's profit structure.