Performance-based compensation? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I saw a job posting on Symplicity with a description of the firm's compensation as: "Variable. The compensation model at the firm will be based on productivity with the potential to exceed market compensation at top firms. Associates will be compensated based upon a substantial percentage of fee revenue."

Does anybody have information on or experience with this compensation model? All employer information was withheld in the job posting. It kind of sounds like a scam, but not really sure because I can't find much research on it.

[jbagelboy]

There are entry level insurance sales jobs where the pay "could" exceed a biglaw salary too: doesn't mean anyone actually earns that much money. This compensation scheme sounds like you will get paid when you bring in business. "Productivity" isn't just hours billed. And usually in circumstances like this, if you can generate enough business to make their fee commission compensation structure lucrative, you could just start your own practice with those clients.

[kellyfrost]

I saw a job posting on Symplicity with a description of the firm's compensation as: "Variable. The compensation model at the firm will be based on productivity with the potential to exceed market compensation at top firms. Associates will be compensated based upon a substantial percentage of fee revenue."

Does anybody have information on or experience with this compensation model? All employer information was withheld in the job posting. It kind of sounds like a scam, but not really sure because I can't find much research on it.

I would stay away from this job, for all of the reasons stated above by bagel boy.

[Anonymous User]

I have an associate position with "performance-based compensation." Specifically, I get paid a (small) percentage of all my collected billable hours as a bonus once my total collected billable hours exceed my salary and benefits. For example, say I receive 100k in salary in benefits, and receive 5% of my excess billables as a bonus. If I bill 300k for the year, and the firm only collects 200k of that amount, I would receive a bonus of 5k for that year.

From what I've seen (using only my firm as an example), the base salary and benefits are typically low (i.e. 40k in a midsize market) and the bonus percentage is really what determines how much you will make for a given year. The partners are big supporters of this model because it encourages the associates to bill as much as possible.

Granted, it could be that the posting you are referring to only pays out additional amounts for the business which you bring in (whereas my firm only looks at totals billed and not origination). Unfortunately I have not heard of many other firms following this model so the structure may vary considerably depending on the firm.