pay restructure

[jenm]

We are in the process of restructuring some pay plans. Can anyone give me some suggestions of how their office staff is paid? Title Clerk, Cashier, Filer. What kind of Month-end bonus does the Ofc. Mgr. get?? Bottom Line??? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[mbowers]

A word on payplans: ALL payplans start with some target income in mind. The manager who creates the payplan will always have an idea what the total annual compensation should be.

The easy and obvious way to hit the target is with a straight salary, no commissions or incentives.

That's what I'd recommend for the office staff.

If you really want to add an incentive, keep it simple and keep it relatively small - 5% or less of total income.

Whatever achievement you decide to incentivize, it should be important to the dealership and under the employee's control. So a title clerk might be paid $13/hour plus $100 per month when all titles are sent to customers within 30 days.

The office manager payplans we have collected follow that pattern for the most part. Total pay is mostly salary with some incentive based on dealership performance (net income).

Proof of the idea that ALL payplans start with some target income in mind is evident in the office manager payplans I've reviewed. The percentage of the net paid to the office manager ranges from .3% to 3% and literally every tenth of a point in between. That's to make sure the total pay stays within a predetermined range.

How much should your office manager be paid? Figure out what the job is worth to the dealership and then back into the payplan. If the target is $50,000 a year, pay $40,000 in salary and up to $10,000 as some percentage of the store's anticipated net income.

[kcatdeejay]

Whatever you do, DON'T provide TOO MUCH incentive !!! Keep it in the realm of either:
1) Unobtainable

or

2) Not worthwhile

[Lhansen]

Hi Jenm:

You might want to survey other dealerships in your general area. Most office managers will share basic information with you. One word of caution- make sure you are paying your receptionist/switchboard operator a decent wage. This is the first impression the customer has of the dealership and if handled poorly, will negatively impact the chance of the customer doing business with you.
Good luck!

Linda

Linda Graham Hansen
Auto Dealer Focus www.autodealerfocus.com

[zsmith]

Restructure? In my experience one of two things can happen to your pay plan, you get a pay raise, or you get a pay plan "restructure". Nobody ever hides a pay raise behind fancy terminology!

[helpers1]

All our accounting staff is paid hourly, except management. I use a monthly incentive for each position in the office...they have to meet the requirements of the incentive as well as have no overtime to be eligible.
Don't forget to compare your expense with the GM Compass or Chrysler Dealer Performance Report or another manufacturer's comparison report to be sure your percentages are within reason with your market area.