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Example 1. A pet owner is charged $40
for the grooming of a Bichon Frise. The
commission rate is 55%. Multiply $40 by 55%
and the result is $22. The groomer’s gross
wage for grooming the Bichon Frise is $22.00
and the owner retains $18.00 to cover
operating overhead and potentially derive some
profit.
Only highly-experienced groomers earn 60%
commissions and some employers don’t ever
offer 60% because after overhead there is
little remaining profit. Keep in mind that the
employer must pay employer contribution taxes,
worker’s compensation and other
payroll-related taxes often 30% times the
gross wage.
In Example 1, the employer might be liable for
$6.60 of payroll taxes which are deducted from
the owner’s $18.00 besides, rent, utilities,
supplies, advertising, insurance and other
operating expenses.
Example 2. There are six grooming
assignments in the appointment book for Cathy,
a pet stylist. She is comfortable doing six
start-to-finish assignments in eight hours. By
9 A.M. she discovers that one customer with
two pets is a “no-show” and one regular client
is ill and cannot keep her appointment.
Cathy is only paid for grooming three pets
losing about one-half of her income. What will
happen tomorrow? Cathy goes home disappointed
and stressed.
Combining Salary, Hourly and Commission Wages
Groomers are becoming more stress related to
commission-only wages. If they are not
employed by a business with steady demand year
round they may never meet their household
budget year round without seeking additional
employment. Snow days often trigger
cancellations and for the commission only
groomer, the day is a bust. Some groomers
accept change and look for salaried positions
and find none available or the job offers are
unsuitable. Not all salary offers are ideal,
and some employers don’t accept counter offers
from job candidates. The most popular answer
to the commission-only dilemma is to combine
compensation methods and thereby satisfy both
employer and employee. Some of these systems
are reasonable. What makes them reasonable is
1) the employee can count on earning a set
minimum wage each day and 2) the employer
accepts some of the risk once carried on the
shoulders of the employee alone!
 For
example, Anne is paid 55% commission and
guaranteed $100 a day. Anne’s wage generation
remains on a commission basis formula.
Typically she earns $175 a day on commission
working full-time. One day there are a string
of cancellations and she only earns $80 for
the day in gross wages. Not to worry. The
owner contributes another $20 for the day to
match Anne’s guaranteed $100 a day wage. Many
employers will do this for a valued employee.
Don’t expect owners to harbor troublesome
employees on such a basis, at least for long.
There are many more variations of the
combination system including offers of
guaranteed salary with commissions on services
over a specified cap, and even commission
bonuses for retail sales. |
