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Ryan Smith, DDS

Documents · Worksheet

Staff Bonus Plan Worksheet

A spreadsheet that models the Push Month and Prize Month bonus strategy with payout formulas, plus a PDF explaining the rules.

Formats
Excel, PDF
Length
1 pages
Version
1.0
Updated
2026-07-06

A monthly collections bonus feels great for a month or two, then it becomes part of the paycheck. The fix isn't a better formula, it's variety: Push Months in your slow season with a cash bonus tied to a specific goal, and Prize Months in your busy season with a non-financial goal and an experiential reward.

The spreadsheet models both. Set the goal and target in the sky-filled input cells, and the payout column works out on its own whether the bonus is earned, including the optional rule from the article that ties payout to a majority of the team hitting their own individual goal. No dollar amount or bonus payout is ever hard-typed, only calculated.

The PDF is the plain-language version of the same rules: why the standard collections-goal bonus stops working, and the three steps of the strategy that replaces it.

What's inside

  • XLSX: a Push Months sheet with goal, target, actual result, bonus pool, and a payout formula that checks the goal and, if you're using it, the individual-accountability majority rule
  • XLSX: a Prize Months sheet with goal, target, actual result, and a formula that reports whether the reward was earned
  • XLSX: an Individual Accountability roster (Step 3) that counts how many team members hit their own goal
  • XLSX: an Ideas From the Article sheet with the goal and reward examples the article gives, and a Notes sheet citing the exact sentence behind every rule
  • PDF: why the standard bonus fails, and the three-step variety bonus strategy with the article's own role-mapping examples

How to use it

  1. At the start of a slow season, add a row to the Push Months sheet: name the period, the goal type, the target, and the bonus pool you're offering.
  2. At the start of a busy season, add a row to the Prize Months sheet with a non-financial team goal and the reward you're offering.
  3. If you're adding the optional individual-accountability layer, fill in the roster and carry its two headcounts into the matching Push Months row.
  4. At the end of the period, fill in the actual result. The payout column tells you what's owed, or why it isn't, without you calculating anything by hand.
  5. Read the PDF with the team before you announce a new goal, so everyone understands their own role in hitting it.