This article explains how to configure bonus payments in Personio. 

What are bonus payments?

Bonus payments are compensations in addition to any fixed salary or other compensation types. In Personio, you can configure two types of bonus payments, based on your Personio plan:

• Custom bonuses: Flexibly define bonus payments and payment intervals, as well as the amount to be paid out.
• Performance-based bonuses: Set a payment tied to a performance goal, which can be defined under the Performance tab.

Note
To create performance-based bonuses, you must be subscribed to Personio's Performance package.

Create and terminate a custom bonus

Create a custom bonus

To define bonus payments that are independent of employee performance, create a custom bonus. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Employee profile and click on the Salary tab.
2. Under Salary components, click Edit.
3. Under Bonus, click on Edit/Add bonus.
4. As Bonus type, select Custom bonus.
5. Then select a Bonus period from the drop-down-menu. To set the payment interval.
   ▶︎ Monthly
   ▶︎ Quarterly
   ▶︎ Half-yearly
   ▶︎ Yearly
6. In Change effective from, choose from the calendar from which date on the bonus should be applied.
7. Click Submit.

After you have saved, the bonus can be edited directly in the salary overview.

Note
▶︎ The additional Bonus column in the Salary table will only be displayed in the profiles of those employees for whom a bonus has been enabled. 
▶︎ To be paid out, a Custom bonus has to be added manually in the Bonus column of the Salary table, or via an import.

Terminate custom bonuses

To terminate custom bonuses, you need to create a new bonus with the bonus type None. Follow these steps to set this up:

Note
▶︎ If you delete the custom bonus on the edit screen of the Salary tab, all bonus payments you have entered for this bonus will be deleted retroactively. 
▶︎ Once the bonus payment has been terminated, the bonus column will still be displayed in the salary table for following years when the bonus type None is valid.

1. Go to the Employee profile and click on the Salary tab.
2. Under Salary components, click Edit.
3. Under Bonus, click on Edit/Add bonus.
4. As Bonus type, select None.
5. In Change effective from, choose from the calendar from which date the change should be applied.
6. Click Submit.

Add a custom bonus payment

Once a custom bonus has been created in the employee profile, you can either manually set the amount and add it for a certain month or import the bonus just like a fixed salary, using an Excel sheet. After the bonus payment is added, it will be displayed in the preliminary payroll for the respective month. If several bonus payments have been set for the month, they are displayed with the total sum. 

Via the salary table

To add a custom bonus via the salary table, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Employee profile and click on the Salary tab.
2. In the Bonus column, click into the column for the month you want to pay out the bonus.
3. Add the payment in the field.
4. Click Confirm.

Via an import

The import can be performed for single employees or for multiple employees at the same time, as long as the custom bonus has been enabled within the respective employee profiles. Learn how to import your custom bonus payments in our article Step 3: Importing Salaries.

Create a performance-based bonus

This feature is only available with the Performance & Development package:

You can also create a bonus that is linked to an employee's performance. This type of bonus is linked to the Performance tab of that employee, and the goals and key results that have been defined for the correct bonus calculation. For the performance-based bonus to be automatically calculated, it needs to be linked to a goal. Learn how to configure goals and subgoals and how to link a salary bonus to a goal.

To create a performance-based bonus, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Employee profile and click on the Salary tab.
2. Under Salary components, click Edit.
3. Under Bonus, click on Edit/Add bonus.
4. As Bonus type, select Goal bonus percentage.
5. Under Maximum bonus (per period) insert the maximum amount of money that the bonus can entail.
6. Then select a Bonus period from the drop-down-menu. To set the payment interval.
   ▶︎ Monthly
   ▶︎ Quarterly
   ▶︎ Half-yearly
   ▶︎ Yearly
   Note: In case the Bonus period is set as Yearly, you also need to define in which month the bonus should be paid.
7. In Change effective from, choose from the calendar from which date on the bonus should be applied.
8. Click Submit.

Note
To be paid out, a performance-based bonus has to be confirmed manually in the Bonus column of the Salary table.

Confirm a performance-based bonus payment

This feature is only available with the Performance & Development package:

To pay out a performance-based bonus, the payment needs to be confirmed. Depending on your settings, this occurs at the end of the bonus period, after the period, or evenly distributed over the period.

The bonus amount is then displayed in the employee profile of the relevant employee, in the Salary tab under the Bonus column.

To confirm the bonus payout of a performance-based bonus, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Employee profile and click on the Salary tab.
2. In the Bonus column, click on the Warning sign. The payout amount calculated based on the achieved goal is displayed.
3. Click Confirm. If you want to change the amount to be paid out, click into the bonus field and manually adjust, then click Confirm.

The bonus payment will be displayed in the preliminary payroll for the respective month. If several bonus payments have been set for the month, they are displayed with the total sum.