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:

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

Create and terminate a variable bonus

Create a variable bonus

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

1. Go to the Employee profile and click on the Salary tab.
2. Under Salary Components > Recurring compensations and bonuses, click Manage.
3. As Bonus type, select Variable bonus.
4. Then select a Payout frequency from the drop-down-menu. To set the payment interval.
   ▶︎ Monthly
   ▶︎ Quarterly
   ▶︎ Half-yearly
   ▶︎ Annually
5. In Effective from, choose from the calendar from which date on the bonus should be applied.
6. Click Add.

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 Variable bonus has to be added manually in the Bonus column of the Salary table, or via an import.

Terminate variable bonuses

To terminate variable bonuses, you need to create a new bonus with the bonus type No bonus. Follow these steps to set this up:

Note
▶︎ If you delete the variable 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 > Recurring compensations and bonuses, click Manage.
3. As Bonus type, select No bonus.
4. In Effective from, choose from the calendar from which date the change should be applied.
5. Click Add.

Add a variable bonus payment

Once a variable 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. 

Via the salary table

To add a variable 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 variable bonus has been enabled within the respective employee profiles. Learn how to import your variable bonus payments in our article Step 3: Importing Salaries.

Create a goal bonus

You can also create a goal bonus. If you have the Performance & Development package, you can link the bonus to an employee's goal. Personio then calculates the bonus payout based on the goal’s progress. If you do not have the Performance & Development package, you can still create this type of bonus. However, you will not be able to confirm the payout in the employee's salary tab.

Learn how to configure goals and subgoals and how to link a salary bonus to a goal. 

To create a goal bonus, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Employee profile and click on the Salary tab.
2. Under Salary Components > Recurring compensations and bonuses click Manage.
3. As Bonus type, select Goal bonus.
4. Under Amount (€) insert the currency and maximum amount of money that the bonus can entail.
5. Then select a Payout frequency 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 have the option to select a month.
   ▶︎ If a month is selected, the payout takes place in that month after the bonus period. For a bonus defined as yearly in October, the payout for the bonus period 2023 will be October 2024.
   ▶︎ If no month is selected, the company settings under Settings > Performance & Development are valid. In this case, payout follows company settings at the end of the period, after the period or evenly distributed across the period.
   ▶︎You can manage currencies at the compensation level for each employee. Office changes will not automatically change an employee's compensation currency, meaning employees will not inherit the office currency. If there's a mismatch between an employee's compensation currency and the office currency, a validation alert will notify you of the discrepancy.

6. In Effective from, choose from the calendar from which date on the bonus should be applied.
7. Click Add.

To be paid out, a goal bonus has to be confirmed manually in the Bonus column of the Salary table.

Confirm a goal bonus payment

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

To pay out a goal 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 goal 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.