Actual variable should be included for employees that received variable pay throughout the year and usually includes year end bonuses or commissions.
Not all variable pay is required to be added if it is equally accessible to all employees (Job Classes) within the organization.
For example, if profit sharing is applied equally for all employees this is not required to be included, likewise for spot bonuses which equally accessible for all employees and provided based on merit.
Variable pay is always added as one number for the whole year (not hourly). If you organization has a variable pay plan which sets expected payouts for each Job Class based on normal performance this number can be added within the job data section. For example, if your sales person was expected to earn $40,000 in commission, based 5% of sales, but had a great year and earned $80,000 commission, then the entry in the employee data section would be $80,000 but the Job Data section would have $40,000. Any variable pay entered in the Job Data section take precedents in the Job Rate calculation for the Job Class. If no sales expectations are set for the employee and they simply earn 5% on all sales with no targets, then the $80,000 value would be used in the Job Rate calculation and nothing would be entered in the Job Data section.
Note: If you have multiple employees in the same position in your organization that receive a different variable pay targets / percentages / defined amounts than these employees are not in the same Job Class. Employees can receive different amounts of variable pay and still be in the same Job Class, if there target or expected variable pay is the same. For example, see the following table:
| Commission % | Actual Commission | Target Commission | |
| Employee 1 | 5% | $35,000 | $40,000 |
| Employee 2 | 5% | $80,000 | $40,000 |
| Employee 3 | 8% | $40,000 | $40,000 |
Employee 1 and 2 can be the same Job Class, even though they received different amounts of commission, there compensation plan is structured the same. Employee 3 however had a different commission % and thus does not have the same compensation structure, regardless if the target is the same.
In the Job Rate calculation, if the target Commission amount exists than this number would be used in the Job Rate section and override the actual commission amount (which is entered in the employee data section). If the Target Commission number does not exist in your organization than the Actual Commission will be used in the Job Rate calculation for the Job Class, thus the Employee 2 amount (having a higher Actual Commission than Employee 1) would be used in the Job Rate calculation and Employee 3 would be a different Job Class. The compensation tool does not recognize Employee 3 a different Job Class, thus it is the expectation of your organization to identify the different Job Classes based on the Pay Equity Legislation.
If you have any questions regarding variable pay please contact an HCI Consultant or your legal representation.