For sales staff to understand what they are working toward, a store manager needs to define their duties, provide stock and working tools, explain how pay is calculated, and discuss challenges regularly. Start by checking these conditions: employees should know exactly what they need to do, which decisions they can influence, and how to check their earnings.
A practical approach is to describe each role, choose a few achievable performance measures, set out bonus terms in writing, and check them against actual store transactions. Once the system is in place, review results and obstacles with sales staff each week. The approaches to organizing work below are recommendations for managers; legal requirements for pay and deductions are covered separately.
Define the sales assistant’s duties and the manager’s responsibilities
Prepare a short list of daily tasks for each role. Instead of asking staff to “provide good customer service,” describe the actions involved: clarify the customer’s needs, check whether the required size is in stock, explain differences between products, and process the sale correctly. For opening and closing the store, set out the sequence of checks and name the employee responsible for each one.
Set priorities for busy periods separately. If a sales assistant is advising a customer, receiving a delivery, and replying to messages at the same time, the manager should decide which task can wait and who can back up a colleague. Otherwise, performance reviews will be based on conflicting expectations.
| Area of work | What to define for the employee | What the manager provides |
|---|---|---|
| Customer consultation | Which needs to clarify and which product features to explain | Training materials, current prices, access to stock information |
| Processing a sale | Who records the transaction and how the sales assistant is identified | Working equipment, required access rights, a procedure for correcting errors |
| Merchandising | Which area to check and when to replenish products | Stock, price tags, storage space, and time to do the work |
| Shift handover | Which unfinished tasks to pass on to a colleague | A shared log or another agreed method of passing on information |
For employees hired in Ukraine, this is also a matter of properly formalizing the employment relationship. Under Article 29 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, before work begins, the employer must inform the employee, among other things, about their job function and duties, workplace, necessary tools, working and rest schedule, and pay terms. Article 31 prohibits requiring work that is not specified in the employment contract. Therefore, formally document and explain any new ongoing duties to the employee first.
Set goals the sales assistant can influence
Before setting a target, review results from comparable shifts, taking into account shift length, number of sales staff, product availability, discounts, and service interruptions. Do not apply the result from the best-performing day to every shift. If the store is missing the required range of products or most customers come in the evening, a uniform sales target for all employees may need to be revised.
To start, choose one primary result and one quality requirement. For example, the primary measure could be each employee’s sales revenue calculated under defined rules, while the quality requirement could be accurate transaction processing. When assessing consultations, check the sales assistant’s specific actions. The number of complaints or returns does not, by itself, explain the quality of their work: you need to establish the reason for each case.
- For an individual target, define who gets credit for a sale. Explain how to record a consultation by one employee and a purchase processed by another, joint customer service, and a sale after a change of sales assistant.
- For a team target, define who is included. Record who participates in the bonus and how you account for hours worked and help provided in other areas.
- For a training target, define how it will be checked. A new employee should demonstrate the required task: find a product, explain its features, or process a transaction under supervision.
- For each measure, specify the data source. The employee and manager should use the same report for the same period.
Write down the target in a clear format: measure, period, formula, data source, person responsible for checking it, and procedure for reviewing disputed transactions. Include circumstances the manager will check when assessing results, such as stock shortages, equipment repairs, a schedule change, or additional assignments. This makes it possible to discuss deviations from the target using specific data.
Separate pay for work from variable bonuses
Show employees the components of their earnings separately: pay under the agreed terms for work performed and hours worked, established additional payments, and any variable bonus. Missing a sales target does not, by itself, justify arbitrarily reducing the pay due for work performed. For a bonus, define in advance when the employee becomes eligible and how the amount is calculated.
Prepare a bonus policy or properly document the relevant terms in the documents that govern pay at your store. The written rules should match the actual calculation. If an employee sees one formula in the document but the accountant receives different verbal instructions, it will be difficult to check that the bonus was calculated correctly.
- Define who is eligible for bonuses, the calculation period, and the performance measures.
- Describe the calculation base: which sales count, how discounts apply, how returns are recorded, and how joint consultations are handled.
- Set the bonus rate or amount, the conditions for earning it, and the payment date.
- Specify who checks the data, how an employee can report an error, and how they can receive an explanation of the calculation.
- Set out how the rules may be changed and how employees will be informed before changes take effect.
Under Article 97 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, forms and systems of remuneration and the terms and amounts of bonuses are established in a collective agreement in compliance with legislation, the general agreement, and sectoral or regional agreements. If there is no collective agreement, the employer agrees these matters with the trade union body representing the majority of employees or, if there is no such body, with another body authorized by the workforce. Specific payment amounts are set in accordance with these requirements. An employer, including an individual employer, may not unilaterally worsen pay terms established by legislation, agreements, and collective agreements.
Do not assume that any bonus reduction is allowed just because the bonus is variable. Before making a decision, check whether the employee has already met the stated conditions, what the documents provide, and whether you are changing the pay terms yourself. The general rule in Article 103 requires employees to be notified of a worsening of pay terms at least two months in advance.
During martial law, the employer must notify the employee of worsening pay terms no later than before those terms take effect, under Part 2 of Article 3 of Ukraine’s Law of March 15, 2022, No. 2136-IX, “On the Organization of Labor Relations under Martial Law”. This special notice period does not waive the requirement that the change to pay itself be lawful. Requirements for setting pay are provided in Articles 97 and 103 of the Labor Code of Ukraine.
Meet payment deadlines
Under Article 115, as a general rule, wages are paid on working days at least twice a month, no more than 16 calendar days apart, and no later than seven days after the end of the period for which payment is made. If a payment date falls on a weekend, public holiday, or non-working day, payment is made on the preceding day. Pay for the first half of the month must be at least the amount due for time actually worked, calculated using the employee’s rate or base salary.
Payment dates are established by a collective agreement or an employer’s internal regulatory act, with the approval required under Article 115. For the simplified labor relations regime, the article separately provides for payment dates to be set out in the employment contract, while still requiring payment at least twice a month and no more than 16 calendar days apart. Do not defer all pay until the monthly bonus calculation is complete. Under Article 97, wages take priority. Check your payment calendar against Articles 97 and 115 of the Labor Code of Ukraine.
Example: a bonus for individual contribution that accounts for returns
Illustrative example for checking a formula. The store sets a bonus of 2% of an employee’s individual sales revenue after discounts and returns for the calculation month. This is a teaching example, not a percentage recommended for every store. Before applying it, the owner should review payroll costs and sales profitability, and properly document the rules.
Under this example, a sale is credited to the employee who consulted with the customer; the cashier does not change the employee credited with the sale simply because they processed the payment. If two employees consult with a customer together, the sales revenue for the bonus is divided equally and recorded before the transaction is completed. A return made within the calculation month reduces the base for that same sale in the same proportions.
| Calculation component | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|
| Olena’s individual sales after discounts | UAH 120,000 |
| Returns on those sales during the calculation month | UAH 10,000 |
| Olena’s share of joint sales: UAH 20,000 ÷ 2 | UAH 10,000 |
| Bonus base: 120,000 − 10,000 + 10,000 | UAH 120,000 |
| Bonus accrued: 120,000 × 2% | UAH 2,400 |
The UAH 2,400 in this example is the accrued bonus before statutory deductions. Pay for hours worked and any other payments due are calculated separately. In this model, a reduction to the base due to a return is part of the formula defined in advance for the current period.
Set a separate review procedure for returns made after the month has closed. Do not turn a later return into an automatic deduction from wages that have already been paid. Define in advance how such cases are handled, and check the documentary and legal grounds before making any recalculation. Also test a discounted sale, a joint consultation, a canceled transaction, and a transaction with no sales assistant identified. This check can uncover ambiguities before the first bonus is calculated, but the formula itself does not guarantee higher sales.
Do not impose payroll fines or automatic deductions for stock shortages
Do not impose monetary fines deducted from wages for lateness, an error on a receipt, or a missed target as your own system of disciplinary penalties. Article 147 provides for a reprimand or dismissal for a breach of labor discipline; other penalties may be established by legislation, statutes, and regulations for specific categories of employees. Under Article 127, deductions from wages are permitted only in cases provided for by Ukrainian law. An internal list of fines does not provide such grounds.
Article 127 separately governs the recovery of advances and amounts overpaid due to arithmetic errors. For the cases listed in paragraph 1, it is important that the employee does not dispute the grounds or amount of the deduction and that the order is issued within one month, counted from the relevant event specified in the article. Deductions for leave days already taken but not yet earned also have exceptions established by law. These rules do not allow an ordinary mistake by a sales assistant to be treated as an arbitrary debt to the store.
If an inventory count shows a shortage, first check receipts, sales, returns, transfers, and access to the stock. Simply having worked a shift does not prove that an employee is at fault. Under Article 130, material liability requires actual direct damage, a breach of job duties, culpable unlawful acts or omissions, and compliance with legal limits and procedures. It does not apply to normal business risk or damage caused in a state of extreme necessity. The article allows liability for lost profits only for officials, so a missed sales target cannot automatically be treated as an amount the sales assistant must reimburse.
For compensation of damage, Article 127 refers to the procedure in Article 136. Even when there are legal grounds, Article 128 limits the total amount of all deductions from each payment: as a general rule, it may not exceed 20% of the wages payable to the employee, and in certain cases specifically provided for by law, 50%. If there are multiple enforcement documents, the employee must retain 50% of their earnings; exceptions for correctional labor and child support for minor children allow deductions of up to 70%. These limits do not authorize withholding the relevant percentage for any claim. Before making a decision, consult Articles 127, 128, 130, and 147 of the Labor Code of Ukraine.
Provide training, stock, and a manageable workload
Before asking sales staff to sell more, check whether they have the necessary knowledge and tools. Prepare a short training plan covering the features of key products, how to match products to customer needs, checking stock, processing sales, and handling returns. A mentor first demonstrates the task, then observes the employee performing it and explains any specific mistake. Schedule time for this during the shift.
Ask sales staff to record missed sales along with the reason: the size was unavailable, the customer did not accept the price, the product arrived late, or the employee could not check stock. Once a week, the manager reviews the entries and decides what to do: replenish stock, clarify product information, or provide training. Do not use this log to automatically find someone to blame, or employees will have reason to hide problems.
Check staffing during the busiest hours: who consults with customers, who processes purchases, who receives deliveries, and who covers for colleagues during breaks. If one person regularly handles all these tasks, change the allocation of work. Agree on schedule changes in advance and comply with applicable working-time and rest requirements. The team can choose to add gifts and group events; budget for them separately, without secretly reducing promised payments.
Hold a weekly conversation and investigate why targets were missed
Set aside 10–15 minutes for an individual conversation with each sales assistant. Prepare the week’s data and a few specific transactions. Discuss difficult cases away from customers and colleagues, and give the employee a chance to explain the circumstances. When recognizing good work, name the action and its benefit: the sales assistant checked stock, found the required product, and helped complete the purchase.
- Compare the result with the agreed target. Confirm the period, shifts worked, and whether sales were credited correctly.
- Check the conditions. Find out whether the required products and working equipment were available and whether there was enough time for customer consultations.
- Check the skill. Review a specific case and ask the employee to demonstrate the required task.
- Agree on one change. For example, the manager replenishes stock while the sales assistant practices consulting on that product category.
- Record who is responsible and when it will be checked. At the next meeting, review whether both commitments were met.
If you have not established the cause, run a short check under comparable conditions. For example, make sure the product is available, provide training, and observe work over several similar shifts. Do not change prices, product range, schedule, and bonuses at the same time if you want to understand the effect of a specific decision. If the result improves, record what changed. If it does not, check the next assumption, without judging an employee’s attitude to work solely by sales revenue.
Calculating sales staff pay and incentives in Torgsoft
The additional Torgsoft feature “Зарплата та мотивація” (“Pay and Incentives”) lets you configure several types of payments for a position, including a base rate, hourly pay, an individual percentage, and a team bonus. According to the official setup guide, a store location’s accounting center, shifts, and sales staff work method are defined in the settings. Under the team work method, sales are recorded against the team and the bonus takes the participation coefficient into account; under the individual method, the team consists of one sales assistant.
The team work method with individual sales tracking requires scanning the sales assistant’s badge for every sale. With this method, the team bonus is calculated in the same way as under the standard team work method; individual sales tracking lets you create a sales staff ranking but does not, by itself, change how the team bonus is distributed. Choose the method that reflects how you actually serve customers.
Check the sales base before calculating pay. The “By goods sold” method counts goods shipped. For the “By goods paid for” method, the guide requires the “partial itemization by product” mode in the settings for working with VIP clients, meaning clients with special service terms. Do not use this method for sales in “Trade with invoice issued” mode: according to the stated limitation, those sales will not be included in employees’ targets or accruals. Check the settings on a regular sale, a discounted sale, a return, and a transaction involving multiple participants; do not assume that the software will automatically reproduce any custom bonus formula.
Compare a trial calculation with your payroll documents and explain to employees where the amounts come from. The availability of settings for deductions or for making accruals conditional on achieving a target does not create a legal basis for applying them. Accounting data helps verify transactions and calculations, while the employer must separately document pay and bonus terms, schedules, and any changes to them.
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