The Bonus Pool: What You Can Afford to Give at Year-End

Policy says $7,950. Cash says $4,587. Here's the bonus pool you can actually pay — and how to split it so every number has a reason.

Every December, the same two mistakes: a pool set by feel that January cannot carry, or one so small it costs more in goodwill than it saves. Then the split — the same to everyone, which your best people notice, or numbers from the air, which everyone notices.

Two pools; the smaller wins. A share of the year's after-tax profit — your policy. And what the cash can spare after your floor and the money January and February need, with the payroll burden counted, because bonuses are wages. The workbook takes the smaller and tells you which one bound.

A split you can say out loud. Part flat — the same to everyone, for showing up. Part weighted by pay, months worked this year, and a 1-2-3 rating with factors you set. Every person's line shows the bonus and the weeks of pay it represents — under half a week reads as an insult, over four reads as a mistake.

The dashboard grades it — the pool against policy, cash left against the floor and January, the pool against the rest-of-year profit, average and smallest bonus in weeks of pay, the pool against last year, the largest share, the flat share — HEALTHY, WATCH or ALERT, with a chart of who gets what. One portrait page.

Built for

Any owner with two to twenty people on payroll — trades, restaurants, salons, clinics, shops, agencies. Copy it every December.

What you get

One .xlsx file, five tabs, instant download. Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice. No macros, no add-ins, no subscription. A realistic seven-person sample is loaded so you see every color of the grading before you type over it.