If you discover a loophole in your compensation plan and exploit it....
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Anonymous
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I'm in sales and we have a very detailed comp plan. Naturally I am tracking my results closely in a spreadsheet. At first the numbers I was crunching seemed wrong, then I figured out the formula they were using and ran the same model against my colleagues numbers to see if it held true. I discovered one peer who consistently pulls a rabbit out of her ass each year, is WAAAAY ahead of her year-to-date goal, while the rest of us are statistically the same. I can see what she did to bake her numbers was to create a couple of dummy master accounts that have zero 2012 billing history, thus jacking up her year over year % gains at the account level and at the overall level. Enough to make her #1 in the nation and earn a lot of money and recognition.
What can/should I do to close that loophole? Anonymous feedback is all but impossible in this organization. Pointing her out would be seen as sour grapes, but not being very specific would likely result in a brush off about "bluebirds" and the random nature of sales, etc. This same person accidentally let it slip last year how she exploited a similar flaw in 2012's comp plan to get % gains and she ended up winning #1 sales for 2012, plus the big trip, and big bucks in bonuses. |
Anonymous
| Ugh. I think you're calling this a "loophole" is generous. I'd call if fraud. I hate cheaters. |
Anonymous
| It's fraud. |
Anonymous
| Agreed -- it sounds like fraud, and you should blow the whistle. |
Anonymous
| Do you have a decent HR department? |
Anonymous
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OP again. We do have an internal ombudsman program for complaints that might take up this complaint if I am very specific. Also, my company is part of the TARP group so I'd expect they would take this very seriously. I'm certain this person could glibly explain HOW and WHY she created these new billing accounts in a credible (but suspiciously self-beneficial) way. They'd have to look at her for the past 2-3 years to see the pattern of exploitation of loopholes in the plans (they differ each year).
Would you take it to your leader first, or go anonymous to the ombudsman group and hope they investigate it thoroughly? |
Anonymous
You missed the part where they said they were in "sales." LOL |
Anonymous
Easy now, killer... 
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Anonymous
It depends on your relationship with the leader. If it is not air-tight, go to the ombudsman. Make sure you talk to them in person, so you can explain the whole thing. |
Anonymous
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I once had an analogous situation, and I outed the culprit simply by asking questions about my own reports as compared to his. "I noticed that Josh uses a different calculation here - am I doing this wrong?"
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Anonymous
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OP again. Perhaps the most insidious thing to do here would be to wait until October to report the loophole. <evil grin> I know she's sitting back thinking she's got this year in the bag again already and like the Hare, is resting under the proverbial shade tree being so far ahead of us Tortoises.
Come October when we do the final rankings, if she gets these behemoth accounts taken out of her final calculations, she screwed the pooch and won't be able to make up for it. |
Anonymous
I think this is the way to go (and doing it in October). If they say it's fine to do it her way - then you do the same thing and maybe will beat her at her own game. Then tell all the other sales guys to do the same thing - and point it out like, I went to the leader and asked and apparently we're all doing it wrong - we're supposed to do it [other salesperson's] way. Then at least it'll all be on the same playing field and you got the okay from your leader. |
Anonymous
Goodness gracious. Don't you think she would get fired for this? She's defrauding the company of $ for bonuses, etc. |
Anonymous
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It seems to me the "flaw" or "loophole" you've found isn't an intended feature of the compensation plan, but is instead the failure to include a check that ensures that 2012 billing history is accurately measured against 2013 results. That is, they measure year-over-year results but don't check the accuracy of the baseline. Don't mistake the flaw in the formula for a flaw in the plan. Obviously they wanted to measure this year's results based on last year - there would be no need to look to last year's billing history at all if they wanted to start from zero.
I don't have advice on the politics, but you can't let this go on. |
Anonymous
| Don't do it. Fraud. |