Create an incentive plan as a draft, fill in its Basic information (name, period, recurrence, people and payroll concept), then add people and goals before activating it. An incentive plan is what customers also call a bonus plan, commission plan or variable pay plan. You can set it up by hand or ask One to set it up for you.

Before you start

• You need the Manage incentive plans permission.
• The people you want to reward need a variable compensation on their contract with:
  • an Amount up to value (the maximum the person can earn per payment), and
  • the same recurrence as the plan (for example, every 3 months for a Quarterly plan), and
  • a payroll concept that isn't already used by another plan that isn't archived.
• Create the goals you want to reward first. Only goals with the same period and the same frequency as the plan can be added. See Add goals to an incentive plan and set their weights.

Steps

1. Create the draft plan

1. Go to Compensation > Incentive plans.
2. Click New incentive plan.
3. Choose how to start:
   • If One opens with "Let's create a new Incentive Plan!", describe the plan in your own words, for example "Create an incentive plan for the Marketing team to calculate quarterly variables". One asks for anything it's missing and creates the plan.
   • To fill in everything yourself, click Empty plan (Start from scratch) below the One chat.
   • If One isn't available in your account, the empty plan is created directly.

The new plan opens in Draft status, named New incentive plan, covering the current calendar year with a Yearly recurrence. The left side shows three steps: Basic information, People and Goals.

2. Fill in Basic information

In the Basic information step of the draft plan:

1. Under Basic information, enter a Name and, optionally, a Description.
2. Under Plan details, choose the Period. The period is a calendar year, for example 2026.
3. Choose the Recurrence: Monthly, Quarterly, Half-yearly or Yearly. The recurrence splits the year into the periods that are paid separately.
4. Under Add people, choose who the plan applies to: Whole company, Legal entities, Teams, Roles or People, and select the entries.
5. Choose the Payroll concept. The list only shows concepts that the selected people have as a variable compensation with an Amount up to value and the plan's recurrence.
6. Click Save.

When the name, period, recurrence, people and payroll concept are all set, the People and Goals steps unlock.

3. Continue the setup

1. Open the People step to check who is in the plan and fix missing or duplicate compensations. See Choose who is in an incentive plan.
2. Open the Goals step to add goals, weights and payout rules. See Add goals to an incentive plan and set their weights.
3. Click Activate plan. See Activate, track and manage an incentive plan.

Rules and behavior

• If you click New incentive plan, then a draft plan is created immediately (from Empty plan) or after One collects the plan details.
• If the Name, Period, Recurrence, people selection or Payroll concept is empty, then the People and Goals steps stay locked.
• If you change the Recurrence or the people, then the Payroll concept options change, because they depend on the people's contracts and the recurrence.
• If you leave a step with unsaved changes, then Factorial warns "You have unsaved changes" and lets you discard them or stay.
• If you choose Whole company, then everyone active in the company is in the plan. Only one kind of selection is allowed at a time; you can't combine, for example, Teams and Roles.
• If you select more than the allowed number of entries, then Factorial shows "You can select up to …". The limits are 17 Teams, 17 Legal entities and 10 Roles. There is no limit for People.
• If a draft plan is open and One is available, then One opens in the side panel with "Let's configure your incentive plan", so you can make changes by chat, for example "Add the Marketing team to this plan".

Limitations

• A plan can't cover more or less than one calendar year, and it can't start mid-year.
• You can't pick a custom recurrence such as every two months.
• You can't combine selection types in one plan, for example two teams plus three hand-picked people.
• You can't type the bonus amount into the plan. The amount always comes from each person's variable compensation (Amount up to).
• You can't duplicate an existing plan.
• After activation, you can't change the Period, Recurrence or Payroll concept.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: "The Payroll concept list says No payroll concepts available." → Cause: None of the selected people has a variable compensation with an Amount up to value, the plan's recurrence and a concept that's free (not used by another plan that isn't archived). → Fix: Add a variable compensation with an upper limit and the matching recurrence to the people's contracts, or change the Recurrence to match the compensations they already have.
• Symptom: "The People and Goals steps are greyed out." → Cause: One of the required basic fields is missing. → Fix: Fill in Name, Period, Recurrence, people and Payroll concept, then click Save.
• Symptom: "I get 'You can select up to 10'." → Cause: You selected more than 10 roles (or more than 17 teams or legal entities). → Fix: Select fewer entries, use Legal entities or Whole company, or hand-pick People.

FAQ

1. Which recurrence should I choose?

Choose how often you want to pay. A Quarterly plan pays four times a year, once after each quarter ends. The goals you add must use the same frequency.

2. What is the payroll concept used for?

It's the variable compensation line the payout is written to in the payroll cycle. Each person needs that variable compensation on their contract.

3. Can I create a plan for two teams?

Yes. Choose Teams under Add people and select both teams. You can select up to 17 teams.

4. Can I change the plan after I create it?

Yes, everything can change while the plan is a draft. After activation, the Period, Recurrence and Payroll concept are locked.

5. Can I start in the middle of the year?

The plan always covers the full calendar year. Periods that have already ended can still be sent to payroll once the plan is active.