Following a shift in its performance-related pay over the last 12 months, Checkatrade now has an approach that transparently links employees’ individual contributions to their take-home pay and other potential recognition.
The home improvements platform, which has more than 450 employees, changed its performance and compensation philosophy from annual performance cycles to focus on recognising the impact of employees’ actions at work. This year, it moved to quarterly performance impact cycles, where every individual receives an impact score. This is measured through what they have delivered in terms of their objectives, and how they have delivered it.
Its performance-related pay is part of its annual compensation and biannual promotion cycles, and is a multiplier of the take-home percentage of employees’ pay increase, explains Ashley Bartley, VP people team at Checkatrade.
“It also relates to staff bonuses, of which we have two,” she explains. ”Our sales and customer operations teams receive commission-based bonuses and they have an impact score which influences their commission take-home. We try to mirror that in our annual bonus plan. This is based on our target, which dictates the budget pot, and then an individual’s full year impact score is a multiplier of the individual’s full amount.”.
It also revamped its recognition programme, calling it most valued Checkatrader, playing on the concept of most valued player (MVP) in some US sports. Also a quarterly scheme, the firm celebrates these individuals, uses them as inspirational case studies and awards them prizes and recognition with senior leaders.
“We do see a correlation between those who achieve this and those who achieve our top impact score each quarter,” Bartley adds.
In terms of implementation, because Checkatrade felt like this was a lot of change all at once, it opted for a subtle approach. It first announced the upcoming changes at the end of 2024 in an organisation-wide meeting, while also updating its annual bonus payout. Following its 2024 bonus payout, it launched the changes to its bonus schemes and recognition programme, so staff could understand how their impact score would dictate what the change meant for them.
It also communicated the changes in smaller team meetings and followed up with more detailed email communications. It reiterates the message in any people-related communications, whether through an engagement survey or another change that is taking place.
Checkatrade made the changes to bring about a cultural shift in how it was working and to stay ahead of its competitors. It needed to drive a faster pace of operating, which fed into making the systems quarterly and having more frequent discussions.
Bartley says: “It’s about strengthening a high-performance culture. We want to attract people that thrive and enjoy being in this environment. We have ambitious goals, and we want everyone to be accountable for success.”
