Payroll Compliance

It Pays to Get Your Payroll in Order

The Big Picture Consulting (BPC) can help improve payroll by making sure your compensation plan is simple, compliant, and encourages employees to do their best work. Overtime compliance is the number 1 vulnerability for residential contractors; in fact, 90-95% of compensation plans using incentive pay (i.e., spiffs, commissions, task pay, etc.) are NOT compliant with overtime laws. And if your business falls into this category, it will cost you—BIG time. But don’t worry. We’re here to help!

Does Your Payroll Need an Overhaul?


Every pay plan has its pros and cons:

  • Hourly pay can encourage "milking the clock" with no incentive for efficiency.
  • Commission-only pay can lead to fast work, shortcuts, and overselling the customer.
  • Most combination plans (hourly plus incentives) are complicated to manage, make it hard to keep materials and labor costs in-line, and DO NOT meet overtime compliance laws. If you're paying both hourly plus bonuses, you may be underpaying employees and not even know it.


Whether your current compensation plan needs a little tweaking or you're interested in implementing a whole new system, The Big Picture Consulting is here to help. Our pay plan experts will make sure your compensation plan is easy to manage, incentivizes employees to do the right thing, and is fully compliant, even for overtime.


During the payroll review process, we will:

  • Determine your current worst-case liability
  • Discuss how to restructure your compensation plan for compliance, or recommend a better option
  • Develop and provide any necessary calculators, documentation, and training to help you succeed


As a Foundation Retainer client you'll get insights on whether you're compliant and suggestions for potential fixes. Strategic and Executive Retainer clients get a payroll deep-dive plus custom tools to ensure your compensation plan is not just compliant, but optimized.


If you want to take your compensation plan to the next level, consider one of The Big Picture Consulting's proprietary pay plans.

Contact Us with Pay Plan Questions

BPC Pay Plans: The Next Generation of Performance Pay


We can help you adjust your existing payroll process to be compliant. But if you’re searching for an easier, more efficient compensation plan for your company, consider one of our proprietary pay plans, developed in-house to solve all the challenges of traditional pay plans.


After an analysis of your company's needs (included standard with a Strategic or Executive Retainer account) we may suggest you consider one of our BPC plans: Diff-Comm or Flex-Rate. These both give performance pay opportunities at the individual and team levels, help you manage your labor budgets in real-time, and keep your company 100%-compliant, no matter what state regulations you need to follow.


The difference between the Diff-Comm and Flex-Rate plans is based on how your company is structured, and what will best incentivize your employees. We'll make a recommendation between the two plans after a deep-dive into your company's specific needs.


The BPC pay plans blend the best features of each type of compensation plan (hourly, commission, combination) into one that motivates your workers, optimizes your budget, and minimizes compliance risks. These plans also provide you with a wealth of budgeting and management tools to make more qualified business decisions.


This payroll management concept is designed to make paying your employees simple and smooth and to:

  • Incentivize employees to do efficient and effective work, visibly impacting their take-home pay each and every pay period
  • Motivate the team as a whole based on tangible results
  • Provide real-time management tools to identify opportunities in individual performance & internal systems
  • … And more!


Imagine paying your best technician more than $100 per hour for the pay period... and still coming in under budget. And think about how this might incentivize your other employees to work harder and more efficiently to get the same results!

How are BPC Plans Different from Other Compensation Plans?


A successful, sustainable pay plan requires compliance, employee motivation, performance management, and protection of your company’s budget. So, how do The Big Picture Consulting's plans, Diff-Comm and Flex-Rate, do it? Just a few of the ways...


  1. Use your labor-to-budget ratios during development to keep everything in-line
  2. Pay technicians more for work that's both efficient AND high-quality
  3. Incentivize apprentices to advance, with measurable bonus opportunities when they grow within the company
  4. Automatically calculate compliant overtime premiums... which most plans just don't do!

And best of all, with these pay plans, The Big Picture Consulting does all the hard work! You simply review the inputs—making sure jobs are closed out correctly and the right technicians are assigned—and when it's done you validate the final numbers. It's that easy.


Then each and every pay period, you can see in real-time both individual performance and collective team performance, allowing you to set independent budget goals for each. And give bonuses across the board when goals are met.

Why Switch to a BPC Pay Plan?

Our compensation plans are truly the key to peace of mind. Here are a few more reasons to consider making the switch:

  • 100% compliant anywhere in the United States
  • Improved employee management tools to see how each technician is performing
  • Labor and material budget management in REAL-TIME
  • Employees are incentivized to work more efficiently, letting them give themselves pay raises or bonuses every pay period
  • Simple to process, since The Big Picture Consulting does it for you!

Okay, Let's Do It! So How Does It Work Once We're Set Up?

Once the plan has been developed and employees understand the new pay structure, payroll is simple. Each pay period, The Big Picture Consulting will process your revenue and timesheets, taken directly from your tracking software. You'll receive an update once all is complete and you can move forward with payroll... or with our Executive Retainer account, we'll even process payroll for you! 

Payroll compliance is complicated, but BPC pay plans make it easy.

Schedule a Demo today for more information. 

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