Where do I start

AmyHR

New member
Joined
Dec 1, 2018
Messages
3
I've been given a pot of money at work and been asked to split it between 7 people... 3 of them get 20% of the pot, 3 of them get 15% of the post and 1 person gets 10%

I just have no idea how to work this out... can anyone please help? Its driving me nuts!!!

The pot of money is £6772.50
 
I've been given a pot of money at work and been asked to split it between 7 people... 3 of them get 20% of the pot, 3 of them get 15% of the post and 1 person gets 10%

I just have no idea how to work this out... can anyone please help? Its driving me nuts!!!

The pot of money is £6772.50
This problem does not make sense - as posted. It does not have a solution - assuming most straight-forward interpretation. Please explain more - why colleagues will get different percent of pot?
 
I've been given a pot of money at work and been asked to split it between 7 people... 3 of them get 20% of the pot, 3 of them get 15% of the post and 1 person gets 10%

I just have no idea how to work this out... can anyone please help? Its driving me nuts!!!

The pot of money is £6772.50
Are you serious?
3*20% + 3*15% + 1*10% = 115% not 100%
 
Sorry let me re-phrase....

I have been given a sum of money to spread across 7 people... this is a christmas bonus pot...

These 7 people are different levels of seniority...

Normally - 3 of them would have the potential to earn 20% of their salary in bonus, 3 would have the potential to earn 15% of salary in bonus, and 1 would have the potential to earn 10% of their salary...

But we don't have enough money to use that method, and so instead i have been given a pot of £6772.50...

I was hoping to apply what their normal bonus potential could be to this sum...but this obviously doesn't work ;)

Do you have any suggestions as to how i might make it work to match the seniority of the individuals involved?

Thanks so much in advance - its driving me nuts - i am not a maths person at all!!
 
Are you serious?
3*20% + 3*15% + 1*10% = 115% not 100%
No, no...3 get a total of 20%, 3 get a total of 15%, 1 gets 10%.
That'll total ~3047; left is 6772-3047=3725, which is for ME :cool:
 
I've been given a pot of money at work and been asked to split it between 7 people... 3 of them get 20% of the pot, 3 of them get 15% of the post and 1 person gets 10%

I just have no idea how to work this out... can anyone please help? Its driving me nuts!!!

The pot of money is £6772.50
I'll try again.
Compute 20% of £6772.50 and multiply by 3
Compute 15% of £6772.50 and multiply by 3
Compute 10% of £6772.50

Add up these numbers and then scale this sum to £6772.50.
Then figure what each of the 7 people will get......

EDIT: Meant divide, not multiply
 
Last edited:
I'll try again.
Compute 20% of £6772.50 and multiply by 3
Compute 15% of £6772.50 and multiply by 3
Compute 10% of £6772.50

Add up these numbers and then scale this sum to £6772.50.
Then figure what each of the 7 people will get......
But then 3 would not get 20% OF THE POT, etc.
 
I'm wondering if your workmates also asked you to go and buy a left-handed screwdriver.
 
Sorry let me re-phrase....

I have been given a sum of money to spread across 7 people... this is a christmas bonus pot...

These 7 people are different levels of seniority...

Normally - 3 of them would have the potential to earn 20% of their salary in bonus, 3 would have the potential to earn 15% of salary in bonus, and 1 would have the potential to earn 10% of their salary...

But we don't have enough money to use that method, and so instead i have been given a pot of £6772.50...

I was hoping to apply what their normal bonus potential could be to this sum...but this obviously doesn't work ;)

Do you have any suggestions as to how i might make it work to match the seniority of the individuals involved?

Thanks so much in advance - its driving me nuts - i am not a maths person at all!!
This is not really a math question. It is a legal and HR question.

The simplest way to do the math is to calculate what each person is owed under the bonus plan as written. Add those up. Calculate the percentage that 6772.50 is to that sum. Multiply that percentage times what each person would normally get, and that is what each person gets given the limit on the pot.

The problem is that the simple math answer may create problems that are legal or motivational or both. Math is a tool. Tell us what kind of answer you want, and we can help you do the math (or you own accounting people can). For example, You might not want to reduce the bonus for people with a salary under x. Or you might want everyone to get a bonus of at least 800 pounds. The question is what do you want to do in terms of your legal and motivational goals.

EDIT: Before I retired, I used to be asked to intervene between the CEO and the HR people because this kind of problem made him froth at the mouth. Whatever decision you make in this case, you need to rewrite your bonus plan so it addresses what the size of the pot is and how to divvy it up when it is insufficient. Personally, if I was being paid to give advice in this situation, which involves a small number of people, I'd probably advise something much more related to individual performance and responsibility for the insufficiency of the pot, provided the bloody lawyers did not have a screaming fit. (By the way, I still sit on the board's compensation committee, and, if the pot were insufficient, my initial reaction would be to reduce bonuses to senior management rather than junior management because senior management has more responsibility for the overall situation.)
 
Last edited:
Sorry let me re-phrase....

I have been given a sum of money to spread across 7 people... this is a christmas bonus pot...

These 7 people are different levels of seniority...

Normally - 3 of them would have the potential to earn 20% of their salary in bonus, 3 would have the potential to earn 15% of salary in bonus, and 1 would have the potential to earn 10% of their salary...

But we don't have enough money to use that method, and so instead i have been given a pot of £6772.50...

I was hoping to apply what their normal bonus potential could be to this sum...but this obviously doesn't work ;)

Do you have any suggestions as to how i might make it work to match the seniority of the individuals involved?

Thanks so much in advance - its driving me nuts - i am not a maths person at all!!
I am not a HR or legal person.

But forget for the time being you have a limited pot.

Let us assume you have the money to dole out - 3 persons 20% of their salary, 3 persons 15% of their salary and 1 person 10% of his/her salary. How much money - individually and in total - that would be?

Now we can work out proportion from that distribution.
 
As far as I can see, no way to calculate unless we know the salaries.
Assume top 3 earn $100,000 each, next 3 earn 80,000 each and you earn 60,000:
Code:
Top 3   : 100,000  300,000  50%  3,386
Next 3  :  80,000  240,000  40%  2,708
Poor you:  60,000   60,000  10%    678
          ============================
Totals  : 240,000  600,000 100%  6,772 : I'll keep the 50 cents!
Clear/easy nuff??
 
Sorry let me re-phrase....

I have been given a sum of money to spread across 7 people... this is a christmas bonus pot...

These 7 people are different levels of seniority...

Normally - 3 of them would have the potential to earn 20% of their salary in bonus, 3 would have the potential to earn 15% of salary in bonus, and 1 would have the potential to earn 10% of their salary...

But we don't have enough money to use that method, and so instead i have been given a pot of £6772.50...

I was hoping to apply what their normal bonus potential could be to this sum...but this obviously doesn't work ;)

Do you have any suggestions as to how i might make it work to match the seniority of the individuals involved?

Thanks so much in advance - its driving me nuts - i am not a maths person at all!!

1 part = 6772.5/115=58.89 (divide by 115 to change your scale to 115%)
58.89 x 20=1177.82 x 3=3533.46 (bold is individual payments)
58.89 x 15 = 883.35 x 3= 2650.05
58.89 x 10= 588.9

total, of underlined amts =6772.41, (= .09 left over)
 
Last edited:
Sorry let me re-phrase....

I have been given a sum of money to spread across 7 people... this is a christmas bonus pot...

These 7 people are different levels of seniority...

Normally - 3 of them would have the potential to earn 20% of their salary in bonus, 3 would have the potential to earn 15% of salary in bonus, and 1 would have the potential to earn 10% of their salary...

But we don't have enough money to use that method, and so instead i have been given a pot of £6772.50...

I was hoping to apply what their normal bonus potential could be to this sum...but this obviously doesn't work ;)

Do you have any suggestions as to how i might make it work to match the seniority of the individuals involved?

Thanks so much in advance - its driving me nuts - i am not a maths person at all!!

Let your 10% = x.
Let 15% = 1.5x. Since 3 people get 15%, we have 4.5x
Let 20% = 2x. Since 3 people get 20%, we have 6x
We want x + 4.5x +6x = 11.5x = 100%. So x ~ 8.7%

So the 10% worker gets 8.7% of £6772.50= 589.21
The 3 15% workers each get 13% of £6772.50 = 880.43
The 3 20% workers each get 17.4% of £6772.50 = 1178.42

With rounding off a bit there are a few dollars left over. Please give it to Denis as he really needs it. Thanks
 
Last edited:
1 part = 6772.5/115=58.89 (divide by 115 to change your scale to 115%)
58.89 x 20=1177.82 x 3=3533.46 (bold is what invividuals get)
58.89 x 15 = 883.35 x 3= 2650.05
58.89 x 10= 588.9

total =6772.41, (= .09 L left over)
Hey junior member you beat me with this reply by seconds! Good job!
 
1 part = 6772.5/115=58.89 (divide by 115 to change your scale to 115%)
58.89 x 20=1177.82 x 3=3533.46 (bold is individual payments)
58.89 x 15 = 883.35 x 3= 2650.05
58.89 x 10= 588.9

total, of underlined amts =6772.41, (= .09 left over)
You may be misinterpreting the problem.

My intepretation is that what is being described is an incentive payment of 30% or 20% or 10% of the individual's salary. In this case, however, that calculation generates an amount larger than the employer is either willing or able to pay. I have a fair amount of knowledge about how "bonus" programs work in the US, and they usually are tied somehow to an individual's "base" pay rather than identical payments to each in a class. If my interpretation is correct, all we can do is to provide suggestions for general procedures of computation rather than do the actual computations.

Of course, I may be all wrong about my interpretation: I have not a clue what is normal for incentive compensation in the UK, and there is plenty of variation in the US.
 
WELL, could also be the OP is supplying completely
wrong percentages...not knowing any better...
which is why he/she is at bottom of pay scale :p

Wonder if amyHR means Amy from Human Resources...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sorry let me re-phrase....

I have been given a sum of money to spread across 7 people... this is a christmas bonus pot...

These 7 people are different levels of seniority...

Normally - 3 of them would have the potential to earn 20% of their salary in bonus, 3 would have the potential to earn 15% of salary in bonus, and 1 would have the potential to earn 10% of their salary...

But we don't have enough money to use that method, and so instead i have been given a pot of £6772.50...

I was hoping to apply what their normal bonus potential could be to this sum...but this obviously doesn't work ;)

Do you have any suggestions as to how i might make it work to match the seniority of the individuals involved?

Thanks so much in advance - its driving me nuts - i am not a maths person at all!!

a,b,and c are the salaries;
x=scale factor

x[3a(0.2)+3b(0.15)+(0.10)c]=6772.5
x=6772.5/[(0.6)a+(0.45)b+(0.1)c]

then the bonuses are
x(0.2)a, x(0.15)b, and x(0.1)c
 
Top