This is the second company that I have worked for in my field that has changed their commission or bonus structure when I have made too much money. Is this common?
To put things in context, I work in a management position in the property restoration industry. My salary is very low and there are little to no benefits, the majority of my compensation comes from commission. I was hired in my current role with the promise of unlimited earning potential through commission, if I make the company more money then I get paid more money as a percentage of those profits.
I was hired with the expectation that I would be making really good money within two years depending on how well the company did under me. Well, it did. Within a year of my being hired we were taking on more jobs and making more money than ever before. For over a year and a half my commission steadily increased each quarter accordingly. The company owners are really shady though and I had a bad feeling about them actually paying me what I'm owed. Then, a year and a half in, it finally happened. We got paid out for an absolutely massive job at the end of our best quarter ever and when it came time to cut me my check, they paid me less than half of what I was owed. When I confronted them about it, they said that I was making more than they expected and that my job shouldn't be paying so much. Dude, I'm making a percentage of the profits. If I'm making that much then they're making waaaaayyyyy more. I'm also doing the work of what any other company would have 4-5 people doing and I've been on call 24/7 with no days off for two years straight.
The last company that I worked for pulled the same thing. I was a project manager with a low salary and no benefits but with commission on the profits of my jobs. So I busted my ass and made the company a ton of money growing sales and profits in my department by 175% in a year. When my commission checks reached a certain point they went back and rewrote the entire commission structure to make it so that what I took home was cut down by a third saying that, “The position was never meant to pay that much.” I was making a percentage of profits on my jobs. Isn't that what they want, someone to make the company a ton of money and get paid more in line with that? When I left they had to hire three people to replace me and are still struggling.
So now as I'm looking for another job where I can work hard at a company and potentially make a lot of money in commission/performance based bonuses I'm wondering, is it worth it? Is it just the standard thing to cap an employee's earnings even if those earnings are commission based? I tend to live my job and I don't want to put all of my time and effort into a company where there are going to be diminishing returns on my effort or where the reward for making them a lot of money is always going to be more and more work for less pay. Better to just take a job with an ok salary and no commission and not put in that much work.
tldr: Twice I made the company I worked for a lot of money which resulted in a big commission check that the company didn't want to pay. Do most companies that pay commission walk it back if you do too well with it?