I work in an industry where it's normal to be given incentives to bring in more business and make more profitable deals. It is very sales driven and negotiations happen on a daily basis. It makes sense to have pay tied to what you bring in and it would frankly be stupid not to do things that way.
I left a job where I was making commission on a percentage of net revenue for the same role at a different company but they did “monthly bonuses based on the success of the company”. I made the change for personal reasons. When interviewing for this new job I mentioned with my base + commission I made around $80k a year. The new job was a base of $60k + monthly bonuses. My new boss said that I could make more then $80k or I could make less and it was hard to predict. The industry did wild stuff in the aftermath of covid so that seemed understandable.
I started in June. My first bonus happened in August and it was $400. My boss gave it to me giving me like a pep talk to bring in more business. My usual commission at my old job was a couple hundred a week. If I had $100 commission for a whole month that would've been a really bad month. I brought in a big customer and my boss said he'd take the office to lunch. Months when by and I'd joke that he owed us lunch. One day he gave me the company credit card and had me pick everyone up sandwiches. Some people ordered soup too that was fun to carry.
We had a really high revenue month in April. The boss took the office (about 6 people) to a Chilis/ Red Robin tier restaurant to celebrate. I thought maybe we'd get another bonus?? Nope!
I started applying to other jobs. It's easy for me to get hired in this industry and it's easy to make more. I stuck around for as long as I did mainly because it was convenient for me to take care of my special needs son and all he has going on. They were a family friendly flexible employer at least.
My boss had a meeting where he announced he made a deal with another company and we were going to be effectively doubling our business volume. Way more work for probably the same pay. At this point I lost confidence that there was any incentive for me to perform above and beyond. I had a job interview that same day and got the job. I worked there for 10 months and got one $400 bonus the whole time.
Anyway just a cautionary tale – if you're in a sales environment make sure you're given concrete numbers for what you are going to be compensated. Not a vague “based on success” BS. I know this sounds stupid to read but everyone makes mistakes. I got lied to and effectively had a $20k pay cut. It sucks but I'm moving on!