Startups and SMEs often find it challenging to build competitive compensation packages without putting too much pressure on their operating budgets. Stable base pay definitely keeps teams grounded and focused, but well-designed bonuses can reinforce accountability and encourage employees to take ownership of their work. When your business is still growing, getting this balance right matters immensely for retaining talent and building a supportive work environment.
For many founders, the hardest part is recognizing how compensation decisions intersect with cash flow realities. Payroll timing, revenue fluctuations, and sometimes the absence of a dedicated HR or finance team often lead to ad-hoc salary adjustments or unclear bonus structures. Without a consistent framework, it becomes harder to keep compensation fair and sustainable, especially as the business shifts priorities or adds new team members.
If you recognize these difficulties as ones your business currently struggles with, then don’t worry. The right business banking setup can make a meaningful difference. As a trusted digital bank and provider of financial solutions for businesses, Maya helps entrepreneurs in the Philippines strengthen their financial systems so that compensation planning becomes easier to manage. With our online business banking account, Maya Business Deposit, you get built-in support for employee disbursement, allowing you to send out salaries, benefits, bonuses, and incentives directly to employees’ bank accounts. This and other features help founders make payouts more cost-efficient and easier to organize.
Here are practical tips to help you balance base pay and bonuses more confidently as your startup grows.
Understand the Role of Base Pay in Workforce Stability
A strong compensation system starts with a stable base salary that helps employees feel secure. Even if a startup can’t match corporate rates, offering reasonable, reliable base pay helps team members focus on their work instead of worrying about financial gaps. Stability becomes even more important during early growth, when roles shift quickly and workloads can increase with little warning. When employees know their core compensation is dependable, bonuses start to function as true performance rewards rather than a substitute for insufficient pay.
Define Clear, Measurable Bonus Criteria
Bonus structures work best when expectations are specific and easy to understand. Employees need to know exactly what they’re working toward and how you’ll be measuring their performance. Ambiguous criteria such as “initiative” or “overall contribution” can cause confusion and frustration because they lack clear boundaries. Instead, focus on measurable indicators tied to each role, such as project timelines, revenue goals, customer satisfaction metrics, or operational accuracy.
Match Bonus Structures to Each Role’s Influence
Different roles contribute to business outcomes in different ways, and your bonus system should reflect that. Sales teams, for instance, can be rewarded based on closed deals or conversion rates, while product and engineering teams may be better evaluated using delivery milestones or quality benchmarks. Support teams might focus on response times and resolution rates, as well as customer feedback scores. Aligning bonus criteria with what each role can directly influence keeps the system fair and prevents employees from feeling responsible for outcomes outside of their control. It also helps reinforce the specific behaviors and contributions you want to promote across the organization.
Balance Cash Flow Timing with Long-Term Incentive Planning
You’ll likely find it much easier to plan bonus cycles if you can match payout schedules with your actual cash flow patterns. Some startups find that quarterly bonuses help maintain motivation without creating sudden financial strain, while others prefer semiannual or annual cycles to give themselves more time to build adequate reserves. If cash availability fluctuates, consider using non-cash incentives such as learning allowances and milestone rewards. The key is choosing a rhythm your business can sustain so employees can rely on consistent timelines and clear expectations.
Leverage Cash Management Tools When Preparing for Bonus Cycles
Smooth bonus planning depends not only on the structure of the incentives but also on how well you manage the funds behind them. Using tools like Maya Business Deposit can simplify this process by giving you practical ways to organize and deploy bonus pools. You can keep reserves in an account with no minimum balance and earn 2.5% p.a. interest on balances up to PHP 750 million while waiting for payout season. You’ll find it easier than ever to execute salary or bonus disbursements using free PESONet and InstaPay transfers. These features create a smoother, more predictable process for handling compensation cycles, especially as your team grows.
Stay on Top of Employee Compensation with Top Solutions from Maya Business
Employees who feel valued will be much more motivated to do their best work for you. Sign up for Maya Business today for access to Maya Business Deposit, a trusted platform for business banking online, in addition to a wealth of online and in-store payment solutions that you can use to optimize your operations.
Setting up a Maya Business account will allow you to open a Maya Business Deposit account and use it as your settlement account. With an industry-leading 2.5% per annum interest rate, you’ll earn PHP 25,000 in interest per year on a PHP 1 million deposit. Furthermore, you’ll get to save more since you can send money to your partners and suppliers for free via InstaPay and PESONet.
With a Maya Business account, you’ll also qualify for a no-collateral Maya Flexi Loan offer of up to PHP 2 million in just 3 months; that’s another valuable source of capital for developing your business further. Just use Maya as your primary processor for all wallet and card payments. The more you use our solutions, the better the loan offer will be.
Open a Maya Business account today and let us help your venture achieve its full potential.
