For context, in 2022 we switched to commission pay for our cleaning technicians. We could not retain employees for a longer than 90 days based on the high expectations and pay that didn’t match them.
Today our average Employee is with us 3 years. Not only do we owe this increased retention rate to commission pay, but we put a huge emphasis on team culture and offering benefits to our employees.
I don’t know, for me it was stepping down from a high-stress warehouse management position into a part-time role so I could be home more and better support my family.
That decision scared the hell out of me because I had been there 10 years, had a family to take care of, and didn’t really have a clean backup plan. I had been making metal art on the side, and that was always the light at the end of the tunnel from the career I built under poor leadership.
The stress from that place had already put me in the hospital once. I had migraines for months until it turned into an ER visit because the clinic thought I might have an aneurysm or a broken neck. After testing, they diagnosed it as a brain leak. The crazy part is once I was pulled from that environment and sat in the hospital for a week, the migraines stopped.
I went back to work and things were good for a while. Then I lost my father, my house burned, and life pretty much hit all at once. After 10 years there, the differences in how people were treated became pretty hard to ignore. Some people got grace. Some people got understanding. Some people got reminded they were just a number.
So I stepped down so I could better support my family when they needed me most.
A month later, they fired me anyway.
At the time, it felt like everything was falling apart. Looking back, it changed everything. It pushed me back to school to learn welding the right way, helped me rebuild my direction, and eventually led me into what I’m doing now with Metal Relic.
The weird part is, most of us who worked in that kind of environment are almost grateful for the experience now. Not because it was good, but because it gave us bad contrast. Once you’ve been around the wrong kind of culture long enough, you recognize the good ones a lot faster.
You recognize real leadership.
You recognize respect.
You recognize when people actually care.
For me, the lesson was pretty simple. No paycheck, title, or position is worth losing your health, your family, or yourself over.
That's a huge improvement! Going from 90-day retention to an average of 3 years shows that investing in your team really pays off. What was the biggest challenge when making the switch to commission, and would you do anything differently if you had to start over?"
I actually logged into the community today to ask this question: for those who have set up a commission-based structure for sales positions, how do you structure it? If your sales people book a job, do they get paid a percentage or a flat rate per job? I'm considering this for my admin who's been taking on sales calls and want to know what's worked well for other people.
Rose, I'm curious if you'd share how you structure your commission?
And to answer your question, I was terrified to hire an admin person, but she's definitely changed my life for the better. I thought no one could replace me in the sales department, but she recently booked a $6k job and proved me otherwise :)
The biggest decision was believing we could build our own business even when we weren’t sure it would work. It was terrifying, but taking that first step changed everything. Every challenge has made us stronger, and every happy customer reminds us why we started.
I love that perspective. Taking that first leap is often the hardest part, but it's also what opens the door to new opportunities. Every challenge becomes a lesson, and every happy customer is proof that your hard work is making a difference. Wishing you continued success as your business grows!
