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This question is about salaries.
Variable compensation is a form of payment from employers to employees that is based on employee performance. Normally, variable compensation is paid in addition to base compensation, like an annual salary or hourly wage.
Variable compensation is often used by employers to incentivize their employees into performing their jobs better or at a higher level of output. This might apply to sales quotas for instance. If a sales team is able to reach or exceed a sales goal they might receive variable compensation in the form of bonuses.
Variable compensation can come in several forms, including;
Bonuses
Commissions
Incentives
Stock options
Profit-sharing plans
Within some of these areas, there are also other subsets of variable compensation.
For bonuses:
Retention bonus
Project-based bonus
Referral bonus
Sign-on bonus
For incentives:
Management programs
Profit-sharing programs
Gainsharing programs
Sales incentive programs
Cash-based programs
Equity-based programs

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