Stylist commission: how to work it out, with real numbers

Stylist commission is a share of what a stylist’s services bring in, paid on top of (or instead of) a fixed salary. The fairest way to work it out is to pay a clear percentage on each service’s price before GST and after any discount, add a separate percentage for retail products if you want to reward selling, and write the rules down so everyone can check their own number. The rest of this guide shows each common method with worked numbers: a flat rate, the two kinds of slab, product commission, targets, a guaranteed minimum, and how combos are split.

What commission is paid on

Before you choose a percentage, agree on the amount the percentage is taken from. Three rules keep it honest for both sides:

• Before GST. The GST on a bill belongs to the government, not the salon. Paying commission on it means paying staff a share of tax you have to hand over.
• After discounts. If a client pays less, the salon earned less. A ₹1,000 service (before GST) with a 10% discount is ₹900 of real sales; at 30% the stylist earns ₹270, not ₹300.
• Tips are separate. A tip is the client’s gift to the person. It goes to them in full and never counts towards commission or targets. See tips and GST.

The one point staff sometimes push back on is discounts the stylist didn’t choose. If the owner runs a festival offer, the stylist’s commission drops with it. Many owners accept that, and keep big discounts rare. Say clearly which way you do it, before the offer starts.

A flat percentage

One percentage on all services is the simplest plan and the easiest to trust. Stylists can work out their own pay on a phone calculator. A senior stylist might get a higher rate than a junior one, but each person has one number.

Try it with your own figures. The calculator below adds a fixed salary, service commission, product commission and an advance taken back:

With the sample numbers, ₹80,000 of services at 10% is ₹8,000, and ₹6,000 of products at 5% is ₹300. There is also a full-page version at the commission calculator.

Slabs: two ways to pay them

Slabs pay a higher percentage as a stylist’s sales grow. The catch is that there are two ways to apply them, and they give different pay for the same month. Take a plan of 30% up to ₹50,000 of services, 35% above it:

• Whole amount at the slab reached. Once sales pass ₹50,000, the whole month is paid at 35%.
• Each part at its own rate. The first ₹50,000 is paid at 30% and only the part above it at 35%, the way income tax slabs work.

Look at the jump from ₹50,000 to ₹51,000. Under “whole amount”, ₹1,000 more in sales pays ₹2,850 more. That is a strong push to cross the line, which is the point, but it also tempts people to move a bill from one month to the next or argue over who did a service near month end. “Each part at its own rate” has no cliff: every extra rupee earns the higher rate and nothing more. If you pick “whole amount”, check bills around the slab line each month.

Product commission

Retail is where many salons leave money on the shelf. A small percentage on products sold, say 5–10% of the price before GST, gives stylists a reason to recommend the shampoo they just used. Keep it separate from service commission so it’s easy to see.

Pay it only on retail sales, not on back-bar products used during a service. Those are a cost of the service, not a sale. If you charge for an add-on like a mask, it is a service line and earns service commission. For tracking what services use, see stock control for salons.

Targets, incentives and a guaranteed minimum

A monthly target rewards a good month without changing the base rate. Two common shapes:

• A bonus amount: reach ₹70,000 of services and get ₹2,000.
• An extra percentage: reach ₹70,000 and get 2% more on all service sales. At ₹75,000 that is ₹1,500 extra.

Set targets a stylist can reach in an ordinary good month. A target nobody hits feels like a trick, and people stop trying.

A guaranteed minimum protects commission-only staff in a slow month. If the minimum is ₹12,000 and commission comes to ₹9,500, the salon tops it up by ₹2,500. It is kind and it keeps good people through the monsoon months. Agree that the minimum is for days actually worked, so a month with unpaid leave has a lower minimum.

Combos, packages and refunds

Combos are one price for several services, often done by different people. Split the combo price by each service’s normal price. If a Haircut is normally ₹500 and a Beard trim ₹200, a ₹600 combo splits as ₹428.57 for the haircut and ₹171.43 for the beard trim. At 30%, the two stylists earn ₹128.57 and ₹51.43.

Package sessions are paid for in advance, so the bill on the day may be ₹0. The stylist still did the work. How to pay for it is a choice with real trade-offs, covered in commission on packages and memberships.

Refunds and cancelled bills take the commission back with them. If a service is refunded after payday, take it off the next month’s pay and show the line, so nobody is surprised.

Write the plan down

Most commission fights are not about the rate. They are about a rule nobody wrote down. Put these on one page, give each stylist a copy, and change them only from the start of a month:

1. The rate (or slabs, and which way they work).
2. That commission is on prices before GST and after discounts.
3. Product commission, if any, and on what.
4. Targets and the bonus, and any guaranteed minimum.
5. How combos and package sessions count.
6. When pay is worked out and paid.

How Frizzi works it out

In Frizzi every service on a bill carries the stylist who did it, so commission comes straight from the bills. On every plan, each person has one percentage (or the salon default), always on services after discounts and without GST. Combos are split by normal prices, and package sessions count at the service’s normal price at that branch. Owners see everyone in Staff earnings; stylists see only their own month on their Home screen. Commission rates are visible to the owner alone.

On Pro, payroll adds slabs (either way), product commission, a guaranteed minimum and a monthly target that pays a bonus or an extra percentage. The month’s payslip shows each line. See pricing for what each plan includes, or try the demo.

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