People and teams reference

Who this is for: admins who already have a team set up and need the exact rules. New to Earnest? Read Add your team first.

Roles

Every person has one role at a time. The role is part of their position, so it can change on a date like any other position field.

Managers and reps can't open any admin page.

Positions

A position is one dated entry in a person's pay timeline. It holds:

The person's Quota Currency and Payout Currency are chosen when you add them (see Multi-currency).

The commission rate is derived, not typed into the plan. For a revenue plan it is variable pay ÷ annual quota. With OTE $160,000, base $80,000 and quota $1,200,000, variable pay is $80,000 and the rate is 6.67%. Edit Position shows this as Pay Rate, for example "6.67% commission rate". On a unit plan it shows a price per unit instead.

Which quota is used, in order: the person's own quota if set, then the title's default. On a team with a plan mix, Edit Position shows Plan targets, one per plan; a blank target uses the team's default for that plan, then the title quota.

Position history

Row menu (⋯) → View History opens Position History: every entry with its status (Active, Future or Ended), dates and pay details, each with Edit and Delete. Deleting ("Delete position entry?") scores the dates it covered against whichever entry spans them, or none. Published payouts keep their numbers. It can't be undone.

Edit Position

Row menu (⋯) → Edit Position opens Edit Position — name, with Role, Team, Manager, Comp Mode, OTE or Rate (%), Base Salary, Title and Quota.

• Comp Mode → Commission Rate lets you enter a rate instead of OTE. Earnest sets OTE to base salary plus rate × quota, so it needs both a base salary and a quota. It isn't available on a plan-mix team, where there is no single quota ("Enter OTE directly instead").
• Changing Team clears a custom quota when the new team measures something different (dollars vs units), and says so under the field.

As soon as you change a field, Effective from appears. The save button tells you which of three things will happen:

Defaults and limits for Effective from:

• It defaults to the 1st of next month, or to the position's own start if that is still in the future.
• The earliest date allowed is today or the position's start, whichever is earlier.
• Once the person has a published payout, the dialog says "This person has published payouts. A change can start on [date] or later — earlier paid periods are never altered." To fix a period that was already paid, post a correction from Payouts instead (see Corrections and clawbacks).

A change dated after today is listed under Organization → Scheduled Changes as a Position change, where it can be cancelled before it starts (see Scheduled changes and history). Any draft payout the change affects, for this person and for the managers above them, is marked Out of date on the Payouts page and must be regenerated before it can be published.

Bulk changes. Tick several people on the People page, choose a Role and/or Team and an Effective from date, then click Apply to Selected and confirm "Apply bulk changes?". Each person gets a result line: "Updated" or the reason it was refused.

A person with no position (for example after a reactivation) gets a Starts date instead, defaulting to today. Their first position starts then.

Mid-period moves

A pay period is a month, or a quarter on a quarterly plan. When a change starts partway through a period, Edit Position previews what will happen before you save.

Same plan, new numbers (a raise, a new quota, or a new team on the same plan): the period is blended by days. The preview reads like "October's OTE, quota and rate will be blended by days: …".

A different plan: the period is split by close date. The preview reads like "October will be split: Oct 1 – Oct 14 on AE Standard, Oct 15 – Oct 31 on AM Capped. Each deal is paid under the plan in effect on the day it closes." Each part is measured against that plan's quota for its days.

Worked example, with even seasonality: a rep moves on October 15.

A deal that closed on October 10 is paid under AE Standard against $45,161. One that closed on October 20 is paid under AM Capped against $41,129. A new hire who starts mid-month is prorated the same way: starting October 15, they are measured against 17/31 of the month's quota.

Periods that can't be split. A plan change must start on a period start when:

The preview then says "October can't be split between these plans: [reason]. Make this change effective [date] (the next period start) instead."

Titles and quotas

Titles belong to a team and are edited in Organization → Teams (the create wizard's Titles step, or Edit team). Each has a Title Name, an Annual Quota and a Quota Source:

• Own Quota: a fixed annual target for the role. People with this title use it unless their position has its own quota.
• Sum of Reports (shown as "(Σ Reports)" in pickers): the quota is always the holder's direct reports' quotas added up, and 0 while no one reports to them. A quota typed on the position is not used.

Changing a title's quota, the team's seasonality or the team's plan applies in place until it would affect a period that has a published payout. From then on it is scheduled forward from a date you choose, and closed periods never change. A title that positions still reference can't be deleted; reassign those people first.

Roll-up managers

A manager with a Sum of Reports title is measured against their team's combined quota.

• The manager's quota is day-weighted. For each direct report, take that report's full annual quota × the days they reported to this manager; add these up and divide by the manager's own days in the role. A report who is themselves a roll-up manager contributes their own rolled-up quota. A report's ramp lowers what they contribute.
• The manager's rate is their variable pay ÷ that team quota. Edit Position shows it as "[variable]/yr variable over the team's quota (the sum of direct reports' quotas) — the rate moves as people join or leave."
• A rep's move prorates the rep's quota, never the manager's variable pay. When a rep moves between managers mid-period, each manager counts that rep's quota only for the days the rep was theirs. A manager who reaches 100% of their team quota earns their full variable pay for the days they held the role.
• Small teams mean high rates. The plan's cap is the only limit.

Worked example: Dana's variable pay is $60,000 a year. Ana ($1,200,000 quota) reports to her all of October. Ben ($1,200,000) joins her team on October 16, so he counts for 16 of 31 days.

If Ana and Ben close $151,613 between them in October, Dana is at 100% and earns her full monthly variable of $5,000.

Deal credit. A Manager, or anyone holding a Sum of Reports title, is credited with deals closed by everyone in their reporting tree, on the days they managed them.

Manager hierarchy

• Set each person's Manager on their position. Like every position field, it is effective-dated.
• The Manager list offers people who currently hold the Manager role, plus admins who already manage someone.
• Earnest refuses "A user cannot manage themselves." and "Cannot set this manager - it would create a circular reporting chain."
• If a Sales Rep has people reporting to them, the People page shows a warning: their reports' deals count toward the manager above them, who has no quota for those reports. Make the rep a Manager, give them a Sum of Reports title, or move the reports.
• A role or title change that would leave someone unable to manage the people reporting to them is refused until those reports have another manager from that date; the message names them.
• The organization must always keep an admin. Removing the last one is refused with "This is the organization's only admin from [date]…".

Teams

Create: Organization → Teams → Create Team opens a three-step wizard: Team (Team Name, Description, Comp Plan, Seasonality), Titles, Review. Seasonality weights default to 0.25 each, must each be at least 0.01 and must add up to 1.00.

Change the plan: click Edit team on the team's row. Under Comp Plan, choose Single plan or Plan mix. When you pick a different plan, choose Effective from: "The new plan takes effect from the month you pick here onward. Earlier periods keep their current plan." Removing a plan takes effect immediately, and a team whose members have been paid can't be left without one. A team with no plan shows Assign plan in the list. Plan mixes are covered in Comp plan reference.

Bulk upload: Bulk Upload on the Teams page takes name (required), description, planName (the plan must exist) and seasonQ1 to seasonQ4. It creates teams only; add titles afterwards.

Archive: the Archive team icon removes the team from the default list and marks it archived in pickers. Members keep being paid exactly as before. Show archived (n) brings it back into view, and Unarchive team reverses it.

Delete: the Delete team icon works only for a team no one has ever been on; otherwise it is refused with "Archive it instead". Deleting removes the team's titles, plan, mix and seasonality, and can't be undone.

Offboarding

There is no "delete user". When someone leaves, deactivate them. Earnest has no way to schedule a position end in advance, so deactivate them on or after their last day.

Deactivate

Row menu (⋯) → Deactivate. The confirmation depends on their history:

What deactivation does:

• Sign-in: blocked straight away. Send invite disappears from their row menu.
• Position: ends on the later of today and the end of the latest period that has a published payout (theirs, or a manager's above them). Positions that haven't started are removed.
• Pay: they are paid for the days up to the end date and nothing after. Published payouts are never changed. Affected drafts are marked Out of date.
• Seat: freed immediately.

You can't deactivate yourself ("You cannot deactivate your own account.").

Reactivate

Row menu → Reactivate. They can sign in again, but the position that ended does not come back. Use Edit Position to give them a new one if they should be paid again; it takes a seat from its start. If their position's end date is still ahead, the confirmation says so: reactivate them, then cancel that end under Organization → Scheduled Changes to keep them on. In that case they take a seat as soon as they are reactivated.

Export and erase personal data

• Export data (row menu) downloads a ZIP of the person's profile, positions, payouts, adjustments, disputes, activities, notifications and audit trail. Each admin can run 5 per hour. Use it for a subject access request.
• Erase personal data appears only for a deactivated person. It asks "Erase [name]'s personal data?" and, after Erase data, permanently replaces their name with "Redacted User", removes their email address and sign-in details, and deletes their notifications. Payout and activity records are kept, anonymized, so totals and history stay correct. It can't be undone, and you can't erase your own account.

Seats and user limits

At the seat limit, adding a Rep or Manager is refused with "Your current plan supports up to N reps and managers. Admins are free. This change would bring you to M. Please upgrade your subscription." (on the free plan: "…Please upgrade to a paid plan."). If people with future start dates are part of the count, the message says how many. Plans and prices are in Billing and plans.

FAQ

Can I invite someone with a personal email address? No. Invites must use your company's email domain. Contact support to add another domain.

How do I change a person's name or email? There is no in-app control for this. Contact Earnest support.

Does a bulk upload update people who are already there? No. Their rows report "User already exists". Use Edit Position or Apply to Selected.

Can a title have its own plan? Titles set quotas. Plans are assigned to teams, in Edit team.

A rep moved teams mid-month. Why is their statement split? Their new team is on a different plan, so each deal is paid under the plan in effect on the day it closed. On the same plan, the month is blended by days instead.

Why is a manager with a Sum of Reports title paid nothing? With no direct reports their quota is 0. Check that their reps' Manager field points to them.

I deactivated someone by mistake. Reactivate them, then give them a position again with Edit Position (or, if their end date is still ahead, cancel that end under Scheduled Changes).