How to use ProPays to raise the bar without hiring or firing

Think your team has “good workers” and “bad workers”?
Not always.

In most cases, your team just doesn’t know:

• What’s expected
• What great looks like
• How their performance affects their bonus

Enter ProPays: A Field-Proof Accountability Tool

A ProPay is a single opportunity to earn a bonus, tied to a specific job or shift. Think of it as a scoreboard for how each job went—and how it affects pay.

Every ProPay includes:

• The job or bonus opportunity
  
• The budget (usually Revenue Per Hour or fixed payout)
• The team members involved
• The final performance outcome
  

This gives crews real-time feedback on how they did without guessing or waiting for a paycheck.

Why This Raises the Bar Without Firing Anyone

1. It shows what “great” actually looks like
   • Workers see the numbers behind every job
   • No more wondering why someone else earned more
   
   
2. It builds natural peer pressure
   • When everyone’s results are visible, no one wants to drag the team down
   
   
3. It creates a coaching moment every day
   • Use low ProPay scores to start conversations
   • Ask: “What happened here? What would’ve helped?”
   
   

ProTips for Raising the Bar with ProPays

• Review top and bottom ProPays weekly in your team meeting
• Celebrate top performers publicly—use their jobs as training examples
• Ask underperformers to analyze their own jobs before coaching
• Use trends, not one-offs—if someone misses once, don’t overreact

What This Looks Like in Practice

Let’s say a landscaping crew has a ProPay with an RPH target of $300, but they hit $190. That’s below target and affects their bonus. The foreman pulls the team together:

“Let’s walk through this job. Why were we under budget? Were we over-staffed? Did something slow us down?”

The next job, they hit $320.
That’s coaching through accountability, not micromanagement.