Most clinics, spas and salons pay practitioners at least partly by commission: a share of the service revenue they bring in, often with a separate rate for retail and with tips passed straight through. The structure decides both what your staff take home and what your clinic keeps, so it's worth running the numbers before you offer one.
Enter one pay period's revenue for one practitioner and choose how you pay: a flat percentage, a sliding scale that pays more above a threshold, or an hourly wage plus a smaller commission. If you deduct product cost before commission, as many injectable clinics do, enter that too.
Zdrovia: https://www.zdrovia.ca/resources/commission-calculator/
Commission Calculator
Staff Commission for One Pay Period
Works out what a practitioner earns from services, retail and tips, and what the clinic keeps. Use the totals from one pay period, before tax.
One percentage of service revenue.
Treatments this person delivered
E.g. toxin or filler used. 0 if you don't deduct
Products this person sold
Passed through in full
For the per-hour check
Same revenue at other flat rates
| Rate | Service commission | Clinic keeps (services) |
|---|---|---|
| 30% | $3,600.00 | $8,400.00 |
| 35% | $4,200.00 | $7,800.00 |
| 40% | $4,800.00 | $7,200.00 |
| 45% | $5,400.00 | $6,600.00 |
| 50% | $6,000.00 | $6,000.00 |
This pay period
Practitioner earns
$5,550.00
$4,950.00 before tips
Clinic keeps
$8,550.00
From services and retail
Breakdown
| Service commissionOn $12,000.00 | $4,800.00 |
| Retail commission (10%) | $150.00 |
| Tips | $600.00 |
| Total | $5,550.00 |
Zdrovia creates a commission entry from every sale using your rules by service, category or role, then tracks it from pending to approved to paid, alongside tips. Included on Small Practice and Team Practice. See how commissions work →
Stop working out commission in a spreadsheet
Zdrovia creates a commission entry from every sale using your rules by service, category or role, then tracks it from pending to approved to paid, alongside tips. Included on Small Practice and Team Practice.
The three common commission structures
A flat rate pays the same percentage of every dollar of service revenue. It's the easiest to explain and to check. In spas, salons and massage clinics, rates between 30% and 50% of service revenue are common, depending on who supplies the room, the equipment and the clients.
A sliding scale pays one rate up to a revenue threshold and a higher rate on the revenue above it. It rewards busy practitioners without overpaying for a slow month. The higher rate usually applies only to the revenue above the threshold, which is how this calculator works; some clinics instead apply it to everything once the threshold is reached, which costs noticeably more.
Wage plus commission pays an hourly wage and a smaller commission on top, often 5% to 15%. It gives new staff a stable income while their book fills and makes minimum-wage compliance simple, at the cost of paying for quiet hours.
Deducting product cost before commission
In injectable and medical aesthetics clinics, product can be a large share of the price. A syringe of filler or a vial of toxin is a real cost the clinic carries, so many clinics pay commission on revenue after product cost rather than on the full ticket. Whatever you choose, write it into the agreement: the difference between commission on gross and on net is often thousands of dollars a year per injector.
Employees, contractors and minimum wage
If a practitioner is your employee, commission counts as wages, and provincial employment standards still require at least minimum wage for every hour worked. A slow pay period on straight commission can fall below it, so the calculator shows pay per hour as a check.
Many clinics engage practitioners as independent contractors on a fee split instead. Whether someone is really a contractor depends on the working relationship, not on what the agreement calls them, and the CRA and provincial bodies look at control, tools, and chance of profit or risk of loss. Get advice before you set up either arrangement.
Retail commission and tips
Retail is usually commissioned separately and at a lower rate, typically around 10%, because the margin on products is smaller than on services. Tips belong to the staff member: pass them through in full and keep a record of how they were distributed.