Sounds similar to a payment plan based on fixed-income/fixed-payments I came up with some time ago as a thought experiment.
Basically, it's a high-score system that pays accordingly to your total score, relative to the sum of the scores collected. In a sense, a Gestalt's High Score payment plan.
For example, there's a total pay of let's say 10k 50k (Corrected to be more consistent with later data), we have a handful of mooks working the job, and they all do their part of the work. We have a few dedicated workers, and a couple lazy half-asses on the job. Naturally, at the end of the job, giving goals based on simple markups like Primary, Secondary, and Bonus (extra mile) tasks that give points accordingly. Depending on who completed what task, and however much help they got, the points then are distributed, along with scoring based on additional tackling of tasks.
Overall, after a job is given, and the tasks listed, and the bonus ones omitted as a means of motivating others to sniff out what else could be done to better-complete a job (than just outright mentioning it, and it gets avoided because not everyone's a work horse, but rarely an "achievement hunter" type would tackle the challenge because it's a rewarding challenge, if at least for bragging rights); all scores are collected and tallied together, based on the reports of all those involved (minimizing bias and BS-scoring; only the admin/foreman is allowed to assign points, and only based on reports and witness accounts).
Now that assessment is taken care of, a simple calculation is in order. We have the grand total score (sum of all hired hands), individual scores of each worker, and the total pay for said job. Payment goes simply as:
( (Score of individual) / (Total sum of all individuals' scores, including the leader/foreman/employer) ) * (Grand total payment for job in question) = (The total payment for said individual).
(Si / St) * Pt = Pd (Payment/dividend to individual)
Solve for Si (Si = St*(Pd/Pt)), if you think someone is suspiciously over-paid for an unusually low score. Just as well, ensure the sum of Si (i=1...2...3...) = St to make sure nobody's pulling any fast ones with their times/scores/risk assessments if you already collated all the data previously, as to also not screw over the others involved. Basically, if anyone's pulling anything, it affects the entire workgroup, and everyone notices. In essence, this payment plan discourages cheating majorly, because with the Gestalt system, the whole is affected by the sum of it's parts, and any form of cheating the system, even as CEO or top-ranking official, is a quick way to make everybody hate the one responsible for said cheat.
After everything is gathered, warn everyone in the workgroup that the scores and calculations are now final, and no further adjustments can be made; you keep what you earned; and post the scoreboard and relative payment for all to see, and pay accordingly. Anyone complains, then the questions you can ask, and be asked about, should be easier to reference as to reasoning for such a crappy pay for some people who were actually lazy on the job, relative to the ones who actually worked their asses off. In a sense, honesty really pays off here for all parties involved. Naturally, keep the scoreboard and payments classified until the assessment is final, as to avoid bias and bulshitting and manipulation of the scores.
In practice:
4500 pts. / 12500 pts. (0.36), let's say, on a contract that pays $50,000 means the person in question will get a payment of $18,000 for their effort dedicated to the job at hand. That's a pretty decent cut of the payment, depending on how many workers were at the scene, and relatively speaking, this guy worked their ass off to rightfully earn that cut.
And that's for a hard worker. As for the lazy-ass:
1500 / 12500 = 0.12 (Gained points, relative to total earned, and pay-ratio given)
50,000 * 0.12 = 6,000 (Apply pay-ratio to total fixed-payment of the job for payment to worker in question)
Lastly, support workers who are there for mostly single-task jobs (like spotting for heavy-lifting):
350 average / 12500 = 0.028
50,000 * 0.028 = 1,400
Not much, but they did put their necks on the line for hauling some pretty heavy crap around, or something. So the risk is worth the reward, and seems pretty fair pay for a 1-shot worker for a day or so. Naturally, pay could be far less the fewer/less risky the tasks are at hand, like a 50pt. job, paying a measly 200 bucks (provided the score remain constant this whole time; and this person only did the ONE job that paid 50 pts., and only that one job). If they complain about being paid so crappily, they DID do just one 50pt. job, and no others to beef that score up a bit more, earning possibly another 600+ for their trouble.
Still decent pay, depending on the job, but not as lucrative as the guy who worked harder (probably taking in more risks, and working harder/longer hours), having earned their fair 3x value as this guy who mostly went with the flow, and didn't put really as much effort in as everyone else. However, half-assed as he was, depending on the number of workers working, he still probably put in far more work than his lessers (the 1-shot workers/spotters).
In a sense, this can also remove the "CEO gets paid to do nothing" BS that often becomes an end-result of payment disparities. You earn your keep, is essentially what this system enforces, allowing for a means of communal effort with a capital gain, and a scoring system that assesses, and motivates work to be done, and if done correctly, should also remove or at least minimize complaints. Mind you, complaints and mistakes are still accounted for, and can also affect the scores negatively, meaning if you want to minimize damage to your score, do your job right, and be mindful of your companions/work/teammates.
EDIT:
This can be adapted for hourly payments too, just make sure to take into account the amount of time devoted as part of your scoring. Efficiency gains more points (more work done in less time), than running out a clock to gain a little more (more time spent for the same menial amount of work done), like most hourly jobs tend to suffer at times.
Building a calculator for this system is far simpler than it sounds, it's just a few cell assignments in Excel, a few sums and divisions, and boom, you got your scoreboard payment plan setup. Just make sure the data's consistent, and your workers aren't the type that lie on a regular basis. Hopefully, the competition (though it's not centrally important) would also motivate others to do better, especially if they under-performed. Instead of firing your workers, let their payment do the speaking for them. If they don't like their payment, then maybe they should've worked harder, or not try to throw a co-worker under the bus to save their own ass. A costly mistake that can yield in negative scoring, which means they have to pay into the payment sum (which in turn is given to everyone else but the offending party that scored in the negatives), relative to the negative score they got.
The greater the offense, the more Free Parking gains for their dickery (try to keep your negative score as close to 0 as possible, because by relative measurement, you can royally screw yourself over to the point you're practically being sued here for a reasonable price for the given offense/s). However, if the offending party was provoked, then the provoker and provokee both get punished with costly point loss (still gotta pay for the crime, and the one responsible for triggering it loses points for putting someone close to the edge, and then pushing them off intentionally; not cool, so pay up, or own up to your behavior, lest we own your earnings in return). Like stated: this system greatly discourages dick moves in general, and any form of inter-office politics. Attempt to screw anyone, and you end up screwed, yourself. That applies to the bookkeeper and anyone else involved in the scoring as well as owning said company (again, prevents CEO over-pay dickery that usually ends up being complained about; meaning even the "no-work guy" has to live up to his title as "Owning and Running the Company as your CEO/manager").
EDIT EDIT:
Don't forget to check your work before paying everyone off, and dividing the plunder. Make sure the ratio is always 1 as a total sum, and all the scores and cash payments also equal their total sums. Anything's amiss, somebody's up to something. Kinda why I recommend using a spreadsheet to work out the payments. Flexible/adaptable, user-friendly, and retains precision, provided you did the math right in the first place, and cobbled the worksheet to allow for virtually unlimited # of workers being paid, while still allowing for it to calculate without as much as a hiccup (a few Excel tricks can work around that). A few checksums here and there won't hurt either.
All-in-all, as complicated as my system sounds, it's actually simpler than you think. I usually see it as "There's always a simple solution to an otherwise complex problem.". But isn't that what math really is overall? Simple/ified solutions to complex problems?
Speaking of which, for the person working the scorecard, I suggest a neutral 3rd party to take care of it that is indifferent to any and all stories given to them, and can also accept what they're given (scoring by efficiency is generally a good scoring method to give them, seeing as it's bureaucratic work they're doing here). Process the data, and remain neutral, and scoring should be mostly fair a majority of the time.
EDIT EDIT EDIT:
Hell, I'll just toss in explaining this system in this post I worked out as an accomplishment. Did the math, and solved for all the variables, and it's a seamless equation. Feel free to apply this to any games or whatever you want to use this in.
Ironically, I hated word problems, and some levels of math using equations, but making equations is actually pretty fun. With a better understanding of it nowadays, I might want to take on Trigonometry maybe one last time. Finally defeat that inner-demon of mine at the educational/academic level, once and for all.
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Topic: Things You Accomplished Today (Read 17998 times)