Earlier this year, our compensation plan was changed so that 75% of our variable compensation was paid through Management by Objectives (MBOs) and 25% was tied to traditional quota-based commissions. Historically, MBO performance had been accelerated when employees exceeded target attainment, meaning that overachievement resulted in proportionally higher payouts.

During compensation discussions, I received communications from management that led me to believe accelerators would continue to apply. Based on those discussions, as well as prior payout practices, I expected MBOs to remain accelerator eligible.

More recently, I noticed that my compensation was being calculated without MBO accelerators. When I raised the issue, Compensation Operations explained that a decision had been made to discontinue MBO acceleration beginning in the second half of FY26 and continuing into FY27. Their position was that the compensation plan language supported that interpretation.

After reviewing the plan documents myself, I found that while the plan described how MBO payouts would be calculated, I could not find any language that explicitly stated MBO accelerators had been removed or that MBOs were no longer eligible for accelerated payouts. The plan still referenced performance accelerators in other sections, which made the change unclear from my perspective.

I raised that concern, not because I was challenging the company's right to make compensation changes, but because the documentation did not appear to clearly communicate a change that had a meaningful impact on earnings. Given the historical treatment of MBOs and the communications I had received from leadership, I felt the language left room for a different interpretation.

Following that discussion, senior leadership clarified that the removal of MBO accelerators was intentional and had been approved through the company's compensation governance process. They also acknowledged the feedback regarding the wording of the plan and indicated they would review the language to determine whether it could be made more explicit in future versions. As a result, the commissions payout is significantly less that what was expected.