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Shor supports four compensation structures. Pick the one that matches how you and the worker have agreed to structure the engagement.

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The Four Types

Salary

A fixed recurring amount. Typical for full-time employees.

Hourly

Paid per hour worked. Requires timesheet submission and approval. Used for Pay-As-You-Go contracts.

Milestone

Paid when specific deliverables are accepted.

Retainer

A fixed recurring amount for ongoing availability. Used for Fixed Rate contractor contracts.

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Picking the Right Type

  • Full-time employees
  • Predictable long-term contractors on a monthly fee
  • Situations where you want a steady, predictable cash flow
  • Consulting engagements with variable time commitment
  • Contractors where you want to pay only for time actually worked
  • Roles with a clear time-input-to-output relationship
  • Project-based work with defined deliverables
  • Engagements where you want to tie payment to outcomes
  • Longer projects broken into phases
  • Reserving a contractor’s capacity without guaranteed work
  • Fractional roles (fractional CFO, fractional designer)
  • Situations where availability is as valuable as output

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Salary Units

For salary-based compensation, you can enter the amount as:
  • Per hour: normalized to an annual equivalent
  • Per week: for weekly pay cycles
  • Per month: for monthly pay cycles (most common)
  • Per year: an annual figure, divided across pay cycles

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Payment Frequency

For recurring compensation (salary, retainer), you pick how often to pay:
  • Weekly: every seven days
  • Biweekly: every two weeks
  • Monthly: once a month
  • Daily (Fixed Rate contractor retainers only): a payment every calendar day, including weekends
Monthly is the most common for global teams; weekly and biweekly are common for US hourly workers.

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First Payment Handling

For workers who start mid-period, you can choose:
  • Pro-rated: automatically pay only for the days worked in the starting period
  • Custom (Fixed Rate contractor contracts only): enter your own first-payment amount, useful for a sign-on bonus or back pay, capped at 12 times the recurring cycle amount
Most companies use pro-rated for fairness and accurate accounting. Daily retainers pay the same rate every calendar day, so there’s no first-cycle proration to configure.

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Changing Compensation

To change a contractor’s rate or structure, open their profile and amend the contract. Both parties sign the amendment and the new compensation takes effect on the date you specify. For employees, update compensation from their job information instead.

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Next Steps

Running Payroll

Schedule recurring pay runs for your team.

Milestones

Set up milestone tracking and payments.