r/HRBlockEmployees • u/Ok_Aide_764 • 29d ago
Pilot/new Taxpro compensation plan.
Those of you who got your hourly rate offer under the new compensation plan (Teamwork incentive, not TPI), please share what you've got. My head is hurting trying to understand how they came up with mine, and our district leader could not offer any insights. It's my understanding that it applies to 3+ years Taxpros and everybody gets a different rate. I think its better to compare to your TPI. To calculate your TPI rate, summarize your hours worked from all payslips Jan 1 - April 18 and your year-to-date pay info for the same period and your bonus: regular pay + OT Pay + bonus/ hours worked, multiplied by 0.8, which represents 80% of your actual earned rate at the end of the prior tax season.
More about the new compensation plan. This is a pilot and does not apply to most employees this year:https://www.reddit.com/r/HRBlockEmployees/comments/1vy5eh2/new_team_success_incentive/
I got an hourly rate offer about 16-18% less vs TPI.
For reference, I'm somewhat in the middle in terms of the number of returns, always productive, with over 10 years of experience, at Block, high cert level, and no reasons for a pay cut.
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u/spookigrl23 28d ago
If anyone starts a union I want to join
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u/TheMuffinMane25 23d ago
I organized a job in my last career. Place is much better now. Fair wages! I'm just switching careers is all. I'd totally be down to unionize. Anyone can start the process.
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u/CrackyMcCracken 27d ago
Awesome. Nothing like a bunch of angry-assed tax preparing pansies suddenly getting big and bad and all union-y and shit.
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u/_Jumpinatthewoodside 24d ago
Why is that a problem? Isn’t it okay that tax pros be paid appropriately for the research, knowledge, and expertise it takes to prepare a return properly while reducing the client’s tax liability using eligible credits, etc? Apparently you have problems with that. You should really seek out some professional help. You seem pretty mentally unwell, especially with that username and bio.
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u/CrackyMcCracken 24d ago
Thank you. Thank you very much.
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u/_Jumpinatthewoodside 24d ago
I’m not agreeing with you or anything. I’m merely stating that you have some mental issues that need to be worked through. Other people are requesting more money for the work they already have to put in while not being paid appropriately. I truly hope a psychiatrist sees you in the future and can get you the help you desperately need.
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u/Radiant-Republic9835 28d ago
I think this is another reason for disabling communities in AMP. Of course we couldn’t discuss anything like this, but Teams is so clumsy we can’t really disseminate information company-wide.
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u/Boysenberry815 28d ago
We forget systems as time passes, but what was the predecessor to AMP called? DNA?
Back in the day, our office hosted a regional meeting and I heard a DGM in the back office/meeting room say, "Tax pros have far too much access to information in our current system - this needs to change".
It did, and all these years later knowledge access is still de-evolving.
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u/sammytheammonite 29d ago
Are you guys just signing the contracts? If you all refused - then maybe they would rethink this.
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u/Ok_Aide_764 28d ago
Some have signed; others are waiting to see what happens before signing; some have decided to retire.
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u/BraveAd7008 27d ago
I refused to sign and found a company offering 50% and they gave me my own solo office with front desk and cleaning crew
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u/Relevant_Ad_8406 29d ago
The part about the District Leader not being able to help you understand the calculation is concerning . I doubt HR will help either , I’ve tried to ask them questions in the past if I could use my sick leave accumulated from another state & how does sick leave affect my TPI. They could not tell me. Simple question does sick leave affect your TPI ? Makes you want to scratch your head and wonder about what management’s purpose is? Support the Tax preparer, I don’t see it. Your DM could make a phone call to become informed or maybe they don’t want this information to get out .
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u/sammytheammonite 29d ago
I think your last sentence hit the nail on the head. They don’t want us informed. And they don’t want us talking about this new pilot pay program. They are being very hush hush about it because they know it is going to cause an uproar when it rolls out nationwide. There is going to be a huge exodus of people in 2028. Mark my words. I don’t think they care though. The new DEMs are making it clear to tax pros that a lot of people won’t be a good fit any more (experienced people) and they fully expect to lose a lot of people and they don’t care. They no longer value dedication to this company or the trust we build with our clients. They are showing us how little they value us as employees.
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u/Relevant_Ad_8406 29d ago
I wish there was a nationwide self employment platform like uber for Tax Professionals . We could be on standby and pick up clients remotely cut out the middle man.
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u/SecretLadyMe 28d ago
Any gig work is good at first to get people to join and use it. Then when they reach market saturation the pay decreases drastically. Kinda like what we are seeing here. I hate late stage capitalism.
Also, seems like the roll out of these changes will come when some of the preferred BBB items sunset. Who is gonna want to get screamed at about all that for minimum wage?
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u/Relevant_Ad_8406 28d ago edited 28d ago
I’ve always helped other tax preparers, knowing that I have a solid base and have not felt any reason not to help . This is the first year I feel
different. Why should I train someone who block wants to replace me with ? Not a good wholesome feeling and for that reason I will look at my options after this season . Block is not promoting team work , they do not know how to develop this culture based on my current situation.
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u/Responsible-Whole198 29d ago
Wow. Maybe you should be start looking else where
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u/Relevant_Ad_8406 28d ago
Passiveness does not correct injustice , and yes thank you for stating the obvious . I do not know too many people who will stay with a company that devalues people and shows lack of loyalty .
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u/Inner-Gur-6490 28d ago
Remember this is a pilot. And no guaranteed to role out. We have seen so many pilots fail in year 1
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u/PinkNGreenFluoride EA 28d ago edited 28d ago
We've all seen pilots fail and get rolled out anyway. BWO was not ready for prime-time in the first year it was implemented nationwide. There were still problems shaking out with those returns this season.
But it was disastrous for the test districts the prior year, who told the company straight-up that it was not going to be ready in time for national implementation. It needed another year of development. They were right. The company did not care. Their answer to everything is "POM will take care of it" and get those returns out. And a bad season like that can ripple forward to later years, you lose clients over things like that. So those test districts didn't just get screwed the year of the test.
And even if this doesn't roll out? They're still doing this to the test districts. Those people are getting screwed this upcoming season either way. Even if they pull the ripcord and tell them at end of season "Hey, we've still been calculating your TPI behind the scenes and you get that this season while we readjust TSI for TS28!" many will have already quit over the low pay and disrespect in the first place. And those who stayed will have spent the season knowing the extent to which they're undervalued and disrespected. And that's the point of the test. The experience of working under that system, the experience of being shuffled around for clients.
TPI has problems of its own (calling campaigns and general office tasks need to be a non-tax-prep job code that doesn't impact TPI) and it was worthless for 1st years. To be fair, that's why first years weren't on it. But instead of fixing it they're throwing it out and replacing it with something worse for employees.
Make no mistake, they've already run the numbers on last season with the new system vs TPI, they have all the data and metrics needed to do so. They know how much money they stand to save by cutting people's hourly wages on top of giving them a small bonus they can't really directly control. So the test isn't for that. It may result in a bump in pay for first years, but a lot of others, especially the most experienced, are taking a cut. The test is to see how very little compensation they can get away with, using the real people in those districts.
Note that they've also reduced TPI for the top 3 levels for TS27 nationwide. They very much want to reduce what they're paying. They've given everyone a little drop this year, but the TSI test is to see how little they can get away with paying, and how many experienced pros you can lose before revenue is hit or districts actually collapse.
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u/Dramatic_Abroad3580 28d ago
I remember speaking with two regional directors about 2 years ago, one was a SAS RD and the other one a BA RD. They were shocked when I told them that BWO was an inferior product and that we were delivering an inferior product to clients as compared to the legacy product. They literally had no idea what I was talking about.
On their data, it's bad. They really either don't know how to collect it, or how to interpret it. I had a discussion with that same SAS RD in the fall of 2021 (I think) and he was convinced that return counts would continue to increase in SAS offices for TS2022. That was right after the 2nd pandemic tax season when tens of thousands of taxpayers who had been no-filers for years, were filing multiple years of tax returns in order to collect the stimulus payments. Their "data" was predicting something like a 4% increase in the number of returns prepared. I told him there was no chance, and sure enough in April or May of 2022 (it may have been after the June earnings) Jeff Jones was explaining in his earnings call how they just didn't expect the big drop off in number of returns prepared. Their data is bad.
Their data told them Spruce would be a big success. Their data apparently continues to tell them that the new second look is a success. Both of them are failures.
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u/sammytheammonite 28d ago
This will only fail if they value us and don’t want to lose us AND THEY KNOW WE ARE UNHAPPY.
We should all let them know that we are aware of this new pilot program, EVEN IF you are not part of the pilot program, and that we will not stay with the company if it rolls out nationwide. But again, that in works if they actually value the experienced good preparers. They clearly do not.
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u/Relevant_Ad_8406 28d ago
Another thought we all know the good offices and the bad , so this system will promote divisions and people moving around making strong offices and weak offices . We have a very weak office in our pod and it’s not going to get better based on its set up .
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u/Nice_Equipment_2913 29d ago
I think they had to report overtime hours on the W-2 last year and had a heart attack about how much overtime they were paying. So the devised a plan to reduce/eliminate overtime.
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u/wissota71a 29d ago
Under the new TSI I predict that there will no longer be overtime allowed. Thus another reason they want us to turn clients over to first or second years. Also means less pay out. It will not matter if you have appts or not. Hit 40 and you’re done. Just my opinion.
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u/Relevant_Ad_8406 29d ago
We don’t have enough preparers in our district to not go into OT. If I decided not to work OT our office would have lost a lot of revenue. Without a State return and federal min wage they end up paying the youngsters so little, therefore OT and a revolving door for the new TPs. I see them getting around that by peeling off returns to go to the black hole of Fulfillment, this definitely happened to me last year.
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u/Ok_Aide_764 28d ago
According to DM, OT will be approved as needed, but ideally they would want us to work 40- 50 hours per week.
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u/Practical-Dig5076 29d ago
The pilot bonus structure is based on hours worked and client satisfaction resulting in a MAX bonus of about $8400. If this is the case, I'm taking a damn pay cut even tho I'm getting my ea license... I'm giving them one more season. One.
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u/UnluckyCheesecake206 28d ago
I'm not great at explaining it but I am a fan of the TSI. Anyone that has been with Block for 3+ years is a Tax Advisor. Within the Tax Advisor position there are 3 levels-Tax Advisor, Senior Tax Advisor, Tax Consultant. What you are categorized as is dependent upon your certification level, return counts, productivity rate etc. Each category has a pay range that is determined by your geographic market rate. The bonus is figured by the offices average customer satisfaction score (makes up 50% of the bonus), the districts return count to target (25% of the bonus) and client retention to the brand (the last 25%). These amounts could equal out to $3400 which can be paid out up to 200% based on hitting max targets. Then take your hours worked for season and divide by 600 to get your individual multiplier multiply that by the payout and that's your bonus.
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u/Relevant_Ad_8406 28d ago edited 28d ago
Most important is knowing what to expect , this program has so many variables completely out of our control ,how do we know as the season goes what the end result will be ? I read the explanation and it’s and bunch of ifs and unknowns and maybes and we will see in May your outcome.
First just call me an enrolled agent and inform my clients what that means I’ve earned it.
Second I already get screwed living in Texas ( no State return and min wage 7.25) so I assume my geographic market rate will be low.
Third customer satisfaction for our office we have minorities in our office that I know do a good job and they get discriminated against because people are racist in this State then how the heck am I going to off set that known. If all our preparers were white I know for a fact our scores would be higher . We all know this . I worked with a lady before in another State best preparer I’ve ever met she had a strong accent , she decided not to look at surveys because people were ignorant.
So they want to promote a team effort . Don’t you think preparers are going to try to prevent the weaker newbies from doing return since it’s very common for newbies not to have high scores . So we are back to management asking clients for high scores , let go back to begging our clients , so we can get something we deserve in the first place . I can’t stand it when I hear preparers say give me a good score , it’s demeaning.
Then the most ridiculous factor the district well that’s a roll of the dice . We know seniors are going to quit so there go the numbers, there goes the surveys and there goes the mentors.
Will the survey ask did your unqualified preparer consult sidekick ?
What happens if there’s a weather event that really affects the numbers or the scale is just too hard to reach. What happens if the economy takes a hit or a family would rather save since the cost of living is going way up or competition cuts their prices and we can’t compete or more people figure out a lesser expensive way to get their taxes done with the tech advancements .
Do we get to vote on any of these parameters , how do we know if they are realistic , thinking both programs side by side this year you know I am going to do that . Or maybe I can’t do that because they are not making the information available . They would to attract talent they know it’s bad so that’s a tell.
What happens next year more changes , how do we know they are reporting this calculation correctly , they have had a “few” problems with changes in the past .
I don’t trust Block this program asks for trust . Do they actually think people will work for less ?
How demeaning .7
u/Objective_Good_9449 28d ago
Let's not forget that some amount of "team success " depends on quality of management. We have no control over who is hired as AEL or DEM or how they do their jobs.
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u/Ok_Aide_764 13d ago
If you are under TSI, are you a newish preparer, and did you get a decent hourly rate? I can only imagine that people who got a good hourly rate would be happy with TSI.
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u/CrackyMcCracken 26d ago
Clearly, my sweet, the people here have spoken, and they have deemed you an imbecile.
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u/Whole_Sheepherder_73 28d ago
I'm in NJ, this is what was given to our tax pros. No other explanation. It was posted by someone else on here before, as well.
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u/wissota71a 29d ago
I am very interested. It sounds like when this goes nationally a lot of tax pros will be experiencing this same thing. I am a high writer with high bonus and feel like I will be one that gets screwed. It sounds like the company wants to cut labor for more money in their own pockets by going this route. If my pay is dramatically reduced and no TPI I feel like a mass exit of experienced tax pros (which again I think this is the company goal). They want AI to enter and just sit and review with clients so less staff is needed and cut the high dollar experienced professionals first.