I once worked at a company that paid bonuses based on a portion of profits, appropriately named "profit sharing". As long as the company turned a profit in a qu

I once worked at a company that paid bonuses based on a portion of profits, appropriately named "profit sharing". As long as the company turned a profit in a quarter everyone got extra money. Company financials were shared with everyone each quarter (even though the company wasn't public) and the percentage was calculated based on a specific formula (details of which I don't remember but included years of service, title etc) so everything was pretty straightforward. It's definitely possible to make bonuses work via profit sharing (even for private companies) as long as the company is not trying to cheat its employees.