---
title: "WaveWage: performance pay for hourly workers"
description: "WaveWage is incentive pay software that pays restaurant crews for the moments that move the store, and pushes every bonus into the payroll the Client already runs."
source: https://wavewage.com/
---

# Performance pay for _hourly workers._

Patent pending

## The day is nearly done, and the clock is ticking.

A couple walks in on a date and asks for a table. The hostess sighs as she picks up the menus.

- **Hostess**: “Okay, but we close in like half an hour, so you'll need to look at the menu fast.”
- **Guests**: “Oh, I'm sorry, we didn't realize. We don't want to be a burden…we can go somewhere else.”
- **Hostess**: “Thanks, that'd be great.” And they left.

The employee perception is that you are paying for their time, not their hospitality.

## You can't pay for _hospitality_ with the same wage you pay for time.

**Sales:** Every ticket is read as it closes: by window, by tag, by item.

**Rules:** Plain-English rules: a share of window sales, $/hr bonuses, shares that open once the day clears a line.

**Bonuses:** The crew watches the pool grow in real time. Managers see the store against every active rule.

**Payroll:** Settled after close as a WaveWage bonus paycode. Payroll runs exactly like it always has.

## Every number, every rule, every minute.

One day, run end to end: the sales and the rules as they happen, what the crew sees on their phone, and what lands in payroll.

An example day at a pita shop, open 10:30 AM to 10 PM, with all seven rules running. Sales build through a lunch and a dinner rush; tickets from the counter, online, phone, and delivery land in the feed. Upsell adds a share of each chosen item's sale at the counter and on the phone, Surge Hour pays the lunch and dinner hours that ran well past their expected sales, Coverage and Store Execution pay each person from their own record, Closing Hour pays the final hour's crew for holding it at pace where the normal forecast lets it die toward close, and Order Accuracy and Hospitality and Reputation add the day to their month and quarter records. Then one crew member's phone shows their own lines in dollars, and the Client's daily report shows the day in three figures, what each rule paid, and one payroll line per person landing once the close-of-day checks pass.

An example day. Every amount on it is a Client setting, shown here with example numbers.

## Describe the shift you want. It writes the rule.

Type a goal in plain English. WaveWage drafts the rule, simulates it on your last 28 days of real sales, and tunes the rate until it fits under your labor cap.

Say who, when and the share. Your labor cost cap is always the final gate.

This is a demo, scripted from real tuner output. In the product, every generated rule lands on your Rules page as a draft: you review the math and the simulation before it ever pays a cent.

## One rule covers it.

per active employee, per month

The demo is free and unlimited until you connect your POS. Once you're live, turn on a drink upsell rule and _the added margin pays the bill._

Usage is the whole bill

## The things operators ask first.

### Does this work with my POS?

WaveWage connects through TimeForge and Square today, with more POS and scheduling integrations on the way. We sync employees, attendance, and sales automatically, then push bonuses back as a WaveWage bonus paycode at end-of-day. Setup is a connection, not an installation, and your payroll process doesn't change.

### What does it cost?

The demo is free and unlimited until you connect your POS. Once you're live, plans run $3 to $5 per active employee, per month. No setup fee, no contract, and no card to start.

### Will my team actually use it?

They don't download anything: the bonus shows up on the paycheck they already get. What they can do is watch the pool tick up on their phone mid-shift. Money they can see tends to hold attention.

### What if a rule costs too much?

You set a labor cap once, and WaveWage never spends past it. Every rule is also simulated against your last 28 days of real sales before it goes live, so you see worst-case labor before you flip the switch.

### Can I try it without committing?

Yes. The demo runs on a sample day of your store with no account and no card, and it stays free for as long as you want it. You only start paying when you connect your POS and go live on your floor, so if the math doesn't work for your operation, you'll know before you've paid for a single shift.

## See if WaveWage fits your operation.

Push harder at lunch. Get paid that night.

Patent pending