Salary plus bonus? Commission Only, Or Just Straight Salary?

Having worked both agency and corporate side and running my own business a few times, I've been paid many different ways. Straight salary, salary plus commissions, base and expenses plus a draw against future commissions. Some were motivational, others were sometimes demotivating due to either project length or things beyond my control.

I ran a painting/contracting company for several summers many moons ago and paid our workers piece rate. The job was quoted on X number of hours and that's all the money they would get for the contract. If they finished earlier, they still got paid the same amount of money. The deal was to understand the estimated time allocated on each item, each door, each room, window, etc and work inside that time frame. If they were late, their average hourly rate dropped, if they were fast and efficient, their hourly rate was higher.

I worked in sales and account management roles in my early career with a low base salary, car and expense allowances were paid plus commissions on top or a draw against future sales. Ideally to drive and incentivize us to work harder and earn the bulk of our comp on commissions.

It struck me strange sometimes encountering a salary-only job where regardless of the results, the same amount of money hit my bank account every 2 weeks. This was the norm for many others but it still struck me a bit strange that actual performance tied to salary or at least a performance bonus wasn't part of the comp structure annually or quarterly. I often was tied to monthly targets and paid against them.

Moving into senior HR and Talent Acquisition roles at several companies, when possible, I would add "project completion bonuses" and other rewards to key people's comp packages. They build retention into some people and also a greater attention to the details to make sure they will receive their bonus at the end of the project. The bonus could be structured versus budget or team success or any number of metrics.

I recall working with a few banks and many of the staff had a portion of compensation in bonuses. Some had a 3 part system. 1/3rd of the bonus was personal targets, 1/3rd was based on the team targets and the other 1/3rd was based on the parent company's overall performance. This seemed like a great idea because even if the company had a bad year the individuals might hit their team and personal bonuses so all was not lost.

What are your thoughts on 100% salary versus a split of say 80 or 90% salary and the rest in bonuses?