Scaling a Hands-On Business in Manhattan: Why Predictable Income Beats Commission

Looking at the Data: In New York and New Jersey, 41.4% of employees work over 40 hours per week. Their employers estimate 23%. The 18-point gap is one of the widest in perceived versus actual hours worked in TriNet's 2025 State of Work report — and in hands-on service businesses, the gap is even larger. David Weintraub built Bodyworks DW around a different model: pay by salary for his massage therapists, not commission. The result is stronger retention, predictability, and a team that doesn't burn out by month three.

Watch the full interview with David Weintraub →

The data: NY/NJ has the widest hours gap in the country

TriNet's 2025 State of Work report surveyed 69 employers and 75 employees at small-to-medium businesses across New York and New Jersey.

In Manhattan, the unit economics of a service business don't survive a high-turnover team. So you build the team, compensation model, and benefits that make people want to stay.

The pattern in NY/NJ is consistent: employees report working substantially more hours, a higher turnover intent, and more workload strain than their employers perceive. The wider the perception gap, the more difficult it is for an employer to design benefits, scheduling, and compensation that actually serve the team.

How Weintraub built a retention model around predictable income

Bodyworks DW is a hands-on advanced massage therapy practice in Manhattan. The work is physical, demanding, and irreplaceable by software. Most practices in the space run on commission — therapists get a percentage of what they bill, and the practice keeps the rest. The math works for the practice and junior therapists, but rarely works for longer-term retention.

“In the old model, the idea was: join us, we pay really well, it's going to take you one to three months to build up a practice, but once you do, you'll have a really steady income. But the flip side is we sometimes got people who were real prodigies [and some that turned out not that great]. So I realized that if I invest in marketing in a way that could guarantee immediate income – we can hire someone and they walk in almost completely booked on day one.”- David Weintraub

A commission model creates predictable problems in a hands-on service business. Therapists who aren’t able to fill a schedule make less, and therapists who fill too much can burn out quickly. Cancellations land entirely on the therapist's pay. The result is high churn, mid-tier talent, and a constant rehiring cycle that erodes the client experience. This structure puts the risk on the business to ensure their marketing and business outreach are bringing in enough clients to support the team.

“We're actually pleasantly surprised to see that the level of people applying under our new comp model are 20- to 25-year veterans who teach at major massage schools, who see our website and see the way we're presenting ourselves and go, "Oh, you've got it together, and you seem to be able to guarantee a solid income. Let's talk." That's been really amazing.” David Weintraub

Pay by salary  flips the structure. The therapist knows their floor. The practice carries some of the demand risk. In exchange, the practice gets a team that stays — and a client base that gets the same therapist twice a year instead of meeting a new one each visit. The real trade is predictable income in place of variable hourly wages: it buys quality and consistency in the service clients receive. The business takes on the risk of filling the schedule, but in return, it keeps a quality team that stays.

Why this matters for SMB operators in New York and New Jersey

The State of Work data and Weintraub's playbook converge on a specific reality for business owners and SMB operators:

•      The NY/NJ workforce is mobile and stretched. 41% of employees plan to switch jobs in the next year. Employers think only 25% or fewer of their employees are planning to leave. If you build your retention strategy for only this smaller number, you are missing a large group that is already looking.

•      Hours-based perception gaps are larger here than nationally. 77.6% of NY/NJ employers think hours are appropriate; only 49.3% of employees agree. Scheduling-based interventions land harder when the operator and the team disagree on whether there's a problem.

•      In hands-on services, the compensation structure can be a retention lever. Commission models can be difficult to manage with limited appointments in a week and seasonal shifts. If a business can offer consistent income, it may have leverage over competitors.

•      Employee benefits design is downstream of pay structure. Pay by salary changes what benefits the practice can offer and what the team can actually use — paid time off becomes real, not theoretical.

•      HR compliance in NY and NJ is its own workload. Paid sick leave (NY and NJ both)and  wage transparency and predictive scheduling rules make the administrative cost of a service business meaningful. Operators with lean teams typically don't have HR staff to keep up, which is where HR outsourcing earns its keep.

•      The mobility number is the leading indicator. If 41% of your team is open to a move, your retention plan needs to be visible to them by month two, not month twelve.

How to put this into practice

For NY/NJ operators in hands-on service businesses considering the Weintraub model, and for any owner trying to understand what their team actually values and which levers genuinely move revenue:

1.     Run the unit economics first. Pay by salary is only realistic if utilization is high enough to absorb the floor. Calculate the floor against your worst-case demand month, not your best.

2.     Pair it with scheduling guardrails. Pay by salary without a cap on hours becomes a fast track to burnout. Keep in mind also that despite payment on a salary basis, employees may be FLSA non-exempt.  If overtime is a concern, set maximum hours per week and enforce them.

3.     Make employee benefits real, not theoretical. Vacation time and mental health coverage only matter if the team can actually use them. Commission models discourage use. Pay on a salary basis removes the disincentive.

4.     Audit the perception gap quarterly. Ask your team — directly, not through an engagement survey — how many hours they worked last month. Compare with what the schedule shows. The gap is data.

5.     Build for the 41% who are open to a move. Treat retention as a default risk, not an emergency response. Every employee is potentially in motion until proven otherwise.

6.     Get compliance support to help ease your plate. NY and NJ employment-related laws tend to be more complex than a lot of states, not to mention the added complexity of city rules. HR outsourcing or engagement with a PEO is  often a common approach to support businesses under 50 employees here.

What's next for NY/NJ service businesses

The State of Work data describes a region where operators and employees are looking at the same business and seeing different jobs. In a service business, that gap shows up in the schedule before it shows up in the survey. Operators who understand their employees’ concerns are the ones building businesses and benefits models that retain their team through the next cycle. They get there by understanding what their team values and addressing their employees' key concerns directly.

Read the full NY/NJ regional report from TriNet's 2025 State of Work →

See how TriNet supports NY/NJ SMBs with HR Outsourcing, payroll, and compliance →

FAQ

What's the hours-worked gap between employers and employees in New York and New Jersey?

TriNet's 2025 State of Work report found 41.4% of NY/NJ employees work over 40 hours per week, while employers estimate 23%. That 18-point gap between perceived and actual hours in the NY/NJ area is one of the widest in the country, per our report.

How do hands-on service businesses in Manhattan maximize employee retention?

Operators like David Weintraub of Bodyworks DW have moved away from commission-only models toward predictable income in the form of payment by salary for their service providers. The model reduces churn, supports better client outcomes, and allows greater use of  employee benefits like vacation time.

What's the difference between commission and salary income in a service business?

Commission ties pay directly to billed work, meaning cancellations, slow weeks, and sick days reduce the provider's income. Pay by salary  gives the provider a predictable floor in exchange for the practice carrying some demand risk, as long as the business can support it. As Bodyworks DW shows, employee retention can improve substantially under such a model.

How many NY/NJ employees plan to leave their job in the next year?

According to TriNet's 2025 State of Work report, 41% of NY/NJ employees plan to switch jobs within a year. Employers in the region estimate only 25% or fewer are open to leaving. Business owners need to understand this gap and what's driving it before designing an employee retention strategy.

What HR compliance requirements do New York and New Jersey small businesses need to manage?

Both states stack significant requirements: paid sick leave, wage transparency rules , predictive scheduling for certain industries, and standard payroll-tax compliance, not to mention city laws on the same and different issues as state laws. The administrative load can be heavier than in most states, which is why many NY/NJ SMBs use HR outsourcing or a PEO.

How does employee benefits design connect to retention in service businesses?

Benefits like vacation time  only contribute to employee retention if the team can actually use them. In commission-based pay structures, taking time off costs the employee directly — so benefits exist on paper but aren't accessed. Income on a salary basis removes that disincentive.

Why do New York and New Jersey employers underestimate how many of their employees are leaving?

Engagement surveys and check-ins favor responses from already-engaged employees. The teammates most likely to leave are also least likely to surface that fact to their employer. The 16-point gap between employer estimates (25% or fewer leaving) and employee reality (41% leaving) is consistent with this pattern.

Is HR outsourcing common for NY/NJ small businesses?

Yes. The combination of NY and NJ compliance load, expensive HR talent in the region, and the typical SMB lean-team structure makes HR outsourcing a default for many businesses under 50 employees in these states.