I'll put this into number terms so that people at home can understand this. In many companies, for example, if you earn $80,000, you'll be eligible for a bonus. You're still going to be paid your $80,000. However, let's say that you're eligible for 10% bonuses based on your personal objectives and departmental objectives. At the end of the year, people assess whether the department met the objectives and whether you met your objectives, and you may potentially get another $8,000, so you would be paid $88,000 instead of $80,000. You got $80,000 for sure, and then you got $8,000 because of exceptional performance.
What you're saying is that you're paying somebody.... Their base pay is $80,000, but you're withholding $8,000 of it, for example. So, you're withholding 10%, and they're paid only $72,000 instead of their normal $80,000 base pay. If they meet the objectives—not exceed the objectives but meet the objectives—then they'll get the additional $8,000 to bring their base salary to the total, to 100% of $80,000. Would that be a fair way to explain it?