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There are two bonus programs for substitutes on the Senya platform! The Tier bonus program rewards substitutes for working more days in a month and for completing other tasks on the Senya app. The Urgency bonus program rewards substitutes for filling last-minute, same-day needs for schools.
Bonus Eligibility Requirements
To maintain eligibility for bonuses, substitutes must:
- complete all eligibility requirements in the Senya platform’s Readiness Center
- maintain an overall rating of 4 stars or higher
- have no recent last-minute cancellations
- earn the points required for each Tier level’s bonus
The Senya platform automatically tracks substitutes’ progress and applies bonuses, so substitutes who meet the eligibility criteria are automatically opted-in to receive bonuses!
More details about the eligibility requirements can be found in the last section of this guide.
Tier Bonus Program
In this bonus program, substitutes move up Tier levels for more and more bonus money based on working more jobs in a month and completing other tasks in the app!
The Tier levels work as follows:
Tier 1 (0-249 points)
- Substitutes earn the school pay rate
Tier 2 (250-499 points)
- Substitutes earn the school pay rate and 30% of each job’s available bonus
Tier 3 (500-749 points)
- Substitutes earn the school pay rate and 60% of each job’s available bonus
Tier 4 (750+ points)
- Substitutes earn the school pay rate and 100% of each job’s available bonus
What Does “Available Bonus” Mean?
Each job has an available bonus amount—money that is set aside as a potential bonus for substitutes. The amount that substitutes can earn is tied to their eligibility and work patterns:
- Substitutes who are not eligible for bonuses do not receive any of the bonus amount.
- Substitutes who move up Tier levels receive a percentage based on their Tier, as outlined above.
- Substitutes who take last-minute jobs receive a percentage based on the urgency of the circumstances, as outlined in the Urgency Bonus Program section (later in this guide).
For example, a job may have an available bonus of $30.00. Substitutes may receive none of the bonus or up to all of that bonus, depending on their eligibility and work patterns.
Senya is proud to reward substitutes for their commitment with bonus pay. Available bonus amounts vary based on market conditions in each region where substitutes are working. The available bonus is affected by a number of factors, including the pay rates of schools, the number of schools in a region, and the number of substitutes in a region. For this reason, substitutes may see varying available bonus amounts across jobs; however, the Tier and Urgency bonus programs ensure that substitutes have the opportunity to receive bonus pay beyond schools’ pay rates.
How Are Bonuses Applied?
As you move up or down in Tier level, the bonus amount on jobs that you view or have accepted will automatically adjust to that new tier level. Note that the estimated pay includes the bonus amount based on your current Tier level, so that may increase or decrease on future jobs you have accepted based on raising or dropping Tier levels.
For example, if a substitute drops Tier levels at the start of a new month, the bonus amount on upcoming jobs will adjust down to reflect the lower Tier level, even if they were accepted previously when at a higher Tier level. Likewise, when a substitute moves up in Tier levels, the bonus amount on upcoming jobs will adjust up, even if they were accepted previously when at a lower Tier level.
Substitutes start the next month at the Tier level earned each previous month. However, points reset each month, so substitutes must earn points in the current month to maintain or build their Tier level for the next month.
How to Earn Points
Completing Jobs
Substitutes earn a minimum of 50 points per completed job.
Some jobs may, but not always, offer more points for special circumstances:
- months with fewer school days (e.g., school breaks)
- fewer jobs available in an area
- new partner schools in an area
- hard-to-fill jobs (remote campuses; special education, etc.)
- last-minute job postings
- Mondays, Fridays, days before/after holidays
Checking In Early
Substitutes who check in on the app between 4-8 AM and who mark themselves as available to work that same day can earn a minimum of 50 points for the day:
- If presented with same-day jobs, substitutes receive the minimum 50 points by accepting and completing one of those jobs.
- If not presented with any same-day jobs, substitutes still receive the minimum 50 points since they were seeking to work but no jobs were available.
- If presented with same-day jobs and all of them are declined, substitutes do not receive any points since they did not wish to work.
Additional Details:
Substitutes must check in each day to be presented with jobs unless they already have an accepted job for that day or have marked themselves as unavailable on the Senya app’s calendar.
Substitutes interested in working same-day jobs get points for participating in the early check-in between 4-8 AM. All other substitutes must still check in at some point each day to indicate that they are interested in being presented with jobs on future days.
Weekends:
Substitutes must check in on the app on Fridays to be presented with jobs over weekends. Remember that substitutes are counted as “checked in” if they already have a job on a given Friday or have marked themselves as unavailable on their Senya calendar on a Friday.
School Breaks:
To ensure substitutes can still reach higher Tier levels, Senya increases points for jobs in months when there are fewer school days. Under this system, substitutes who check in or work every available day can still advance in Tier levels.
During extended seasonal breaks when no schools are in session (no available jobs), the app will notify subs of when they can pause, and when they must resume, daily check-ins. Substitutes will be presented with future jobs during breaks.
Calendaring Ahead
Substitutes earn 10 points per day that they mark themselves as unavailable on their calendar in the Senya app.
- This can be done well in advance but must be done by 8:00 AM each day to earn points. Substitutes may also check in on the app before 8 AM and mark themselves as unavailable on the pop-up to receive these points.
- These points are awarded at the end of each of the marked days. In other words, marking 5 days as unavailable does not instantly earn 50 points; rather, 10 points are awarded at the end of each of those marked days.
- By marking their calendar ahead, substitutes are protected from accidentally accepting jobs on days they are unavailable, they do not need to check in on those days, and they won’t be presented with job alerts that they won’t be able to accept on those days.
Urgency Bonus Program
In this bonus program, substitutes get bonuses for working jobs that are posted late the night before or on the morning of the school’s needs.
Put plainly, all schools have emergency needs from time to time: Staff call out with little notice, leaving schools in a tough position. There are also times when more staff are out than usual. Senya rewards substitutes for being heroes that step in to fill these urgent needs!
The urgency bonuses work as follows:
Night Before
When substitutes accept a job for the next day after 6:00 PM, they receive the school pay rate and 30% of the available bonus.
Morning-Of Early Acceptance
When substitutes accept a job for that morning with an hour or more before the job start time, they receive the school pay rate and 70% of the available bonus. This applies after 2 AM.
This higher urgency bonus rewards substitutes who are up early and ready to work for the day; by being ready early, they can be presented with jobs early and have time to get to a school by the job start time.
Morning-Of Later Acceptance
When substitutes accept a job for that morning with less than an hour before the job start time, they receive the school pay rate and 50% of the available bonus.✱
In other words, if a job was posted earlier that morning but a substitute didn't check until it was within 1 hour of its start time, they are less likely to arrive on time for the school.
✱ Late Posts by Schools: When schools post jobs the morning-of with less than an hour before the start time, substitutes will receive 70% of the available bonus since the extremely short notice was due to the school and not the substitute waiting until later to accept.
Note: Substitutes will always receive the highest bonus they are eligible for. A Tier 4 substitute, for example, will receive 100% of the available bonus rather than a lower urgency bonus. A Tier 2 substitute will receive the urgency bonus from a Morning-Of acceptance since those are higher than the 30% Tier 2 bonus.
How Jobs Are Presented on the Senya Platform
The Senya system presents substitutes with jobs based on their settings and preferences as indicated on their profiles. This includes factors such as:
- distance the substitute is willing to travel
- specialized substitute qualifications
- education level/degrees
- licensure
- certifications
Substitutes are given an exclusive timeframe to accept jobs that are presented to them. Substitutes can choose to accept or decline jobs.
Accept - The job is added to the substitute’s schedule and is not presented to other substitutes.
Decline - The job is presented to other substitutes who may be interested.
Outside of jobs being presented to substitutes according to their settings and preferences, substitutes can always browse available jobs by going to the Jobs page of the app and scrolling down to the Unclaimed Jobs section.
Bonus Eligibility Details
Readiness Center Items
Substitutes need to complete all Readiness Center items that are required for bonus eligibility. This generally entails reviewing policies and best practices for substitute teachers.
Last-Minute Cancellations
When accepting jobs, substitutes make a commitment to schools that they will be there to teach that class. This should not be taken lightly—schools depend on support to ensure students are supervised during teacher absences.
Emergencies happen that sometimes necessitate canceling a job. Substitutes should do all they can to cancel more than 24 hours in advance of the job start time to give schools the best chance at getting a replacement substitute.
Jobs that are canceled under 24 hours of the job start time are considered a “last-minute cancellation,” resulting in pausing the substitute’s bonus eligibility for their next 5 consecutive jobs. There is a popup in the platform when clicking the cancel button within 24 hours, reminding substitutes of this policy.
Minimum 4-Star Rating
Senya does not supervise or assess substitutes' work since they are independent contract workers, and therefore, Senya does not give ratings to substitutes. Substitute ratings are based entirely on the rating submissions by schools.
After completed jobs, schools rates substitutes on a scale of 1-5 stars for three categories:
- Professionalism (on time, dressed appropriately, stayed off personal devices)
- Communication (checked in/out with office, left notes for teacher)
- Classroom Management (engaging, friendly, followed lesson plan)
The three categories are averaged, and that average is factored into each substitute’s overall rating.
- The overall rating is a continuing average of school ratings as they are added to each substitute’s profile.
- If a school does not submit a rating, substitutes receive a top rating by default, but it is weighted less than a school-submitted rating.
- The overall rating is maintained for the "lifetime" of substitute accounts; the rating carries over (does not reset) across school years.
Schools must type feedback if marking any rating below 4 stars so that substitutes know what to improve.
Substitutes can view their overall rating on their Senya profile. Substitutes can view specific job ratings and comments on the Tier Audit screen.
Schools are able to see substitutes' overall ratings, but they do not see ratings or comments for individual jobs.
