WHAT’S WITH STAFF PAY
INCREASES?
According to recent practice management surveys, 36.5% of
private practitioners gave pay raises to staff in 2016. 51% of those giving
raises gave an average 3% increase. Three percent has been the national average
annual pay increase across all businesses, industries, and organizations since
2012.
More dentists are following the national business trend of
rewarding above-average employees through a bonus system rather than a standard
annual pay increase. The most prevalent bonus calculation is based on an increase
in practice collections.
As a practice management consultant, I have consistently
recommended giving pay increases, including bonuses, based on merit rather than
across-the-board equal distributions. Top performers should receive a higher
percentage of the staff compensation budget in order to retain them and to
reward them appropriately. Under-performing staff members who carry much less
of the practice load should not receive raises or bonuses equal to those of
top-notch team members. Equal raises and/or bonuses only serve to demoralize
top performers while failing to incentivize poor performers.
This having been said, the 3% average pay increases
mentioned above may actually indicate an office in which top staff received a
4% to 5% increase in total compensation while poor performers received zero to
1% or 2%. In summary: reward excellence in work performance with above-average
pay increases and/or bonuses as production and collections allow. Set specific
work goals, coach, and re-train poor performers; or replace them.
No comments:
Post a Comment