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I know this has nothing to do with AC but those in a small private practice that has maybe like 3-4 total staff, how do you determine what you pay them to start and when to give them raises and what do you do about holiday bonus's?

I hope people are willing to talk about this and share, as I started my own practice 15 months ago and until 2 months had no staff. Hired one person. Want to make sure i know i am paying her right and raises as should be by the market

I initially asked around to other physicians. But got most of my info from the CEO of the hospital. I got everything I needed from that. Of course, raises and bonuses are completely up to your discretion (part of being the boss). I give a birthday and Christmas bonus. Raise after 6 months then yearly thereafter. I base it on inflation but usually the raises are 3-5%. Hospitals don't give Christmas bonuses so working for me and getting anything is great. My previous practice based it on seniority with a stair-step bonus schedule. The usually ended up being 1 week's pay.

This is going to vary a lot from one area to another, so I'll answer kind of generally what we have done.

Our problem with checking with the hospital is that they pay way more than the going rate offered by office practices. One possible source is to scope the want ads, see if you can get any ranges from them. We also used subtrefuge, and got a friend to call and ask about pay offered from an ad.

There was a lot of variability in this area. Some practices paid a high rate but did not offer any benefits or insurance. Some (like us) paid lower, but included health insurance and a well funded 401-K. Part of that is that my partner and I are a professional corporation, so we treat ourselves as employees, and that means that since we want the goodies, others also get them. Yes, some animals are more equal that others, but there is still some degree of equality. However, not all employees are mature enough to realize that the insurance and 401-K may be worth 20% extra to them, and would rather have the upfront money to spend. So, whether you are incorporated or not may matter.

We pay monthly to reduce accounting costs. A couple of prospective employees backed away from us at that, but I'm not sure I really want an employee who can't budget for a month at a time.

We do periodic pay reviews, but not on any set schedule. We like the idea of bonusing better than raises as it does not tie us to continuing forever.

Holiday bonuses: We sort of look back and see what we did last year, which we copied initially from what our former employers did. Not very helpful to you, I'm afraid, since you want the starting point.

There are also people in the community whom we trust. We asked our accountant, a couple of physician buddies, and a couple of friends who had worked for other practices.

I have participated in a few staff salary surveys, and the latest that I have found on-line is pretty close to our experience when we have to hire new personnel. I'm sure that there are vast differences in "micro-environments" thoughout the country.

Here is the full article.

CMA's in our area are making anywhere from 12 dollars per hour (fresh out of school) to about 20 per hour with experience. Usually there are no bene's like health insurance or 401k. I too am unclear about how I want to do bonuses and raises. One girl I gave her 0.5 more an hour at her 90 day mark. The other, I'm less happy with and told her we would be keeping her but did not give a raise. I gave $200 Christmas bonus. I would really like to hear from more of you about this.

I gave a $400 bonus but it was a disaster. Also, giving different raises for different work efficiency seems fair, but boy does it lead to trouble when they talk to each other. It's almost like when you tell them, please don't tell any of the others your raise, they take it as please don't tell everyone for four hours.

I am looking for good job descriptions, and performance review forms for my MAs and office receptionist. Any shared ideas would be welcome

Why was the 400 dollar bonus a disaster? Did only some get it? I looked it up on salary.com and it looks like the 10% to 90% spread on CMA pay is 12 to 18 dollars per hour. I've always had a CMA at reception so they could fill in if my back office CMA gets sick or quits, but she hardly ever gets to work on her skills. Last time I switched her back into CMA work she didn't seem very happy. However, she is more expensive than a receptionist. Does anyone else staff the front with CMA's or nurses?

I am a solo doc as well and I have 2 MAs that share the front desk and clinical duties. They switch off approximately by the week. This is a tremendous upgrade from the 1 receptionist/1 MA configuration I had previously for exactly the reason you state. If one of them is sick, I still have someone to do an EKG or give an immunization instead of doing it myself which really slowed me down. They are both pretty fresh and are making around $14/hr. They are both LESS expensive than my old receptionist but that is another story.

Nobody gives me a 3 to 8% bonus per year or one weeks pay. My income has gone down dramatically over the last few years.
There is a limit to what the work is worth and some of the employees benefits can be intangible....pleasant, clean work enviornment. A boss who respects you as a person. Efficient, well organized office with a GREAT EMR and so forth.

So Bill, why was your receptionist so expensive... ?

I am paying my front desk person $13 an hour. I know a lot of practices pay way more around here. But she took the job with loyalty in mind that if it all worked out, she would be with me longer term. Her six months is coming up so I am going to rasie her to I think 13.50. I hope that seems reasonable to some of you. Also I gave her a $300 xmas bonus after 4 months of work with me, but she really made my life easier as my frist hire and helping me out.

I don't pay benefits at all at this point and don't know if I will but we will see.

I do sports medicine so I am hoping to hire and ATC but I know that is more expensive.

I think 13/hr sounds very good for a receptionist. The local Target is paying $9/hr and a manager gets $11/hr. A local restaurant is looking for a manager to handle 6 people, and is offering $12/hr. I'm paying my front desk person $12.50 but she started at $12. I think she will continue to move up if I can settle on a formula for raises.