Some months back, we put together and sent out a quick questionnaire to get a feel for how Summit practices were compensating staff, and found Bowen’s Blog a helpful outlet to report those findings back to our partner practices. Given so much needed attention of late on how to recruit, hire, pay, retain, and often times partner with our associates, it seemed a great time to survey the partners on associate compensation and get a solid feel for what we’re doing there within Summit.
So here’s where we report back, hoping our findings will be helpful for all of us pondering bringing on a first or next associate. So here are the findings from reporting Summit colleagues, and a big THANK YOU to partners who participated in the survey!
Our first group of questions (1-5) focused on associates currently working in the practice, their work week, how long they’ve been with the practice and whether practice employees or contract workers.
Number of Associates:
- 65% of reporting Summit practices currently have one associate working in the practice - 18% currently have two associates - 12% currently have three associates - 5% currently have four or more associates
Part-time vs full-time:
- 59% of reporting Summit practices have at least one associate who is part-time, while 41% employ all of their associates (however many that may be) full-time
Currently seeking an associate:
- 32% report they ARE actively seeking a next associate - 47% report they ARE NOT actively seeking an associate - 21% report they are considering seeking an associate
Average tenure with the practice:
- 35% less than a year - 24% 1-2 years - 18% average 3-4 years - 18% average 5-6 years - 24% average more than 6 years
Employed vs Contracted:
- 79% of partners retain their associate(s) as employees of the practice - 21% retain their associate(s) as contract workers
Our next group of questions ( 6-10) were focused solely on how Summit practices are compensating their associate(s). We asked questions focused on associate salaries, daily rates, production, and benefits.
Compensation Method:
- 16% pay their associate(s) a set salary - 16% pay their associate(s) a set daily rate - 5% pay their associate(s) a set hourly rate - 21% pay their associate(s) based on production only - 42% pay their associate(s) by a combination of established compensation AND production
Here is the breakdown for practices paying their associate(s) a set salary (respondents could make multiple selections to reflect different arrangements with their different associates, so percentages may not add up to exactly 100%):
- Less than 105K – 0% - 105K-115K – 33% - 116K-125K – 8% - 126K-135K – 25% - 136K-145K – 8% - 146K-155K – 17% - 156K-165K – 8% - 166K-175K – 0% - 176K-185K – 0% - More than 185K – 8%
Here is the breakdown for practices paying their associate(s) a set daily rate (respondents could make multiple selections to reflect different arrangements with their different associates, so percentages may not add up to exactly 100%):
- $300 per day-$450 per day – 0% - $451-$500 – 20% - $501-$550 – 60% - $551-600 – 20% - $601-More than 700 per day – 0%
Here is the breakdown for practices paying their associate(s) based on production (respondents could make multiple selections to reflect different arrangements with their different associates, so percentages may not add up to exactly 100%):
- Less than 15% – 22% - 15-16% – 33% - 17-18% – 22% - 19-20% – 33% - 21-22% – 0% - More than 22% – 11%
Here is the breakdown for practices providing benefits for their associate(s) (respondents could make multiple selections to reflect different arrangements with their different associates, so percentages may not add up to exactly 100%):
- No benefits – 5% - Health insurance coverage – 47% - Sick/Personal time – 47% - Paid holidays – 53% - Paid time off – 47% - CE time/days – 63% - Dental insurance – 5% - Eyecare services/products – 79% - Retirement program – 58% - Liability insurance – 74% - Professional/Association dues – 80% - Community group dues – 11% - Other: o Allowance for scrubs – 5% o State license – 5%
Our next and final group of questions (11-14) were focused on bringing our associate(s) on as partners/owners of the practice and their current involvement in management of the practice. Each ofthese were yes or no questions with an “Other – write in” option, so we’ll provide a quick summary of those “others” in our breakdowns below:
- 26% of partner practices report it IS their desire to have their or at least one of their associates buy into the practice - 37% say it is NOT their desire to have their or at least one of their associates buy into the practice - The remaining 37% of reporting partners indicated they might be interested. The common theme of these ‘maybe’ answers was IF they can find the right associate, they would be interested
Next, we asked about the associate’s interest in buying into the practice:
- 23% report at least one of their associates IS interested in buying into the practice - 56% report their associate(s) ARE NOT interested in buying into the practice - The remaining 21% of partners report unclear/maybe
We then asked whether partners felt their practices generate enough positive cash flow to support their associate(s) buying into the practice:
- 58% feel the practice DOES generate enough positive cash flow - 16% feel the practice DOES NOT generate enough positive cash flow - The remaining 26% of reporting practices report not at this moment, but they anticipate it will be soon/with some focus and priority on this
Lastly, we asked whether our partners engaged their associate(s) in the management of the practice and decision making:
- 39% report they DO involve their associate(s) - 24% report they DO NOT involve their associate(s) - 47% report they SOMEWHAT/SOMETIMES involve their associate(s)
Well partners, that’s a wrap on the summary of our Associate Compensation Survey – THANKS AGAIN for taking the time to contribute and help us put together and benefit from this information, and if anything here prompts a question or thought to discuss further, feel free to reach out!