Opportunities in Salary Negotiations

Salary Negotiations

In today’s Covid environment employers are risk averse and the steady rise of guarantees has stopped and is being reversed in many areas.
Many factors are involved in getting a desirable salary with a new job, but it’s important to negotiate the best salary right from the start. Only 57% of physicians feel they are fairly compensated for their work, according to Medscape’s Physician Compensation report.

Male physicians are more likely to negotiate for a higher salary than are women. Women physicians, when asked about their skill level with negotiating, reported a mixed range of skills; 28% of women said they were skillful or very skillful at negotiating for higher salary; 33% said they were neither skillful nor unskillful; and 39% said they were unskillful or very unskillful.

Besides salary, physicians may want to modify many other elements of an employment contract. Employers will sometimes accept a limited number of changes that will keep prospective employees happy, although it’s tougher in highly competitive markets to get them to agree to changes.

Location or Job?

There are two primary considerations when you are looking at opportunities.  Where is the job and what is the job.  Notice where is the job comes first and what is the job comes second.  But will you be happy living where you want to live if the job is not fulfilling.  You have spent most of your life developing a skill and expertise.  If the job you accept is frustrating & unfulfilling will you truly be happy?  The majority of physicians leave their job because of practice consideration not geographic considerations.  Consider compromising more on the geography to avoid becoming one of the 30%-40% who change jobs in the first 5 years.

How Your Attorney Bills Affects Your Contract

Obviously, you need a healthcare attorney to either prepare an offer or review the employment contract you’re considering.  But beware the attorneys who want to bill you by the word or hour and then want to “negotiate” the agreement.  A standard contract preparation or review typically cost less than $1,000.00 for a flat fee billing.  We recently dealt with a candidate who was using an attorney who billed by the hour to be their negotiator.  Both parties “were in agreement” but after $3,500 of negotiations on “hereto” “therefore” and other semantic changes the employer decided he no longer wanted someone who kept asking for more changes.  Ask for a synopsis of what needs to be clarified or negotiated.  The best approach is the discuss directly with the group to make sure you understand it and to see how they handle the business side of medicine.  You can always return to council for additional advice as needed.