Peak Performance: Tips You Can Use
 
Volume 6,  Issue 7
July 2014
  
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Features & Events 

July 25-29, 2014 - American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) - Denver, CO

 

Leslie and Michael are team teaching on Saturday, July 26, "Buying and Selling Partial Interests".  and From "TMI" to "KPI".  Hear Leslie discuss how to make your budget a powerful management tool, goal setting strategies, and getting on track to reach your 2014 goals. 

 

Michael topics are "Client & rDVM Mapping"; "Part-Time Practice Ownership" and "Standards of Care - Not Just for Our Patients!".

 

Lorraine's Corner

 

 

 

 

 

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Salary Transparency: Should you or shouldn't you?

Suppose for a minute that you're one of several of technicians/veterinary assistants in a practice, some licensed and some not. Suppose too that you're the most experienced in the group who's training the newest hire. Finally, suppose that you happen to see the newbie's paystub sitting on a desk after she was called suddenly to the back to assist a doctor. Most of us couldn't resist reading that paystub. But if she's earning $2.75 more per hour than you are, how do you feel? Immediately you are forced to deal with an emotional reaction while maintaining a poker face.  

 

Your first reaction is likely to be hurt or anger - "Why am I being paid less to train someone earning more than I do?" Then you might move to rationalization: "The newbie is licensed and I'm not. I guess the owners are saying that a license is worth more than my experience." Or perhaps: "Licensed technicians are in short supply, and the market demands that level of compensation to get the technician we need." But then again, you might bide your time and ask for a raise at the earliest opportunity, which might or might not be granted. How well do you negotiate? Or you just might decide to update your resume and see if other practices nearby are willing to pay more for your experience than your current employer.

  

We suspect the majority of veterinary practices (and in fact most U.S. businesses) ask/demand that employees not share compensation information. Various polls show that around 6 out of 10 respondents think salary information should stay private. In fact, Congress has failed 3 times to pass legislation making it illegal to forbid compensation discussions among employees. The conclusion: opposition to sharing this data runs deep. 

  

But do employers really believe that their employees will honor this privacy request? In this era of social media, people share with dozens of friends what they pay for their cars, what they had for lunch, and who's dating whom. So is it realistic to assume no one discusses compensation, either at or outside work?

 

A growing number of businesses are taking a different approach by switching to salary transparency. That means they make actual compensation information by employee routinely available to their employees. In our example above, you would already have known (or could have known) that the practice was paying the new hire more than you. You would have had an opportunity to know why the owners felt both her rate of pay and your own were reasonable at this time. In addition, you would have known how your compensation compared to your peers, as well as to the doctors and other hospital staff. Are you cringing yet?

 

Pros of Salary Transparency 

 

Builds trust - Employees who know (and can question) compensation methodology and results need not speculate as to whether one employee negotiated better or has been unfairly rewarded 

 

Shrinks the gender gap - While we hope this is less of an issue in veterinary medicine than in other industries, it does still exist. Differences in compensation must be satisfactorily explained using other factors.  

 

Ensures that employees are dealing with real data - Assumptions about compensation levels have no place in this environment  

 

Leads to discussions about ways to earn more (new skills, new responsibilities, increased productivity, etc.)   

 

Cons of Salary Transparency  

 

Violates employees' sense of privacy - While we value money and recognition, we don't like to talk about them    

 

Creates a burden for employers - Now they must justify all compensation decisions to the satisfaction of their employees  

 

Past inequities come to the forefront - Compensation of long-term employees whose pay is either too high or too low because of past decisions is now the focus of discussion, with blame heaped on current decision makers 

 

Short term benefits are rare - Employees who are overpaid in relation to their peers are no happier, and those who are underpaid are less satisfied than when they didn't know how their compensation compared with their peers'

 

In many respects, salary transparency is not a new concept - it's just new to the private sector and to small businesses. Those of you who have been in the military or worked in government are already accustomed to seeing your compensation in public. Small towns delight in publishing the salaries of public workers in the local papers, and top officials' compensation will be discussed thoroughly if there are problems in the police or fire departments.

 

The recent sudden departure of Jill Abramson as the first female executive editor of the New York Times is rumored to have had a contentious compensation conflict at its heart. While the Times has denied it, the growing number of advocates for pay transparency point out that such conflicts would be avoided if everyone knew everyone else's salary. In Sweden, residents' tax returns are available to the public, meaning that there can be no secrets about compensation. The same has been true in Norway since 2002. If there's been an outcry in either country, it's certainly not made the news in the U.S.

 

We are not advocating that you adopt salary transparency in your practice. But the next time you review compensation, think about how you might explain your strategy in a way that made sense because it was inherently fair. Over time, you may find that you need to do just that to keep your employees satisfied and on board.