How PAs Can Negotiate a Fare Wage
A recent article from the AAPA gave great advice for new PAs when negoatiating your salary: “taking the direct approach of simply asking a potential employer to tell you the salaries for current employees in an equal position is not something that many PAs do”. The article states the importance of knowing your worth; and one way to do that is to simply ask.
There are a variety of resources available to determine current salaries for PAs, but salary surveys often do not give a complete picture of compensation. Base salary is only a part of what can be included. Other benefits that can be worth more than base salary alone include; bonus pay, retirement contributions, medical insurance, etc.
Although the surveys can give you an idea of what PAs are making on average, they might not compare directly to the position you’re applying. As the article states you must ask questions of the organization to see if what they are offering is comparable to current PAs within the same organization.
It never hurts to ask questions and asking a question is usually taken better than demanding an increase. You can take the salary surveys and state that you want a salary that matches what they show (an offensive move); or you can show them the median salaries and ask why their salary does not match. This gives them the opportunity to explain their reasoning, instead of them having to defend themselves.
A part of your salary could be based on bonus pay, if this is the case it is important to have a full understanding of how the bonus pay works. Is it RVU based? If so do you understand what an RVU is and how that correlates to the amount you’re getting paid?
Is the bonus based off of the number patients you’ll be seeing? If that’s the case you’ll want to know how many patients other providers are seeing. How long the appointment times are? Will you be seeing a full schedule of patients?
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If you know how the bonus is calculated and if your compensation can be increased from a really good bonus plan, than taking a lower base salary might be worth it. The same can be true about other benefits. If an employer is offering a 15% match to your 401k that can be worth much more than a higher base salary.
This is where it is important to ask what other PAs are making within the organization and if it is comparable to what they are offering you. That does not mean you should totally throw out the salary surveys, but know that it is just a guide and not a hard and fast rule of what you should be making.
The most important thing when entering a negotiation is to be prepared. Make sure you know what is important to you and have an idea of what your value is to the organization. Be able to communicate that to the person who is in charge of the hiring. Using a worksheet to organize your thoughts can be a helpful tool to communicate this.
Do you research, and know your worth when starting out. Use a worksheet to write down what you’ve learned about salary and benefits. Go into any negotiation prepared and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
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