10 Factors Integral to Developing an Employee Compensation Plan

Tags: ambulatory surgery center | ASC | compensation | MedHQ | surgery center

When building a compensation plan at your surgery center, John Merski Jr., executive director of human resources for MedHQ, says ASC leadership should go through every position at the surgery center and discuss 10 factors integral to the development of a compensation plan for each position. These factors are:

1. Educational requirements: What level of education do you require for the position?
2. Job-related experience, in years: How many years of experience are you looking for, at minimum? How many years of experience would the ideal candidate have?
3. Supervision required for the job: How much supervision does the employee need to perform his or her job?
4. Complexity of the job: How difficult is the job, and how many different tasks does it involve? How complicated is each task?
5. Physical effort required: Does the job require physical effort that can leave employees tired or strained?
6. Physical work environment: Does the job involve a hazardous or unpleasant work environment?
7. Potential impact of the employee's actions on the company: How much does the employee affect the financial and operational health of the ASC with his or her actions? What would happen if he or she made a mistake?
8. Internal contacts: Who does the employee talk with internally? For example, conversations between employees in the hall would demand less compensation than regular meetings with ASC leadership.
9. External contacts: Who does the employee talk with externally? Positions involving patient contact would receive more compensation than office staff who do not talk to customers.
10. Supervision over others: How many subordinates does the employee have, and what degree of supervision do they exercise?  

Mr. Merski says these 10 components are used nationwide in the analysis of any compensation plan. "If you don't have these 10 components inside the formula you use, you are probably missing the mark," he says.

Go over each component with ASC leadership and determine how much weight each component should carry when deciding compensation.

Learn more about MedHQ.

Related Articles on Employee Compensation at ASCs:
Biggest Challenges for ASC Administrators: Thoughts From 5 Surgery Center Leaders
The Company Model of Anesthesia Services: Will Less Money Lead to Jail Time?
100 Surgery Center Benchmarks

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