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How can paying your team well be a strategic investment? How much smoother could your practice run if staff compensation matched both value and vision? What would retention look like if your payment structure created loyalty, not turnover?
In this podcast episode, Joe Sanok discusses how to figure out what to pay people.
Podcast Sponsor: Gusto
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In This Podcast
- Why do people stay at practices?
- What you need to know about paying staff
- Adjusting existing staff payment structures
Why do people stay at practices?
When we think about employees, and say, “Well, why wouldn’t they just go and start their own practice?” These folks aren’t cut from that cloth … We want to find the people that are going to be awesome employees with you. (Joe Sanok)
There will always be entrepreneurs, and there will always be employees. Some people like leading and running the show, while others like doing what needs to be done behind the scenes.
What is important is that the leaders and business owners dedicate themselves to taking care of their employees and contracors, so that their staff retention increases, saving the business time and money, and ultimately keeping clients satisfied.
What you need to know about paying staff
First, let’s talk numbers:
- What are your average reimbursement rates across your private pay and/ or insurance?
Imagine you are getting paid $130 per session … Now, the formula that we typically want you to shoot for is this breakdown: about 40% goes to your clinician, about 30% goes to infrastructure, operations, all of that, and that remaining 30% goes to your profit margin. (Joe Sanok)
These are rough numbers, and you can use this breakdown and tweak it depending on where you work (if rent is expensive), or whether you want to pay your staff more, or any other factor. These are simple guidelines that you can use, and adjust however you want.
- For anyone working 15 hours or under, consider hiring them part-time. What does that look like? 15 sessions a week on average x $52 (from the average reimbursement) which gives you $780, and with an extra added admin rate, that’s $930 per week.
With the five non-clinicial hours, there can be some marketing or editing efforts made.
We do want to have predictability for the practice, so we would say, “Okay, your hours are going to be on these days.” We want to hire for what we need. (Joe Sanok)
- For staff working more than 15 hours on average are likely full-time staff. You do the exact same thing, but put the average at 25 hours. This gives you $1600 a week.
There are 10 non-clinical hours, compared to part-times 5 hours, that can be used to help the practice grow.
Adjusting existing staff payment structures
If you want to implement a system like this one and you already have some staff on another plan, it’s important to make this transition transparent – and there are ways to go about it.
For example, you could implement it in phases by putting any new staff hired on the new payment plan, and keep the previous staff on theirs.
Sponsors Mentioned in this Episode:
It’s no surprise 99% of businesses said the value they get for Gusto is worth the price. Here’s the best part: because you’re a listener, you get three months totally free. All you have to do is Click here!
Useful links mentioned in this episode:
- Check out our Practice Academy!
- Sign Up to the Group Practice Boss Conference!
Check out these additional resources:
The Art of Storytelling with Kabie Stein from Here:Say | POP 1288
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Meet Joe Sanok
Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is proud of all the private practice owners who are growing their income, influence, and impact on the world. Click here to explore consulting with Joe.
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