Sign on/ Completion bonus

NedRN · Jul 12, 2016

Some agencies may always quote with a relatively small completion bonus, $500 being the most common historically but I wouldn't be surprised if $1,000 happens a lot. All your compensation comes out of a fixed bill rate so if you increase one portion of your compensation such as a completion bonus, that will come out of a different portion of your compensation, usually a lower base hourly. If you understand that, it follows that you would never want a completion bonus as it effectively lowers your hourly pay. That increases your personal risks if the assignment does not complete for any reason - you've lost that completion bonus. Roll it into your hourly pay and you never lose the full amount - it is now automatically prorated for hours worked.

Large completion bonuses of $1,500 or more (I saw some $20,000 bonuses in recruiting ads yesterday) are usually hospital "pass-through" bonuses. While these do increase your real pay significantly, there is still the risk that you were enticed to take the assignment because of the bonus and then failed to finish the assignment for whatever reason. If it was me, I would still consider such assignments if the real assignment take-home pay is significantly better, but would ask the agency to ask the hospital to split the completion bonus into three one month bonuses. That reduces the traveler risk.

kkremer77 · Jul 12, 2016

Thanks Ned for the info.