what would you think of a pay freeze?

[westcoastgirl]

this is happening for all of us, at an outpatient clinic and applicable to everyone including doctors. The physicians are very nice people but seem very conflict averse so have not taken charge to speak about this other than oh yeah it's happening. Don't know the future plan.

What would you think of this move? similarly strapped non-profit clinics in the area have NOT instituted a pay freeze, at least not for the clinicians working there. There has been a slight fall in patient numbers but still way too many administrative type positions continually being justified. Just doesn't seem to add up.

[VivaRN]

hmm. I would keep my mouth shut, be thankful for my job and ride out the recession. Perhaps the other non-profits have different funding sources and are in a different financial position than your clinic. Could be they are using other strategies to cut costs that you are not aware of, like slashing benefits, ancillary staff, hiring freeze, etc. The grass is always greener.

Although there may be too many administrative types... I wonder if stirring the pot would do more harm than good. If they feel you are trying to threaten their jobs, YOU might be the one laid off. I guess it depends on if you feel it's worth the risk. Maybe it's time to start looking in case layoffs are in the future. Just in case. (You can see I am very cautious when it comes to these things )

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Are there other jobs available?

[oldiebutgoodie, RN]

I would be happy that I am employed.

Oldiebutgoodie

[westcoastgirl]

For what it's worth I am not about to go stir the pot but I am sharing candidly here with other NPs a confusing exeprience for me and other midlevels here. It does not mean I'm shouting this at work or ungrateful for my job. I have received a good review for my work, and no, none of the ancillary positions have been cut either. In fact quite a lot of money is being spent refurbishing administrative offices this year.

Has a pay freeze happened to others here, and what were your experiences? Are there danger signs to look out for?

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I live in central IL and at this time, the hospitals are hiring only those necessary to do the job - no extra help. The individual practices, (mine included) are not hiring mid-levels at this time even though we have an opening because they are rethinking the work distribution. Its not a hiring freeze per se, just they are not filling the empty slots.

[jer_sd]

One thing to look at is how much revenue do the providers bring to the practice, what is the % of billing collected, how much does it $$ to run the practice.

Once you get to the provider role you may not qualify for automatic raises the way you did as a RN.

Often your salary needs to be based upon your productivity. If you only see E+M with low level coding combine that with decreased reinbursement.... and it is hard to justify a raise. Now if you add additional sources of revenue then it is easier to justify a salary increase.

[*RN123ABC*]

I am not an NP yet, but all staff nurses had to take a 4% paycut in my hospital system(and we already make 25% less than the rest of the state and the county across the nearby state line), and I'm told that included the NPs that fill in in the ED on busy holiday weekends. I haven't heard about our docs taking pay cuts, but one relatively new guy told me he is being paid half the national average already, so...Our hospital is about to go out of business alltogether. We were told paycuts were necessry to keep the doors open. Then the CEO got a brand new company SUV.

[patrick1rn, MSN, RN, NP]

That new SUV means the transfer of money to the company that built that care, Hopefully American.

[caliotter3]

If accepting a pay freeze meant I would keep my job, I would be all for it. But that wouldn't necessarily cause me to refrain from looking for a better situation.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

My enitre facility is in a freeze, laundry to mid-levels. We don't have a doctor - they're from another company.

Everyone's hanging in. Of course, we're in a very rural area and I'd rather make less here than drive over two hours a day.

[patrick1rn, MSN, RN, NP]

This was bound to happen when their is slow growth in the economy. The economy will turn around or as international as the world market ... is now, will cease to exist, which I seriously doubt. Remember that in a market, when one company is doing bad, that gives room for another company to jump into the race and start doing good, that is to say unless everything is socialized and zero growth occurs.