Salary transparency needed… for employees and clients

I work for a flat salary rate at the moment – and I like it that way. I know what is coming in at the end of the month, and I can budget.

When I’ve been “paid on production”, it has never really seemed fair – someone in an office somewhere works out what to pay me. In the practices where this has happened, I was never party to the working out, trust – in accuracy as well as honesty – being assumed. But the information would have been useful in seeing what affected the end-of-month pay.

Also, I feel the amount of work coming your way is actually more to do with how well the practice management team members are doing their jobs attracting and retaining clients than you, the vet, doing yours. Paying on production seems to shift the responsibility for generating work from the management to the vets, which is not right in my book.

I do also have an ethical concern with being paid on production – I can honestly truly say it never affected my recommendations in any case, and was more of a “compensation” when we had busy times.

However, I do think clients should be told, perhaps via a sign in reception, the vets (and the nurses) are being paid in such a way, so that when they are deciding what recommendations they will accept they are fully informed. After all, people like financial advisors have to declare how they get paid when they make recommendations as well.