Healthcare salaries are on the rise, but providers are falling short in motivating employees to stay at their jobs, according to Health eCareers' annual Healthcare Salary Guide.
The guide is based on a survey involving 19,754 healthcare professionals from the Health eCareers database in January and February 2016.
Survey participants were comprised of nurses (20 percent), administrative/operations (19 percent), physicians and surgeons (10 percent), nurse practitioners (7 percent), physician assistants (5 percent), allied health professionals (5 percent), radiologic technologists/medical imaging professionals (5 percent), counselors/social services (4 percent), pharmacy professionals (3 percent), health IT professionals (3 percent) and other healthcare professionals.
Eighty-five percent of respondents currently work full time, 8 percent work part time, 6 percent are per diem or contract, 4 percent have irregular hours or on call, and 3 percent are unemployed.
Here are 11 survey findings.
1. The survey found that 87 percent of respondents are making a higher salary or the same salary as a year ago, but nearly 50 percent are actively looking for better opportunities and their confidence is high.
2. Of those surveyed, 29 percent expect to change employers in the next year, 30 percent have no plans to change and 41 percent are unsure.
3. Additionally, 86 percent of respondents are confident they could find a new position. The top reasons given for trying to find a new job were higher pay, more rewarding and challenging work, better working hours and wanting to work for a different organization, according to the survey.
4. Even with a competitive hiring market, healthcare providers could do more to retain employees, the survey found. The majority (61 percent) of employers are using motivators and incentives, such as increased compensation, time off, flexible work hours and locations, to retain employees. However, this represents only a 1 percent increase from last year, and 39 percent offer no motivator.
5. According to the survey, 10 out of the 14 studied positions saw salary increases over the past year.
Average annual salaries by position compared to 2015 data:
- Physicians and surgeons — $255,648, a 2.5 percent increase
- Healthcare executives — $134,632, a 12.9 percent decrease
- Physician assistants — $105,856, a 4.3 percent increase
- Nurse practitioners — $100,549, a 5.3 percent increase
- Health IT — $91,251, a 2.2 percent increase
- Nurses — $61,875, a 3.1 percent decrease
6. The positions that reported the largest year-over-year salary increases were academics/research, administrative/operations and allied health. Healthcare executives and pharmacy saw the biggest decrease this year.
7. Health eCareers also found healthcare professionals satisfaction levels with current pay and jobs varies. Forty-five percent of respondents are satisfied with their salaries, 14 percent are neutral and 41 percent are dissatisfied. As far as their jobs and employers, 57 percent of respondents said they are happy, but 43 percent are actively looking for better opportunities.
8. The survey found that job satisfaction also varied between healthcare professions.
The main drivers of dissatisfaction are that salaries don't reflect experience or are lower than similar jobs in the region.
9. Seventeen percent of nurses are happy and plan to stay in their current jobs, but 13 percent are actively looking elsewhere. Forty-four percent of nurses are satisfied with their salaries.
10. Sixty percent of physician assistants are happy about their pay and 27 percent report being "very happy" in their current jobs.
11. More than half (52 percent) of physicians and surgeons are content with their salaries, and 20 percent plan to stay with their current employer. Those who are dissatisfied pointed to pay that is below similar positions and being required to work uncompensated hours.
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