Gifts for staff

[Dontgetthejab]

I’m employed. Primary care. Severely understaffed. Our MAs are working hard. They get paid $12/hr. 9 staff including MAs, lab, front desk, manager.We’ve asked admin to give a raise, and they said no despite booming profits throughout pandemic.
I’ve also done well during the pandemic.

Thoughts on giving a gift to the Staff? $100 each now, and maybe again every quarter?
any pitfalls I should consider?

[Lithium]

Ever heard of a thing called enabling?

[Bev]

What a wonderful idea!

I would give a $100 gift card perhaps to a local grocery store, Walmart, or Target.

[Dontgetthejab]

Ever heard of a thing called enabling?

Enabling who? You mean I’m enabling admin to not give them a raise? Not much I can do about that...

[Lithium]

Wasn’t it you who was posting that you were taking vitals and rooming your patients?

admin doesn’t have much reason to hire more MA’s if you’ll do the work for them, nor do they have much reason to pay them more if you’ll do it instead.

agree that you don’t have much control. You may not like the arrangement, but don’t expect it to change.

[Dontgetthejab]

Wasn’t it you who was posting that you were taking vitals and rooming your patients?

admin doesn’t have much reason to hire more MA’s if you’ll do the work for them, nor do they have much reason to pay them more if you’ll do it instead.

agree that you don’t have much control. You may not like the arrangement, but don’t expect it to change.

Not their fault we’re understaffed. It’s not like the MAs are sitting on their rears When I room my patients or take vitals. There always doing something for me or one of the other docs. I could sit around until my patient is taken care of however that would just slow me down.

[BruinBones]

I would give gifts and/or gift cards to my Admin Assistant and Medical Assistant for their birthdays, Christmas, and Admin Professionals or Nurses Day because I honestly thought they were the best and hardest working in the entire office building. I even brought back gifts for them on my last international vacation before the pandemic. You can express your appreciation and still help them financially without it looking like you are giving them handouts or trying to make up for a cheap health care system.

[Lordosis]

You can show them how to search better jobs on indeed

[StateOfMyHead]

Super nice gesture and I'm sure they will appreciate it however I'd have to agree that by accepting an unacceptable work environment you are enabling a dysfunctional system. In the big picture it isn't doing your staff any favors. These are the individual examples of a systemic problem that has ballooned to allow MBAs to dictate patient care and out of control mid-level encroachment.

[Tim]

“MAs, lab, front desk, manager.”

Pitfalls abound. Don’t try to introduce a “supplemental pay” system.

However, finding a way to express appreciation is always a huge motivator. You need to find a way to distribute this as a “token of appreciation”. 9x $100 x 4 qtrs= $3,600.
A hand written note for each that thanked each one for a specific act as an example efforts above and beyond, with 4 $100 bills for a holiday gift might work. I think using an occasion to express gratitude is preferable to a bonus/supplemental gift.

Gratitude and recognition is more important than the comp/amount. If you want to drop a Benjamin with a thank you note once or 4 times a year as a generous expression of gratitude, so be it. $400 per year is not significant for any of the 9. Its the thought that counts.

You are fooling yourself if you think you are doing anything other than saying thank you.

[Shant]

I would challenge only one aspect of that, to someone making $24k gross a year, $400 is going to be very significant. But I add my voice against enabling bad business practices.

[FIREshrink]

I buy lunch for my staff about 3-4 times per year, and a small holiday gift. The docs together also get holiday gifts ($100) for each staff. You could do more, but what you’ve suggested may - may - be too much. You have to ask yourself if these gifts may contribute to an already imbalanced power dynamic between you and your $12/hr staff. Will they tell you when you’ve made a mistake? Will they favor you and your patients over another provider even if the other provider/patient has a more urgent situation? Would they cover for you if a patient complaint comes in? The ‘gifts’ you’re describing seem excessive in both amount and frequency/regularity to be considered a gift. They could be interpreted as incentives; or bribes. Even if not, they may unconsciously influence behaviors. There is a reason drug rep lunches and gifts are now prohibited by most reputable health care systems. Tread carefully.

[Dontgetthejab]

“MAs, lab, front desk, manager.”

Pitfalls abound. Don’t try to introduce a “supplemental pay” system.

However, finding a way to express appreciation is always a huge motivator. You need to find a way to distribute this as a “token of appreciation”. 9x $100 x 4 qtrs= $3,600.
A hand written note for each that thanked each one for a specific act as an example efforts above and beyond, with 4 $100 bills for a holiday gift might work. I think using an occasion to express gratitude is preferable to a bonus/supplemental gift.

Gratitude and recognition is more important than the comp/amount. If you want to drop a Benjamin with a thank you note once or 4 times a year as a generous expression of gratitude, so be it. $400 per year is not significant for any of the 9. Its the thought that counts.

You are fooling yourself if you think you are doing anything other than saying thank you.

yea I’m not saying that $400 is life changing. I’m just trying to say “thanks for your hard work, keep it up”...

[Dontgetthejab]

Didn’t expect everyone’s concern. Maybe I’ll just buy lunch a few times..

[ACN]

Private practice. I buy my direct staff gifts (cash and gift cards) for their birthdays and Christmas bonus. I buy them lunch or make reps bring lunch for everyone on a monthly basis at minimum.