Logo

Log In Sign Up |  An official publication of: American College of Emergency Physicians
Navigation
  • Home
  • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • Clinical
    • Airway Managment
    • Case Reports
    • Critical Care
    • Guidelines
    • Imaging & Ultrasound
    • Pain & Palliative Care
    • Pediatrics
    • Resuscitation
    • Trauma & Injury
  • Resource Centers
    • mTBI Resource Center
  • Career
    • Practice Management
      • Benchmarking
      • Reimbursement & Coding
      • Care Team
      • Legal
      • Operations
      • Quality & Safety
    • Awards
    • Certification
    • Compensation
    • Early Career
    • Education
    • Leadership
    • Profiles
    • Retirement
    • Work-Life Balance
  • Columns
    • ACEP4U
    • Airway
    • Benchmarking
    • Brief19
    • By the Numbers
    • Coding Wizard
    • EM Cases
    • End of the Rainbow
    • Equity Equation
    • FACEPs in the Crowd
    • Forensic Facts
    • From the College
    • Images in EM
    • Kids Korner
    • Medicolegal Mind
    • Opinion
      • Break Room
      • New Spin
      • Pro-Con
    • Pearls From EM Literature
    • Policy Rx
    • Practice Changers
    • Problem Solvers
    • Residency Spotlight
    • Resident Voice
    • Skeptics’ Guide to Emergency Medicine
    • Sound Advice
    • Special OPs
    • Toxicology Q&A
    • WorldTravelERs
  • Resources
    • ACEP.org
    • ACEP Knowledge Quiz
    • Issue Archives
    • CME Now
    • Annual Scientific Assembly
      • ACEP14
      • ACEP15
      • ACEP16
      • ACEP17
      • ACEP18
      • ACEP19
    • Annals of Emergency Medicine
    • JACEP Open
    • Emergency Medicine Foundation
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Medical Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Awards
    • Authors
    • Article Submission
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright Information

The true value of compensation packages

By Barb Katz, ACEP contributing writer | on April 1, 2013 | 0 Comment
From the College
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Print-Friendly Version

With today’s wild and woolly job market, emergency physician candidates are experiencing an unprecedented variety of items tossed at them, from huge sign-on bonuses to free dry cleaning. It’s especially difficult to sort through all of it and make sense of what has value. What is a sign-on bonus really worth in the long run – or loan payback, hourly salary, bonuses, pensions, retirement, and of course the now popular RVU incentive? These days, I find younger physicians, particularly those just coming out of residency, are more susceptible to fabulous front money and less impressed with the long-term gains. That can be a big mistake. Let’s look at each category.

You Might Also Like
  • The True Value of Compensation Packages
  • 2017–2018 Compensation Report for Emergency Physicians Shows Steady Salaries
  • 2015 Emergency Physician Compensation Report Highlights Regional Salary Trends
Explore This Issue
ACEP News: Vol 32 – No 04 – April 2013

Sign-on bonus

Ah, the wonderful world of short-term bribery … to be honest, that’s what sign-on bonuses are, a bribe to get you to take one job over another. I have nothing against financial gain, being a devoted capitalist from way back, but I like a big bang for my buck.

A $30K sign-on paid when you sign a contract sounds really juicy, doesn’t it? But what if I told you that the average physician blows these dollars long before starting the job and, all too often, figure out in a few months that oops, the chunk of change was nice but the job really sucks! The scenario draws from the same pool of psychology as lottery winnings … found money blown on unimportant frivolities leading to bankruptcy. You know the story.

What I’m starting to see now is a sign-on bonus structure that is spread out over time, rewarding longevity. It’s more of a “Thank you” than a “Please,” and far more valuable in the long run. If you perform well, your value goes up, as does your retention bonus.

Loan payback

With the average grad coming out of residency with an educational debt in $300-$350,000 range, that’s a heck of a big millstone hanging around the neck. Asking employers to help with that used to be a Federal or State Underserved Area perk. But these days, emergency medicine residents are adding it to their must-have lists. Certainly having an employer tell you it will take a third of that debt off your hands is a high-value compensation item, but it all depends on how it is structured.

No one except a desperate lunatic is going to offer $100K in loan payback for signing a 1-year contract. This is strictly a time equals money deal. Expect an average of $20K-$25K a year scenario where you must work 4 or 5 years to realize the full value. And here’s the rub. You’d best be real sure you are going to be happy in the job, because 5years is a long time to be miserable at work! Try to get a pro-rated application of the loan payback, so that if you do decide to leave before the full-time commitment is up, you don’t lose what you have earned to that point.

Pages: 1 2 3 | Single Page

Topics: Career DevelopmentCompensationEmergency MedicineEmergency PhysicianHealth InsuranceThe Career Report

Related

  • ACEP4U: Reinventing Research Education

    June 11, 2025 - 0 Comment
  • EM Runs in the Family

    February 26, 2025 - 0 Comment
  • 2024–2025 Emergency Physician Compensation Report

    September 6, 2024 - 4 Comments

Current Issue

ACEP Now: July 2025

Download PDF

Read More

No Responses to “The true value of compensation packages”

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*
*

Wiley
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertise
  • Cookie Preferences
Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 2333-2603