New Study Examines Pay Satisfaction Among Hospital Employees

Oct. 12, 2011 - PRLog -- Chicago, IL – October 12, 2011 – HR Solutions, Inc. released the results today of a new study examining hospital employees’ perceptions of pay across 40 of the most common departments.  The highest-scoring department, Medical-Surgical (e.g., surgeons), ranked 30 percentage points higher on pay satisfaction than workers in the lowest-scoring department, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  The following perceptions were assessed to gauge pay satisfaction: employees’ belief they are paid fairly for their work, employees’ satisfaction their pay reflects the effort they put into their work, and employees’ view on pay fairness between new and experienced employees performing the same job.

The five highest-scoring hospital departments are:
•    Medical-surgical (surgeons) - 54 percent
•    Human resources - 48 percent
•    Coronary care/cardiac surgery intensive care unit (cardiology) - 46 percent
•    Hospice - 44 percent
•    Maternal-child nursing - 43 percent

The five lowest-scoring departments are:
•    Intensive care unit - 27 percent
•    Radiology/imaging - 27 percent
•    Ambulatory - 26 percent
•    Labor and delivery - 24 percent
•    Neonatal intensive care unit - 24 percent

The two highest-scoring departments – Medical-Surgical and Human Resources – think they are compensated fairly for the significant amount of time and effort they put into their jobs.  Labor & Delivery and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit make up the two lowest-scoring departments on pay.  Since those departments are high-stress, emotionally challenging, and potentially undervalued, employees most likely feel a sense of entitlement for greater compensation, and thus perceive their pay to be unsatisfactory relative to other departments.

The study analyzed multi-year data from HR Solutions’ Healthcare Normative Database, which includes survey responses from more than 540,000 employees at over 525 organizations.

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About HR Solutions, Inc.
HR Solutions is a Chicago-based International Human Capital Management Consulting Firm specializing in Physician Engagement, Employee Engagement and Exit Survey design, implementation, analysis and results. For more information, please visit http://www.hrsolutionsinc.com.

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