Can any practicing DDS explain to me how they calculate Hygiene Salary?

The office in which I work with is collaborating with its Hygiene staff and are going through salary negotiations. We are thinking about restructuring compensation and I am curious how other offices are paying their hygiene staff. Please include any bonus or commission. Thank you in advance!

Can any practicing DDS explain to me how they calculate Hygiene Salary?
I am paid salary per day. Our office has a bonus system based on collections. If we make over a certain amount a month than all employees get a percentage of this. We all get the same bonus, including me the hygienist. We have found that it keeps the team work in place. We get an allowance for scrubs every six months, and health insurance if we need it.
Reply:My hygienist is paid a fixed (generous) hourly rate. She is paid on the basis of a 7 hour day, which exactly matches the hours she is booked to see patients. In other words, she gets a per diem, but if she works part of a day, we have a basis for paying for that day. "Pay" would not include arriving early, cleaning up, helping others, but the per diem rate is good enough that this is never an issue.





She gets a bonus that is limited to hygiene. I base her bonus on production and not collection, because hygiene collection is virtually 100% and it is easier than keeping track of collections. Also, a "busy" month is rewarded immediately at the end of that busy month so there is better correlation between work produced and bonus collected.





My goal is to have the hygienist produce three times her daily salary. If she produces more than three times her salary, I pay her a bonus of 20% of any excess that she produces. This amounts to pretty much splitting our profits after considering overhead, which runs 60-65%. Since she is guaranteed her base salary regardless of how poor the month was, I do not feel that the bonus needs to guarantee that I realize zero profit from the hygiene department.





She also gets her share of regular office bonus that is calculated exactly the same as it is for everyone else in the office.





If she wanted medical insurance, I would pay 50% of the premium, but she opted out to participate in her husband's plan. I say 50% of the premium, because she only works 2 days a week (out of 4). If she worked 4 days, I would pay 100% as I do for anyone else in the plan. It is a high deductible plan, so this is the way I share the cost with the employees. An annual physical, x-ray and PAP smear are covered 100% with no deductible, so I feel it is still excellent coverage and it is what I chose for myself.





My hygienist is well-liked and has been with me since 1993. She has never worked anywhere else and she says that she plans to stay with me until I retire, so I think she is happy with her compensation. Not to mention, we just installed all new A-dec Cascade %26amp; Radius equipment in her room. :-)
Reply:MOST ARE PAID HOURLY, THAT WAY YOU CAN CALCULATE THE AMOUNT YOU MUST GET PAID ACCURATELY. ALSO SUNDAYS AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS DOUBLE PAY, AFTER HOURS IS OVERTIME USUALLY 1.5 YOUR HOURLY RATE.





YOU CAN DISCUSS THIS WITH YOUR EMPLOYER AND NEGOTIATE IT AS WELL





THE MORE YEARS YOU WORK THE BETTER THE YOUR HOURLY PAY

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