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Hiring office staff, wage gap CEO to low earners thought


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Everyone I talk to is having trouble hiring low paying positions

maybe due to the $300 unemployment bonus?

maybe due to these people gave up on the profession that they had prior to covid

 

one more thought this AM

 

Maybe the low paying people have finally had it with the crappy pay when CEO and management folks are robbing the companies blind to pay their silly salaries.  Maybe, just maybe low wage positions will get raises to be more of a living wage???

 

 

thoughts???  (this is NOT a political thread and please to not try to make it into one - adversarial posts will be deleted with out warning) 

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Had many FTE MAs making 10-12/ hr in family practice! Most had families to care for and ironically couldnt receive services at our clinic because most were on medicaid. Of course many of the staff left for better pay and better quality of life (family practice is brutal on everyone member of the healthcare team). I once had to beg HR to give $1 raise to get my lowest earning MA to $11. It was like pulling teeth.

Low and mid level management is also paid pennies btw. Unless you have RN in your title as a manager, in my experience, clinic management gets shafted.

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The MA turnover and shortage at my old workplace has been constant, long before covid. The pay is crap, the stress is high, the patients and sometimes the docs can be difficult, and the benefits are awful if you have more than yourself to cover for medical pay. The previous HR lady (who was there for over two decades) only cared about one thing (short term costs). Who cares if the quality of the MAs is crap and increases provider frustration. Who care if the constant turnover means lots of stuff slips through the cracks and looks bad on the practice. If I had no education, I would definitely just start working at Chipotle or In N Out and work my way up to manager one day.

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I remember quitting my scribing job as soon as I got into PA school and doing substitute teaching while waiting to start school. I was quite over being on my feet all day and putting up with some of the physician and office manager personalities while I could sit in a class all day and get paid more doing it.

I've really come to believe that healthcare has a toxic and archaic culture that is more resistant to change than any other industry. I look at my friends who have been working from home while sipping Sangria since the start of the pandemic and really doubt my choice of the career (commuting over 2 hours to work; working prn; worrying about being sued/assaulted/exposed to COVID and other pathogens).

Edited by iconic
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My local community college is offering MA training for free (state grant.)  I thought about trying to push my offspring to do this, but then decided not to when I realized that she could make at least as much money working retail or at the local Amazon warehouse.  The only reason I can see to be an MA is to use that for healthcare hours to get into a higher up healthcare program.  Where I work, it is terribly difficult to keep front desk staff or counselors.  They can easily get jobs at similar pay without having to have patients yell at them all day.

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Yep...my employer can't figure out why the can't hire MAs at $12.50/hour.  Doesn't help that the other two somewhat local hospitals start at $13.50 and $14.00.  Only reason my MA hasn't left is because I treat her well and because she likes "serving her community hospital" (her words...literal quote).

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The private practice ortho surgery place where I work starts MAs with no experience at $19/hr (outside very high cost area to live). They're struggling to find MAs so badly that in order to avoid hiring a bad apple who ruins the clinic culture, the other PA-C and I are now doing MA duties occasionally when we aren't first assisting. I think unemployment benefits drop closer to normal come September but no guarantees.

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Yea I worked for a Catholic hospital system that started their MAs at $12.50/hr because they had a mission and people should just want to help.

They used to make me laugh because every pay voucher was accompanied by a notice of an "opportunity" to give to their favorite charity....them.

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