Occupational Therapy is a business – we are in the business to help people recover from their injuries, be hope dealers in that they can be pain-free, and give expert advice and strategies to solve the problem they are coming to you for.
We get paid when we do our jobs. We get paid even more when we are the best.
Strategies to ask for a raise as an Occupational Therapist
Based on your scorecard – make sure you’ve met your productivity requirements AND exceeded them. Show proof. You don’t have control of how much to charge, BUT you have full control over your charges and CHARGING appropriately so that your company makes money. Show them that.
- Show that you are treating X number of patients.
- Show that you are charging appropriately, and if they are not collecting…they should be looking at that part of the business.
- Show the average number of visits each patient STAYS with you for – are they finishing their care plan with you? Are they staying LONGER because they value the work to get them to 100% (not this 50% shit and you want them to do it themselves – I can talk on this more later)
When asking for a raise, show proof that you are bringing MONEY into a company – into a business. If you are busy one month and slow for two months, there’s no profit to give you random raises.
When working for a BIG corporation or hospital, you need to have a whole different conversation.
I had three years in acute care when I asked for a raise. I also asked for a title change. I had NO idea what was important to them. I had no idea how to ask or the best way to ask.
And when they said NO, the manager didn’t even say no. Instead, she said that if I didn’t want to do XYZ, she could get someone else to do it.
Terrible response from a manager. I could have done better in how to ask. She could have done way better in her answer.
When talking to your manager for a raise:
- Find out what is important for your role.
- Find out what is possible for a raise within the company.
- Get clear from them what metrics you need to hit to then go back to ask for that raise.
When I was working there in the big hospital, I had no idea what my metrics needed to be in order to just hit the basics much less to ask for a raise. All I knew was that I needed to see X number of visits per day. And I hit them consistently.
That is not enough to ask for a raise.
But I didn’t know what I didn’t know. From a business perspective, I hope that I can guide you to know how to ask for more money, not just blindly ask for more without supporting information.
You can increase your chances of getting what you want AND feel less frustrated when you don’t get what you want. Because you just got valuable information for what you need to do next.
For those of you who don’t have a full-time position, more money for you can simply mean increasing your hours! Work more hours, and get more money!
What are you personally doing to DRIVE more business into your company? Or onto your schedule? Because money and skills are compounded over time, it’s not a one-time thing.
It’s easy to blindly ask for more money because you want to make more, you see your “worth” as being more. In life, you are worth MORE than any paycheck.
In the marketplace, your worth comes down to you being able to help other people, solve other people’s problems, and do what other people can’t do – provide treatment.
This is a place where you can develop your skills, sharpen them, grow your confidence, and if one day you want to open your own clinic, create a business for yourself, you will have the skills to do so. And you’ll know how to do it for yourself because you were able to do it for another company.
Become an Expert in Hand Therapy
Develop your skills and grow your confidence with my programs. Become a Certified Hand Therapist and expert in your area. Have an amazing career, more choices, and even open your own clinic in your city – just like I did. It’s your turn.
Get started here, grab the details of the Hand Therapy Mentorship program. Get the framework to help you with any patient that comes your way. You don’t have to wait your turn to become a Hand Therapist. Get the skills and confidence you deserve to advance your career, help any patients that come your way, and feel sure about what to do and what to say.
