Epi 67:

[00:00] Introduction & Why Contracts Matter for Everyone 

Welcome back to another episode of Stop the Burnout. Okay, we're doing part two of this two-part miniseries on contracts. And again, even if you're not looking for a n- new job or you're not a new grad, even if you're not a veterinarian, I still think there's a lot of juicy good stuff, especially this part two, in talking about contracts and what to have, even if you have an employee agreement.

We're gonna talk about job description and all the things that I think will help reduce the chances of stress and burnout. We'll get into it.

[00:02:00] PTO, Holidays, On-Call Expectations & Defining Workload 

Okay, so we talked about salary a lot, production, all that fun stuff in part one. If you haven't listened to it, go back, because all of this really comes together and is super cohesive.

So on the tail end of the salary aspect, I had mentioned, things like PTO obviously having defined your hours typically, that was, like, at the tail end of part one. But things like holidays, especially if you're working ER, are you on call? How many shifts per week, per month?

What does that look like? And, holidays, are you expected to do X number of major holidays a year, right? Because it all seems very obvious in the moment of, "Oh, we've got three doctors. We just rotate through." But what happens if a doctor's sick or the owner doctor doesn't wanna do holidays anymore, so he just makes his associates, right?

So having that defined in your contract is hugely beneficial, and that way it's just mutually agreed upon.

[00:03:00] Non-Competes & Why You Should Talk to a Lawyer 

The other thing is non-competes, which I didn't mention in part one, but non-competes, if you're here in the US, it's like ping pong at this point. I think those are hopefully going by the wayside, but I think there's enough because there's, there was last time I checked, I actually didn't check it before recording this episode. But there was a case, I think it was in the US Supreme Court, that found that non-competes were not, were unconstitutional, and then it went back and forth, and they, I think they, went back and forth with, I don't wanna say testify. They- anyway, doesn't matter.

I don't know where to stop right now because they're going back and forth and however, I do think as a general rule, we're shying away from that. Because the other thing with a non-compete is sometimes you're affecting people's access to care, too, especially if it's in certain rural areas and if maybe you're a specialist, that's the other thing.

So just before you sign a non-compete, talk to a lawyer, please. Please. But I do think those are going by the wayside, thankfully.

[00:04:00] The Truth About Sign-On Bonuses 

Okay. The other thing I wanna add about salary is these fucking sign-on bonuses. Okay? And sign-on bonuses and Retention bonuses. My God, I'm losing brain cells. Okay, so if you have lived un- under a rock or maybe you just haven't heard of this, but these sign-on bonuses, especially for our newer grads, right?

Some of these, especially during COVID times, were six figures. They were huge. And yeah, I get it, right? You get out of school, you have an enormous amount of student debt that looks real fucking appetizing, and we were like, "I could do anything for three years," right?

Not necessarily because there were a lot of people that they couldn't do the three years.

It was torture, which I totally get.

[00:05:00] The Hidden Cost of Leaving Before Your Contract Ends

So I think they've changed the structure, and if not, I'm gonna talk about some ways to structure a sign-on bonus so that you don't get screwed. In other words, what was happening is people would sign on, they'd get $100,000 sign-on bonus, and they are, to get the sign-on bonus you have to sign on for three years, right?

You have to work there for three years. And they got maybe a year or two into it and were like, "Hell no, I can't do this," for whatever variety of reasons, right? So what happens is they would have to pay back that sign-on bonus, and worse is that they would have to... They've already paid taxes. If you're in the US, they already paid, income taxes or...

And th- those are bonuses, I believe. Again, talk to an accountant. Are taxed differently than just your regular W2 pay.

So they, lost money, right? Because now they had to pay the government on taxes, and then now they have to pay their employee, employer money back.

[00:06:00] A Safer Strategy for Handling Sign-On Bonuses (Verbatim)

So that sucks, and there's nothing worse than feeling like, "Do I somehow come up with $100,000, or do I stick it out another year?"

So I have some thoughts on that. One is that, you could put that money. I know it's easier said than done, especially if you're coming out of school and you have a lot of debt. But putting that money into If they are doing like one sign-on bonus, I don't know, high yield savings account or some sort of high yield even brokerage account where your money can make money and we don't touch it, right?

So that you have a safety net if you have to leave and you're like, "Nope, I, I can't stay here for this period of time," but you didn't spend that money, you have it put away. If you did your period of time, maybe it was three years for your contract, whatever, that money's yours after three years of working there.

But that way your money is still put aside. It's earning money. It's doing something for you, and it's your out. It's like your parachute.

[00:07:00] Why Installment Sign-On Bonuses Are Better for Everyone

Again, talk to an accountant.

The other thing that I'm seeing is that the corporations are getting a little bit smarter, where I'm sure it was a nightmare for them to get back that money.

But ... And that sucks too, 'cause what if you ... Is it prorated, right? If you signed $100,000, right? And that's obviously it's a crazy sign-on bonus, but they were out there a few years, excuse me, a few years ago.

But if you work two years, and then you didn't work the full three that your contract was, and you don't get any of that money, so it's like that sucks.

So what the companies are s- doing or I'm seeing now is that, "Hey, we'll give you a sign-on bonus, but it's paid out in increments," so 30, 60, 90 days or three months, six months, nine months, 12 months, whatever.

[00:08:00] Incremental Payouts & A Win-Win Contract Structure (Verbatim)

So that way if- And I'll just use 100,000 because it's a round number, but say you got $100,000. Instead of getting that on day one of employment, it would be broken up into, say, you got it paid over the course of a year, and maybe your contract was just a year, right?

So first quarter, you got $25,000. Next quarter, you got $25,000, right?

So if you only worked six months and you got $50,000, then that's, part of your contract of, this is a set amount, and whatever I work up to that point, I get.

So even if you left before that year and maybe that was written in your contract that you get to keep whatever you...

you didn't get $100,000, but you got 50,000 'cause you stayed there for the six months.

[00:09:00] Retention Bonuses & Rewarding Existing Employees

So that is something to consider to have in your contract, and I think honestly it's a win-win for both the employee and the employer because now your employer's getting their ass covered, and they're not gonna have to go run around and find money from someone that might not have it.

And then you aren't getting put in that position and aren't be put in, aren't put in that position tax-wise, right? Of having to pay taxes and then having to pay the money back.

So those are some things to kinda consider with sign-on bonuses.

The other thing is, and again, like I said in the first episode, everything is negotiable because re- a retention bonus, right?

So I have heard stories where someone has worked for a company for three years, and they don't have a retention bonus. But the new grads they're hiring, I think this was actually happening during COVID, the new grads they're hiring are coming in and getting that huge ass bonus. And they're like, "But I have been working here, and I..."

You know what I mean? So there's different thoughts. I'm

 [00:10:00] Retention Bonuses & Rewarding Long-Term Employees 

not gonna go down the road of, is it, is that good business to have a retention bonus? Whatever, right? That's totally up to the business owner. But, having a retention bonus in there too, is something sometimes people will also, have into their contract.

If I get my sign-on bonus over the course of, I don't know, a year, and then if I'm still here in two years, I get a retention bonus or whatever. So that's something to consider because there's nothing worse than, you're the experienced doctor there. They're hiring new grads.

They're getting crazy sign-on bonuses, and you're like, "What the hell?" Now, the other side of the coin is people would say you should just be glad that you have a job, and sure. But just know that a retention bonus is a thing. And, that can look like anything, however you wanna create that.

[00:10:45] Health Insurance: Looking Beyond the Benefit

Okay.

So The other thing we're gonna get into here, is benefits. And again, I'm not an HR person, it's not a specialty in benefits, but these are things to consider and think about when you are getting your contract either renewed or signing a new one.

So health insurance, right? Health insurance, if you're in the US, it is not at this point something, as of this recording, something that is paid by government for everyone.

So looking at the health insurance and what it actually covers because if you are someone that maybe you're married or you're on your partner's health insurance, and you get a job and they're like, "Oh, we'll pay, your health insurance." And you're like, "All right, cool." But then you look and you're like, "This plan sucks."

And maybe you have to pay, I don't know, I've seen like $15,000 deductibles before the insurance actually kicks in. Is it really a good deal, right?

[00:12:00] Declining Employer Health Insurance

And then there are some employers that if you say, "Nope, I already have health insurance, I don't need your health insurance," they will say, "Okay, that's fine, but we're not giving you any more money."

In other words- If you signed up for our health insurance, we would pay half, right? So maybe as the company, they're gonna pay, just for numbers sake they're like, "We're gonna pay $250," 'cause your- their monthly payment premium is $500, right? We're gonna pay half.

Okay, so then 250 gets taken out of your pay for you to pay your half, right? And that's what a lot of employers do.

But if you say, "Oh, I'm not gonna take the insurance, I'm gonna go on my partner's," some companies won't give you that 200 back. They'll just say, or 250, "We just won't take it out. We won't take yours out, but we're not giving our part that we would pay."

We're not gonna give you extra. We're not gonna give you an extra $250 a month that would've gone to insurance.

So that's something to determine and figure out.

[00:13:00] Comparing Health Plans & Other Covered Benefits

Obviously, that's gonna be based on what does the health insurance look like? What does it cover? Does it cover things that you might need, like dental or vision or your kids, right?

ChatGPT, I hate to say it, is a pretty decent one for this. It's not gonna be the end-all be-all, but you could put certain things in and say "Compare these two plans," right? And it might have some thoughts on things that you didn't know of or didn't think of. So that's one way to look at it.

Okay. Benefits, especially as an associate, we talk a lot about, the employer covering costs of like licensing. So if you're in the US, your state license, your DEA license, and maybe being part of a local or state veterinary organizations like AVMA or like I'm in Florida, there's the FVMA, Florida Veterinary Medical Association.

We even have county veterinary medical associations.

Will they pay for those?

[00:14:00] Licensing, Memberships & Defining What the Employer Pays

Because the other thing is, and most do, like that's common of what I see, if they won't pay for AVMA, but- They have, and we'll get into liability insurance, they have liability insurance through some- someone else, but you wanna get liability insurance through AVMA, you have to be a member.

And it... I don't remember how much it was at the new year. Usually it's when you do it, like in December, January, but I wanna say it was over $300 to first be a member and then get liability insurance on top of that.

So having that defined of what licensure they're actually covering instead of having it...

I've seen it in contracts where it's like, "Cover, local and state licensing."

What the hell does that mean?

That's... have that defined in your contract.

[00:15:00] Personal vs. Hospital Liability Insurance

And on that note, so liability insurance.

Now, again, I don't claim to be a specialist on any of this. This is just what I've learned and s- and saw, and obviously having had to work for myself for the past almost seven years, I had to do all the liability and health insurance.

I had to do that all myself 'cause I am my own corporation, essentially.

So with liability, I didn't actually know this was a thing. I saw something pretty recently that if you work as an associate, making sure that, again, a lot of times in a contract it says, "Oh, we'll pay for liability insurance," but are they paying for, umbrella liability insurance for the four vets that work at your practice?

Or do they have individual plans for each person?

Because I would argue that maybe an individual plan for each person might cover you better. I don't know.

But that would be something to look into.

It never even crossed my mind that was a possibility.

[00:16:00] License Defense Coverage & Liability Insurance

So definitely looking and again, having this defined in your contract of is it a personal pl- like a personal policy or is it a hospital policy?

And if you're here in the US, the license defense fund or license defense covered, AVMA does this, that is a separate in and above your regular liability insurance.

So what that is maybe a client doesn't sue you, but they take you to the board.

If you have liability insurance, sometimes your liability insurance will only cover if you get sued.

But if they're not suing you, but they're taking your license to the board, then that license defense coverage will help for you to have a- an attorney, right?

To help you walk you through that, which is That's a no-brainer.

But that is separate from just straight liability insurance.

So you have to have that.

[00:17:00] Questions to Ask About Liability Insurance

And again, AVMA has that.

There are some people I know as relief vets that have different liability insurance than AVMA that was cheaper.

Again, you have to do your research, and that would be one huge question to ask.

Another question that I've heard with liability insurance is, I believe, I don't know 100%, that AVMA won't just settle.

If a client does sue you, they won't just settle if it's under a certain amount. Like they have to get your okay.

So I have heard other companies will just, if it's under a certain amount or other circumstances, they don't ask for your input, they don't take your input, and they will just settle.

Meaning, you could potentially look like you're liable even if you weren't, but you settled with a client and paid X amount of money.

So then that lives on forever, right?

That you settled.

So that may not be a situation where you're like, "Fuck no. There was no way I was in the wrong on this, and then I just settled," right?

So that is something to look into.

[00:18:00] PTO, Sick Time & Earning More Time Off

Okay.

We talked a little bit on part one about PTO and sick time, and again, having that defined is important.

Some people have it as days or number of hours.

I always think it's nice if you've worked for, after one year, two year, whatever, like your PTO increases.

I think anyone that is in the US, we'd all argue that we don't take all our PTO and we don't even have a lot, right?

Overseas, they get, or in other countries, there's a, like a large amount of PTO, and it is used readily, right?

So having the ability to have more PTO the longer you work there and having that in your contract is helpful.

[00:19:00] PTO, Production Pay & Why Some People Avoid Vacation

The other thing to remember is we talked about pro sal in part one.

Keep this in mind.

If you take vacation in a period of time, in a month, say you took a week off, right?

In that month, you are obviously g- seeing less patients, and you're producing less money, so you might not even meet your minimum that to bill out before you actually get paid again.

Or get, excuse me, get your production.

So some people I've found don't like to take, I found myself doing this, not like to take vacation because then they can't get a bonus check and so it's almost like you get penalized in a way for taking a vacation.

Now, you can be strategic about it.

So some people that, say, they worked Monday through Thursday, they would take two days vacation, and they would take that Thursday and that Monday, right?

So they almost had a long... They had from Thursday to Monday off, and they went on a longer vacation, right?

So they didn't, they only took two days off essentially.

So there's ways around that.

But just know that, if you're looking at your vacation, some people are like, "Oh, I have all this vacation time," but then they don't wanna take it because say you do work those other three weeks of the