Client
Children’s HospitalLocation
NortheastECG worked with a nationally ranked, freestanding, acute care children’s hospital with academic and satellite community clinic affiliations on compensation methodology.
This leading children’s hospital has over 400 pediatric beds and provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to patients throughout the Northeast and the world. The organization has one of the world’s largest hospital-based pediatric research programs.
The Challenge
The Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine wanted to establish greater transparency and consistency in its compensation methodology and ensure that compensation reflected faculty members’ efforts across multiple missions. Leadership perceived that a lack of understanding of specific benefits and accrual schedules undermined the organization’s investment in benefits. There was also a pervasive belief that compensation inequity was tied to gender, which underscored the need for transparency and education in this area.
ECG was engaged to evaluate whether total compensation, including benefits and deferred compensation elements, reflected the full breadth and variety of provider effort and aligned with industry benchmarks. Additionally, the organization asked ECG to assess the compensation plan for gender equity, consistency, and transparency across all faculty members.
Our Solution
We conducted a quantitative analysis and market benchmarking as well as a qualitative assessment of the compensation plan based on faculty surveys. The equity assessment covered compensation plan equity and discrepancies in compensation levels across all provider cohorts, including the variable-to-fixed compensation ratio and cash-compensation-to-benefits ratio.
Our Results
At the conclusion of the project, ECG had:
- Determined the market competitiveness of compensation and benefits across all cohorts of providers.
- Analyzed and made recommendations regarding the variable-to-fixed compensation ratio and cash-compensation-to-benefits ratio.
- Assessed and made recommendations on how to improve the compensation plan’s consistency and transparency across different faculty cohorts.
- Determined the need for consistent mechanics and methodologies to calculate compensation and benefits across the department to ensure future transparency and objectivity.
The organization’s compensation committee was charged with developing consistent rates for specialties, training and board certifications, faculty rank and tenure, etc., along with reviewing total compensation levels. The committee will conduct a regular inventory to understand where deviations exist, especially for leadership roles and payments for incremental effort.
