It would be great to discuss people's recommendations about productivity based salary. What is a fair metric (or even a very generous one!) that could be negotiated outside of the standard fixed salary + anemic bonus model of many academic departments? I am about to negotiate with an academic center that is in an 'undesirable' location. The RadOnc department recently had a faculty exodus and is now eager to reshuffle and bring new people aboard. The cancer center just recruited a new director with a fantastic national reputation, and they are clearly rebuilding from prior faltered leadership. As a new faculty, I fortunately have the opportunity to select from several treatment sites to take over, including CNS/gamma knife and thoracic which I really enjoy. (Not sure if treatment site/modality is relevant to the compensation model, but this could imply a case load weighted towards brain SRS and lung SBRT.) I always get along very well with colleagues/referrals/patients and anticipate a solid patient base. Though not a business person, my gut feeling is that a productivity model would be advantageous in what is now a very small department. I probably would be unhappy with a largely fixed salary in this non-cush environment where a large percentage of the extra load falls on my shoulders. The downside is that my salary could be low to start, but at least that would correspond to a lower workload in the beginning. Also, because of the current small size of the RadOnc group, do you think any administrative roles within the department or greater cancer center would be to my advantage or could leverage my salary? Just trying to think outside the box...
Would love to hear some words of wisdom! Your advice is greatly appreciated.
Would love to hear some words of wisdom! Your advice is greatly appreciated.