How your benefits increase your pay rate

by | Oct 24, 2022 | Dental Assistant, Dental Hygienists, Dental Job, Dental Professionals, Work Life | 0 comments

Most dental professionals are looking for a dental job that includes benefits in some capacity.  Whether that includes Paid-Time-Off (PTO), Health Insurance or a Retirement plan, receiving any or all of these is wonderful and add great value to your position. And the nice thing is many dental offices are now offering a lot of these benefits and more!

In this post we breakdown the costs of a dental practice providing you paid time off, health insurance and retirement plans. This way you can see how much your hourly wage truly is when you receive benefits in your compensation package.

Paid-Time-Off / Paid Vacation

If you work for an office that gives you 40 hours of sick leave, 40 hours of paid vacation and 48 hours of holiday pay (6 major holidays per year) you are getting a little over 3 weeks of paid time off each year.  That is 5.8% of your annual pay.

Let us break it down:

If you are a dental assistant and you work 40 hours a week making $21/hr, annual pay of $43,680, with 3 weeks of paid vacation, your office is paying you $2,520 annually for not working. And your actual annual pay stays $43,680.

Now, let us look at the alternative.

You work for an office which slightly higher pay at $22/hr but don’t receive paid time off. If you took 3 weeks of PTO or paid vacation every year, at an hourly rate of $22/hr working 40 hours a week, you would be losing $2,640 annually. Which means with an annual pay that should be$45,760 without paid vacation you are only actually making $43,120 annually. Making your actual hourly pay rate $20.73.

Quick Math:

DA, $21/hr, 40 hours a week with 3 weeks of Paid time off = actual hourly pay of $21/hr.

DA, $22/hr, 40 hours a week without paid time off = actual hourly pay of $20.27.

Health Insurance 

Most offices that offer Health Insurance pay about 50% of your premium. For example, if your monthly health insurance is $360, then your office covers $180/month.  If you are working 40 hours a week, that is almost 5% in additional pay.

Let us break it down:

Using that same math as before, if you are a DA making $21/hr, 40 hours a week, which equals $43,680 annually. If your office pays $180 a month for you to have health insurance, that is an extra $2,160 in annual pay. Making your annual pay rate $45,840/yr or $22.04/hr.

Alternatively.

You opt for a job with a higher pay rate at $22/hr, 40 hours a week making $45,760/year. But they don’t cover health insurance, which means the $2,160 they would have paid, now comes out of your pocket. Making your actual annual pay $43,600 or $20.96/hr.

Quick math:

DA, $21/hr, 40 hours a week with health insurance = actual hourly pay of $22.04/hr.

DA, $22/hr, 40 hours a week without health insurance = actual hourly pay of $20.96.

Retirement Benefits 401k and FSA

If your office offers this, they are most likely covering all the fees associated with the plan.  This includes set-up fees (1 time when you join the office), transactional fees (every pay period when you deposit money into those accounts) and then fees for the total assets being held for all the employees.  That is predicted to cost your employer 1% of your annual pay (source: Investopedia). And if they include a match (usually 3 to 6% of what you invest) well that is even better and more money in your pocket!

Let us break it down:

DA, making $21/hr working 40 hours a week = Annual pay of $43,680. If employer is covering cost of 401k that is an additional $436.80 annual, increasing annual pay to $44116.80 or $21.21/hr.

The alternative…

DA making $22/hr, working 40 hours a week = Annual pay of $45,760. If you have to cover that cost of your own retirement plan that is you spending an estimated 457.60 a year. Making your real annual pay $45,302.40 or $21.78/hr.

Quick Math:

DA, $21/hr, 40 hours a week with 401k = actual hourly pay of $21.21/hr.

DA, $22/hr, 40 hours a week without 401k = actual hourly pay of $21.78.

WOW this really adds up!

If you are a Dental Assistant making $21/hr, working 40 hours a week, and add these benefits you are actually making an additional $1.26 an hour.  Making your actual rate of pay $22.26/hr.

Alternatively, if you took a job that offered $22/hr but didn’t offer any of the benefits, you could be losing up to $5,257.60 annually to cover the cost of paid time off, medical insurance and 401k. Making your actual pay rate $19.47! EEK!

When negotiating pay with a new office, please keep in mind the benefits they are offering and what your TOTAL COMPENSATION actually is. The math says taking the job with lower hourly pay IF they are offering full benefits offers you greater compensation that taking the job with a higher pay rate but no benefits.

And there are many more benefits a job could be offering beyond these 3 benefits. Click here to read more about that.

We hope this post helps you understand the value of benefits! And if you aren’t working at a job that gives you all the benefits you need/deserve, head to DirectDental and start searching for a new job today!

Smiles, 

Holli Perez
DirectDental

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