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Negotiation Practices of Athletic Trainers Employed in the Clinical Setting
Julie M Cavallario1, Brianna L Campbell2, Bailey C Jones3
1Graduate Program Director, Assistant Professor, Athletic Training Program, Old Dominion University.
Context:
Athletic trainers (ATs) are comparatively underpaid relative to peer healthcare professionals. While many factors contribute to salary and benefits of a given employment position, negotiation is a factor of the final salary and benefits package that is achieved. It is unclear to what extent ATs negotiate salary or other terms of employment during the hiring process.
Objective:
To explore the negotiation practices of ATs during the hiring process.
Design:
Cross-sectional.
Setting:
Web-based survey.
Patients Or Other Participants:
587 ATs employed in the clinical setting that previously held at least one full-time employment position.
Main Outcome Measures:
Independent variables included several demographic factors as well as current salary range. Dependent variables were participants' responses to various survey items focused on experiences with salary and terms of employment negotiation. Summary statistics were used to characterize all variables and multiple chi-square analyses (p<.05) were performed to determine significant influences of independent variables on negotiation practices.
Results:
More than half of ATs did not attempt to negotiate their salary (57.6%), and almost three-quarters of ATs did not negotiate terms of employment (70.5%) during the hiring process. The most successfully negotiated terms were moving expenses (72.3%) and continuing education funding/reimbursement (62.7%). The influence of demographic factors on negotiation and negotiation success varied with significant findings for: number of previous full-time employment positions, gender, marital status, salary range, and number of dependents.
Conclusions:
It is alarming that more than half of ATs do not negotiate salary or terms of employment during the hiring process. While widespread training on negotiation practices is warranted, our findings suggest it would be most beneficial for early-career and women ATs. ATs must become comfortable with negotiating salary and terms of employment in order to effect change on the average salary and employment status of those in the profession.
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