Bearded Biomed

The 2022 HTM Salary Survey

March 15, 2023 Chace Torres/ Keri Stephens Season 2 Episode 17
Bearded Biomed
The 2022 HTM Salary Survey
Show Notes Transcript

I am joined by Chief Editor of 24x7 Magazine and the purveyor of the HTM Salary Survey Keri Stephens. We discuss what sticks out to us about this years survey. Things to keep an eye on and interesting trends that have developed. If you want to see the actual break down of the salary ranges across the United States check out the link below:

http://digitaledition.24x7mag.com/x7mag/diged/20230102/index.html

Watch the video podcast on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLisOVWzYA0rq9UrYCz7fU7HNBjXgwc8DG

Chace Torres:

Welcome back bearded guys and gals to an all new episode of the bearded biomed. I am joined by Carrie Stephens, friend of the show 24/7. Magazine chief editor. Welcome, Carrie. It's been a, it's been a scheduling thing here and there, get you on here. But welcome to the 2023 version of beer to biomed. I'm happy to have you on.

Keri Stephens:

I'm happy to be here.

Chace Torres:

And we all know, folks, what's the main one thing that we just love and look forward to every year from 24/7? It's the HTM salary survey. It is a honestly a staple that I think everybody looks forward to, because we want to see what the trends are, what are some of the, you know, the insights that this this huge demographic survey of just different conglomerates and different aspects of the, you know, the whole biomed infrastructure across the states? Really, it gives so much information? That's very interesting every year. And, you know, we embarked last year on the very first one on the show, and I think, you know, it'd be silly not to continue that trend every year going forward. So Carrie, I'll leave it to you what's, what would you say? is the number one trend that you came across? Or the thing that stuck out to you most? From the survey? Well, I

Keri Stephens:

think what was really interesting is in 2022, so it comes out in 2023. But we salary we survey for the year before there was a lot more women in the industry. So in 2021 Women comprise 11% of the survey respondents and in 2022, that was 2020 to 2%. So it doubled. And it just kind of speaks to the new the trend of I guess, I think in the past, you know, the industry has always been so male dominated, but we are really getting younger blood and you know, more females in the industry. And, you know, as we this month is the Women's International Women's month. And I think that's really cool to point out that we're getting more women in the industry because it's been a longer fitting. Yeah, and I mean, still I know 2020 22% Not even a quarter, but it's it's notable. I mean, each year, we see it ticking up a little bit. And the fact that doubled in 2022, I think is extremely notable.

Chace Torres:

Now that's that's huge. For one, I like that more people are engaging with your survey, because the more data that you guys collect, it gives us a better snapshot of what's going on, you know, between the biomed pay landscape vert. I think not only you mentioned that, I want to say Justin from better biomed as well, he was looking through his demographics, and he's noticed an uptick of his female subscribers as well. So you know, I've seen more also female interaction on a lot of the the biomed groups. And I think it's safe to say that we're starting to finally get an influx of more female talent into the biomed ranks, which is what we need. You know, wouldn't it be amazing if, let's say, 510 years from now, we could say half the field is female. I think

Keri Stephens:

it'd be amazing. So I have a daughter who's almost nine, and she is really interested in STEM careers. I was actually telling her about the biomed career, you know, Mommy does this as I work for. And she's like, Oh, that's, that's interesting. And I think, you know, I mean, not to give away my age, but someone that grew up in the 90s. I don't think a lot of women were told they could do these jobs. I mean, I know for myself, it was, you know, the STEM careers were really, really not discussed. And I think it's amazing. And I really hope this continues. And then yeah, in 510 years, you know, it is 50% because women are outpacing men and graduating from college and all that. So I think the fact that we're getting more women in the fields very notable, so I was really excited to see that. And it was it was actually really surprising. I didn't expect to see that. So

Chace Torres:

it makes me glad that we kind of waited to do the episode during this month anyway, because it just makes it more convenient.

Keri Stephens:

It's cool. It's a really cool thing. And also, you know, another thing we really noticed in the survey was an uptick in respondents that are pursuing further educate Asian so 35% of respondents said they are currently pursuing formal education the 2020 survey 2022 survey and in 2021, that was only 18%. So I mean, that's also notable. So more women more education.

Chace Torres:

Yeah. Anybody that's listened to my show maybe a couple episodes, I harp on continuing education. Yeah, our field requires that it does. You know, we go through the DoD biomed program, the maybe, you know, civilian college program, Amy's pipeline program through apprenticeship, what have you. That's just the building block, that's the foundation, then you got certifications, you see HDM, your C bet your network certifications, then you can go into, you know, I've seen, there's bottle beds out there that have master's and doctorates. So what does all that lend you? Well, for one, it's going to lend you more money, because you can argue for that. But our field is so intrinsically dependent upon continuing your education, whether that also be through going to OEM manufacturer training as well, your left see, right, see, learning from a senior tech or somebody experienced in a particular modality. We're always constantly learning. So that was an exciting step for me that probably my you know, right after the female uptick in engagement on the survey, the learning aspect of people going out and getting furthering their education was very exciting to see.

Keri Stephens:

It was we need more than we do, I mean, for the industry to grow and get the respect it deserves. We need more education, and especially, you know, with all the cybersecurity issues, the medical devices phase, we need an educated industry to basically thwart that, because yes, I know, it is. A lot of times in charge of the cybersecurity but the biomed, he professionals, they're the experts at the devices. So we need, we need education, because you know, you all are the ones that know how to what these equipment does, and basically, why, you know, the key vulnerabilities that that the equipment faces, so

Chace Torres:

no thing I want to point out to those watching listening, is if you are planning on taking either the C bet, or the CH TM, maybe this year, or it's just in your, your future scope, and you don't have any of that material, I recommend that you reach out to me because I can hook you up with it, I can give you some suggestions and you know, assist you any way that I can. In getting that accomplished for yourself. I'm planning on probably getting my C bet as well. I probably should have gotten it a long time ago, but I was focused on getting my degrees covered first. Then I got C htm last last year, and it's already been a year. So yeah, see bets next on the docket. You know, if I'm gonna harp on continuing education, then I also got to do the work myself. Y'all can't call me out on it. I can't be a hypocrite on the mic. So good job, everybody going out and getting getting, you know, new accolades, new credentialing, it's always it's always fun to see, especially for the younger emerging generation into the biomed. Continue to get after it. And it's gonna be rewarding one way or another, especially when you're looking for promotions, pay raises, etc. Speaking of pay raises, yeah. We had some interesting figures as well. And I'm sure we'll break, I think we can break down a little bit of what we think is happening here. But across the landscape, it looks like we did have some raises. We did, are there any notable ones that I think we should start with? Yeah, the Mountain

Keri Stephens:

West region and and the good thing about our salary survey is we break it down, you know, by region. So because obviously there are discrepancies, certain regions are more expensive to live in. And we do tend to see higher salaries in those areas. But the Mountain West, outpaced most other regions and the survey be that twos really had big financial group. Their median salaries grew from 60,500 to 75,100. Year over year and 2022. So that's big. Oh, and the beam at ones in the Mountain West saw their salaries go up from 47 500 to 67,200. Yeah. These are big numbers. I mean, yeah, huge. I mean, definitely outpacing inflation, which is what we want to see. So, obviously, region's growth. But yeah, I mean, the salaries, I've seen more impressive salary growth in certain years, it was it was definitely there. But again, life is a lot more expensive now. So, you know, we also have inflation to consider with all of this.

Chace Torres:

Yes, I think what's interesting is, I mean, I think, across any workforce, we can account for inflation, you know, to justify some of these raises. Cost of living has gone up. But like you had mentioned before, is you see more impressive raises in the past as well. Yeah. Could it also, I think we could probably correlate one of those trends being with people got out there, got more education, got their credential enough. So that could have facilitated a raise or promotion. Also, people have just been in the field longer. So they could have warranted a raise based on you know, what was your, your performance, like, etc. But I think a big part of it is probably inflation. And looking at some of the numbers, some of them outpaced inflation, some of them probably are, like, tip toeing that line a little bit. And I think what's going to be fascinating is to see what's going to happen with, you know, the market and what the Fed is planning on doing with raising the interest rates even more. I had watched a conversation with Jerome Powell, and I think they're planning on still raising interest rates. To give you all an idea, currently right now, so this is not me flexing, my credit score, or whatever. But I have an 800 credit score, currently in the market for buying a house because I have a kid on the way. We just need more room. I'm already crowded as my podcast and work environment is right next to a crib just because we don't get the room. So looking for a larger house, we got to offer in a cetera. With my payment history, my credit scores. It's really good. Still, I'm getting the 7% interest rate on this house that I'm getting. When, early last year, we were probably between that two to 4%. Yeah, absolutely. And the Feds talking about raising rates even further from where it is right now. Because if that if that doesn't give you pause, or you know, to plan effectively, it's going to be a problem. So it's possible we could see even further growth. And, you know, what people are getting for this upcoming payroll cycle?

Keri Stephens:

Well, if you're not getting a raise, you're getting basically, you know, salary. Yeah,

Chace Torres:

that's what I Yeah.

Keri Stephens:

Yeah, with with inflation. I mean, I did want to point out, so clinical engineers nationwide, did the best in 2022. So they, their median salaries grew 14,300, year over year to 103 1500. So that was big. That was very big. Managers also broke the six figure ceiling finally, and they saw their salaries nationwide. Go up 210,500. So that was a 10,700 year rear bumper. So you know, I mean, these are these are good numbers, but Vemma threes. Oddly, they saw the slowest salary growth along with Director executives. So I mean, certain job titles definitely fared better than others in 2022. And that's something we've seen every year.

Chace Torres:

Well, I got my promotion last year after sitting at a beam at free position for four to five years. Why what I started the company with probably you know, is your six years from now is be met once entering the workforce or getting paid more than I was at Tech three, that's crazy. I think a part of the reason tech threes are not getting as much of a jump is they're kind of established Lee priced into the market already whereas biomed ones with cost of living adjustment inflation, they're gonna see a more rapid rise or when it comes to their pay rate just because they're on the lower tier of that pay rate. So there's more adjustment that has to occur to one be enticing for somebody to come work for you. But to to make sure that you're not pricing yourself out in the market as well as a in house position or a ISO company OEM whatever. That's just, I think maybe just an aspect of it. I don't think it's the full answer but it would make sense that you know, your, your twos threes and your managers already have a price index placed into the hole of what we're going to pay each other, whereas the tech ones is just the pay rate. Yeah, speaking with other seniors in the in the field, it's way different than when I was talking to one of our female leaders the other day. And she said, when she entered the workforce back in the day, she as a as a tech one was $8. And some change. Oh, my gosh, we've been in for a while. But if you can imagine $8 as a biomed, back in the day, and now people are making 2527, even higher an hour. Right. That's a huge difference. Absolutely. So it. Again, I think a big part of like you were alluding to, I think a lot of it's inflation. But you know, it's also the cost of living has just gone up. And I don't think that's going to change, I'd be willing to bet that we're going to see another adjustment, probably after these rates hit again later this year.

Keri Stephens:

Yeah, I mean, you're probably right. I did want to mention, so you mentioned ISOs, ISOs, had a much bigger presence in this year's survey than in past years. So I'm talking about represent. Yeah, yeah, it was way up. And, but I will say, well, something that was way down. And I don't know if this correlates, the ISO presence, I don't know, is the benefits were actually down people's. All across the board, they were down, so you know, what everything was offered. So that was a little disappointing. Like only 30, I'm sorry, 83% of respondents to get PTO. And that was way down from the year before. So I thought that was interesting. And only 81% of respondents were get health insurance, which to me is way too low.

Chace Torres:

Okay. So my company I currently work for does a pretty, pretty good job at providing benefits and PTO and stuff like Apple, even they fall short of providing certain things that, let's say a Banner Health System in house programs going to provide because they have way more employees way more staffing there, they're not going anywhere, right. For instance, I have a baby on the way. But since my company is under 50 employees, I can't use they don't offer FMLA leave even to you know, the person giving birth. Just because they don't have to honor that we can use our PTO or just take time off without getting pay. But you know, you compare that with an in house program that has hundreds if not 1000s of employees, they're going to have better insurance, they're going to have better benefits that smaller ISO companies are going to have. That's one of the things that I recommend people looking at getting into, you know, a field service position with the ISO company is obviously pays important. But you also have to weigh what are benefits are coming with the position? Are you getting PTO, which to me seems kind of crazy that you don't get any paid and leave off at all? I thought it was I mean, I get PTO, but I don't have like sick days, for instance. Okay, so you need to look at you got PTO. Do you? Are you getting any kind of health insurance, dental insurance, Vision Insurance? Usually all that's wrapped into one? Yeah. Are you getting this is a company offered tuition reimbursement, a lot of companies don't do that. I think our company does as well. But there's so much more involved than just the pay structure. And sometimes that can impact what they're going to pay you as well, because of providing you all these other services. But that's something that people need take a hard look at. Because if you're if you're running a ISO company with, you know, just a handful of guys, you can't provide all of those benefits. So I would hope that they're subsidizing that with your pay and giving you more than to, you know, allow you to go out and find those benefits. But that is something that everybody needs to account for when they're looking for a position.

Keri Stephens:

Yeah, the fact that 19% of companies representing this survey are not offering health insurance to me is crazy, because I mean, that's such a basic need. And you know, some people I'm sure getting it through their spouses or by you know, but still that's that's a huge to me disservice for people not to be offered health insurance.

Chace Torres:

It's rough out there. Yeah, for sure. So, obviously, as well along with your survey, you also ask questions because you know of experiences that you might have with your current job based on your position, maybe you ask people, What are some things that you see within the field or their current position? Were there any notable like comments or answers that people left for the survey?

Keri Stephens:

People really just talked about being overworked and the staffing challenges and supply chain challenges. I mean, that those seem to be the top I would say gripes but also mean people, as they do every year really praise the field for the the diversity of equipment and just the ability to impact patient care. Those were the top pros for working in HCM. But people did talk about just the difficulty getting parts and how their imports a lot right now, and just how they're one person trying to do the job of five people. I've heard that a lot. That was That seems to be a big theme and this year survey.

Chace Torres:

Supply chain has been egregious, to say the least. I think it was more impactful probably that that quarter four of last year when you couldn't get defibrillator batteries pads. Yeah, basic stuff that everybody needs. Just accessory wise, like you just it wasn't available anywhere. I think that's slowly been accounted for. And part of that, you know, with with the the chips stuck with the canals transport across, you know, continents, like there was all kinds of stuff that was just going on this creating this weird gap in availability, some of that slowed down, but there is still a backlog of parts right now. Some of the main OEMs that we go to for medical devices for parts, supplies, whatever. They're telling us two, three, sometimes weekly times, sometimes months for getting parts out for your repairs. So this isn't I don't think it's going away anytime soon. Yeah. Another thing that I've noticed is a lot of the suppliers are also adding fuel surcharges. Their prices have gone up on damn near every part they have. So I'm not saying that a medical OEMs are price gouging right now. But I mean, across just any, any market right now. That's kind of that's kind of been the theme, or at least what people are talking about is a lot of lot of companies are just raising their prices for no reason. And they're just they're saying that supplier that's that's definitely an aspect of it.

Keri Stephens:

Yeah, that's interesting. And I mean, again, with a shortage is the personnel shortage was mentioned continually. One of the comments I'll read in the comments we got one person wrote, I am one person averaging 160. PMS is that's not including service calls. I'm responsible for five departments, including 40 operating rooms. I'm supposed to be a team of four, but we are having a hard time finding qualified candidates. And then another person wrote, we were able to keep up with our workload two years ago with nine technician technicians, and now they're only five of us. So it seems to be these these departments are consolidating, and people are overworked. I mean, 45% of respondents call their workload heavy and 10%. Call it excessive. So while people are saying they love the industry, they're overworked. That's that's been a common thing I heard throughout the day. I told

Chace Torres:

people in January episodes aren't rolling out right now because I am behind in work. Yeah, I'm sure. Just by myself. I had 2100 scheduled work orders for myself for January. I caught up at the end of February on that. Well, luckily, February wasn't as harsh. But I can sympathize with that. Yeah, for the people out there that especially that gentleman was talking about they went from nine to five. There's also been a difficulty finding candidates. I mean, right now my current company we're searching for two open by one biomed one positions and the besides finding somebody that we like I'd say 70% of the interviews we schedule over the past month. No, no call no shows. Wow. Like didn't even and to get to my corporate office. I'm driving an hour just to go speak with this person in person. No call no show. I had somebody do it twice in a row. Okay, well, I have this gone. Okay, We'll reschedule for next week to drive out there again, nobody shows up didn't hear anything. It's i i understand that, uh, you have no obligation to meet with us or, but my thing is you applied to come work for our company. Yes, I'm a little bit old school in that retrospect is if I am seeking you out for a position I'm at least going to give you the courtesy of, Hey, I found something else. I changed my mind something but they just disappear off the face of the earth.

Keri Stephens:

You know, I heard that a ton. And one of my best friends is a corporate recruiter, and she said she gets ghosted continually, and I'm like, I

Chace Torres:

hate it. It is the worst feeling ever.

Keri Stephens:

Do you not like those people?

Chace Torres:

I mean, because I'm willing to build somebody up from the ground up i i would rather somebody acknowledge that they don't know how to work on everything and be willing to learn and teach them everything. Then somebody that says they know everything and then find out they're not that good. But it's it's I don't even I'm not even complaining about the pool of credible candidates. I'm I'm Mark plenty out there is there is a an enigma right now within the hiring pool of biomed. It's of just common courtesy, respect, timeliness. You know, I'm Army. So if you're on time you're late. If we schedule an interview for 9am, I, I'd probably be live ready to go at 850. I've had a candidate or to show up 20 to 30 minutes late, with not really an excuse. And this is on a zoom call. Yeah. Wow. So I, I've spoken to other hiring managers out there. It's, it's not just me, I know everybody's still in the pain right now. For those of you that are entering the workforce, or biomed ones, you'd be so surprised that the impression, you could leave just by one showing up but showing up at least 510 minutes early, it does leave an impression. For the gentleman that was talking about his workforce being depleted from nine to five, like we had spoken of. There are tools out there that I'd have to do a little bit of digging, but people have built ways for you to calculate based on the amount of equipment that you have to service and the manpower, you have to service that amount of equipment. And you can use that to justify either increasing your team if you already don't have those positions available. I know some systems are just they're just downsizing period. They don't care if you need the manpower or not if you can justify it through numbers. But I do know after speaking to some people that they don't even know that this exists. I would probably think if if I had to guess it probably be through Amy, that has done this. But there are tools out there to help you justify increasing your team based on your workload. So if anybody has any information, share it in the comment section or shoot me an email, I'll disseminate that. I'm probably going to look a little bit more into that as well, because we need some more help too. But

Keri Stephens:

well, you're doing a great job with Purina biomed. And I think just how you're getting the word out about the profession is amazing.

Chace Torres:

And is there anything else notable that we should cover before I let you go today?

Keri Stephens:

I think just the main thing is, you know, we do this survey every year for the profession. And it's really cool to meet people, especially at ame. Every year people come up to me and say, you know, thank you for the survey, this helped me get a raise. And it's funny before the survey comes out, I get so many emails from from readers just asking, when is this data coming out, you know, I need to go to my boss so just it's it's awesome how we know that this survey is really able to serve the profession and help y'all get the raises you need and just justify why you're being paid certain amounts, and then, you know, if you see that you're being underpaid, you can go to your boss and if you see maybe you're making higher than a lot of people in your area, you're just keep quiet and be happy. So be grateful because you all deserve the highest salaries you can get because I mean, this industry is so integral to patient care, and we know that so

Chace Torres:

and just perspective wise for anybody just wanting to know well, what am I going to get paid here for this position? The main takeaway is it's going to be entirely based on your region, because that's also going to account for cost of living accessibility to qualify technicians. So you might have an area such as California where you know, basic living expenses are going to warrant you are going to be close to that 80 to $100,000 range just as a regular tech were somewhere, you know, completely, a little bit more isolated than that isn't going to warrant that much money compared to California, which they're an Enigma in themself. So, what I would recommend is for one, go to 24/7 lookup, htm salary survey, y'all put together a pretty robust breakdown of what each region's getting paid based on the position. And that will give you in the ballpark of what you should ask for negotiation for raises, etc.

Keri Stephens:

Yes, be sure to check out our digital edition, which is on 24/7 x.com 24 7x mag.com. Because the digital edition has more all the salary charts that are in the print edition, so you can just see the breakdown and make sure that you're being paid fairly.

Chace Torres:

Right. And if you're watching on YouTube, I am going to have a link to that in the description. If you're listening on Spotify, Apple or what have you, that'll be in the description as well. So you must follow that link straight to get you there. As always, Carrie, I love having you on. You're a beloved friend of the show. And also, be sure to check out Karis medicore podcasts. They don't just cover biomed they cover a plethora of topics so very insightful. Just the amount of scope of what you guys are covering on that podcast is really cool.

Keri Stephens:

And you might find your bearded friends on our podcast to discuss his salary survey in the next week or so. So

Chace Torres:

there you go. Well, as always, I appreciate you being here and may the beard be with you.