My previous assignment over the summer in Virginia Beach was with a geriatric clinic I often work for. They typically pay out a quarterly bonus to all employees depending on their performance. During my time there, I asked if I could be considered for the bonus even though I am a contractor, since I had a full patient panel that was doing relatively well.
The chief medical officer told me she would look into it. After my assignment ended, I knew the site was disappointed that I didn’t extend. However, I saw that my patient panel was still doing pretty well during the gap between me leaving and the new PCP starting. I figured I taught them the model well – to call us first instead of going to the hospital for any little thing.
So I reached out to the chief medical officer again to follow up on the bonus. She said that normally contractors aren’t given a bonus. I told her I understood that but I am not the typical contractor (for the company since I have worked with them on and off over the past 5 years); and that I have been given a performance bonus in the past.
She responded and said she really appreciated my help last quarter so was going to provide me with a one time bonus. I was very grateful and of course she snuck in the email to come back to Virginia when I finish in Ohio.
The bonus I received was $1200. I was thankful that my work was appreciated but a bit disappointed on the amount of the bonus. In the past I had been given $5000 per quarter as my bonus. But I had to remind myself that was when I had extended with the site multiple times. Even though the $1200 wasn’t as much as I was expecting, it is still better than nothing.
Anyways, the moral of the story is if you don’t ask – you get nothing!
