December's RDH eVillage Hygiene Survey sparked many responses and letters to the editor (read Hygiene eSolutions on the left side of the home page).
In summary, 47% of the respondents believed that pay should be based on experience, while 45.3% felt that it should be based on work performed, regardless of the amount of years in hygiene.
The second question dealing with the amount of sick (or health) days received each year for full-time hygienists, revealed that, 35.2% receive five or under. I thought it interesting that 25% of respondents work in offices that have no formal policy regarding sick days.
For the question concerning part-time employees and benefits, 56.2% stated that they worked full-time. Paid holidays and uniform allowances were tied with 27% of the part-time employee responses.
Concerning bonuses, 27% of the responses said that their program is based on the entire office production and 52.9% of those programs were paid out monthly (22.9% quarterly). No bonus programs were available in 58.4% of the respondents' offices.
Kristine Hodsdon
Director, RDH eVillage