2005 Salary Survey Results: Turnover continues to be an issue for industry
2005 Salary Survey Results
Turnover continues to be an issue for industry
Long hours, lack of job security contribute to turnover rates
The good news for clinical trial administrators is that salaries remain fairly high and most reported receiving at least a small raise in the past year, according to the 2005 Clinical Trials Administrator salary survey.
According to survey results, about 92% of respondents have incomes above $50,000 a year. About 22% reported earning between $60,000 and $69,999; nearly 19% said they earn between $70,000 and $79,999; 11% earn $80,000 to $80,999, while about 19% earn $90,000 or more per year.
Among those who responded to the survey, 11% said that their salary decreased in the past year while 26% said their salary has not changed, and 63% reported an increase. Salary increases, according to the survey, ranged from 1% to 6% for 52%; almost 4% received an increase of 7% to 10%; and a little over 7% received increase in the 11% to 15% range.
While a little more than half of the sites responding to the survey reported no change in their department’s staffing, one third said their department added staff, and about one-sixth said their department lost staff in the past year.
Long hours common
Clinical trial coordinators and staff generally are employed full-time and often work long hours. According to the salary survey, about 19% of respondents work between 31 and 40 hours per week; 66% stated that they work between 41 and 50 hours, and about 15% of respondents said they work 56 or more hours per week.
Survey respondents also have a great deal of experience. More than a third have between four and six years experience; nearly one in five have between seven and nine years experience; and close to 40% have spent 10 or more years working in the field.
All the respondents indicated that they are highly experienced health care professionals as well. Ninety percent reported 10 or more years experience in health care in general, and 37% stated that they have been involved in health care for 25 or more years.
Retention is a challenge
Like many businesses, clinical trial sites typically have busy and slow times, so a key challenge facing managers is how to retain good employees when the work isn't there for several months at a time.
"We do a lot of federally funded trials, and when we have grants like that we find it’s a little bit more difficult to retain staff because of the volatility of the work. And we have budgetary problems, and I’m having to cut staff because I don’t have the means to keep the number we would need," says Tamara Dowd Owens, RN, MSN, MBA. Owens is a clinical research manager of the Governor’s Institute on Alcohol and Substance Abuse in Research Triangle Park, NC, and an editorial board member for Clinical Trials Administrator.
Diversify your resume
Even when clinical trial site managers know that more grants will be coming in soon and they know that in the long run it costs more to let experienced staff go and then hire new, untrained employees, it’s difficult to find the money to bridge those slow stretches, Owens notes.
"When you look at your expenses and cash flow sheets it can be daunting," Owens says. "We want to retain people, so we have discussed putting staff on other projects that may not be research related, so they could maintain their salaries.
For example, perhaps a willing clinical trial coordinator could work temporarily in the finance department, learning new skills until more clinical trials are available, Owens says. "There are some staff who say, All I know how to do is research,’ but they need to be flexible, and it helps to diversify their resume," she says. "It makes them more marketable in the long run."
The clinical trial coordinator who spends some time working with a financial analyst on the budget or with a grant writer will have skills that future employers would find very attractive, and it will help secure their current position during slow times, Owens notes.
"We’ve got one of our medical studies that’s ending, and we’re hoping another study comes our way, but meantime, I’ve transitioned one of our study coordinators on a mental health grant that doesn’t include seeing patients," Owens says.
"It’s a data analysis type of study, but she’s not had the opportunity to do that before, and she’s very willing to do so because she wants to stay here."
From the clinical research coordinator’s perspective, turnover often is due to work loads and time commitment problems says Deborah Rosenfelder, RN, BSN, CCRC, clinical research coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh. Most of the time clinical trial staff leave to move to jobs in other research areas or industries, Rosenfelder says.
Sites that would like to reduce turnover should have a better understanding of time commitment in coordination of a study and probably should improve education, Rosenfelder notes.
"Most of the coordinators that I work with are very dedicated and committed," Rosenfelder says. "I do not think the industry comprehends the amount of layers coordinators now need to go through to get a study up and running and what it takes to keep it going."
More training needed
Training, whether new employees are recent graduates or seasoned professionals, is always an issue, Owens says. "Your personnel need to be really focused on getting regulatory documents in order and always being prepared for a potential FDA audit," she says.
There’s definitely a need for more training in the clinical trial industry, Rosenfelder says. "The more you understand the process, the better you are able to complete your job," she says.
Owens says she is big on education and believes there are many opportunities for furthering education and training when all of the industry’s conferences are taken into account.
"I always encourage people to pick one conference a year to go to," Owens says. "With the regulations changing, it’s always good to stay abreast."
Certification is another way for clinical trial staff to keep up with education, skills, and training. However, while certification is a good idea for clinical trial coordinators, it doesn’t always receive the recognition it deserves, Rosenfelder says. "There’s a [time] commitment to obtaining it and keeping it up," she says. "Most coordinators work far above the assigned hours now."
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