Contract PT?

Contract Versus Full-Time Employment for Physical Therapists

The path of a Physical Therapist is rewarding, but navigating career choices can be challenging. Are you seeking more control over your schedule? Perhaps dreaming of striking out on your own? Many PTs start in traditional employment settings – clinics, hospitals, physician practices. But as your career evolves, the allure of flexibility and potentially higher income can draw you towards contract work.

Many physical therapists pursue part-time or full-time careers in their field; some with PT clinics, others with physicians and hospitals. But at some point, the pressures of the daily grind may get to be enough that a qualified physical therapist will want to have more flexibility in his or her schedule.

There are benefits to a full-time position, but, from the perspective of the physical therapist (me) there are also great benefits in doing a contract position.?

Let’s take a look at some of each.

Full-time

• One benefit of full-time employment is a steady job with known expectations. If you enjoy the field of study in which you work, then there’s the security that you’ll be doing that every day for as long as you maintain employment.?
• Another benefit is knowing the existing paperwork and computerized documentation required, and relying on the fact that it won’t change (often).?
• Interestingly enough, when researching six reliable sources, it appears the annual salary, on average, is similar for both contract and full time workers.?

Contract

• With contract employment physical therapists make $12 an hour more, on average. This could be attributed to the intermittent nature of contract work.?
• On average more contract employed physical therapists work less than a full year. With short assignments the contract physical therapists can have more flexibility in scheduling their time.
• The job experience would be varied as opposed to a full-time position where the daily tasks are the same. Learning something new each day keeps us young! Rotating between and among clinics or clients is a great way to expand your knowledge.
• As a physical therapist, one benefit to contract work is that you are always getting a fresh perspective in a new facility – a great learning experience.?
• If interpersonal conflicts at work are something that you try to avoid, working with 13 week assignments could be much less stressful (as it will always be ending soon).?
• You can attain a great diversity of skills and skill sets if you choose multiple settings in physical therapy as a contractor.
• Contact positions are generally six to 13 week assignments, versus full time employment.

With all these benefits to self-employment, what’s stopping you? Working your way up through the field of physical therapy can provide some great (and flexible) job opportunities. Do you agree? Let me know your thoughts!