FEATURE The owner-contractor relationship is an opportunity to move the profession forward on a number of fronts. What is usually considered a transactional ar-rangement, can be an opportunity to simply do better. First year graduates are making on average about $25,000 per year, which is a major blight on our profession. On the other side of the ledger, chiropractic clinics are rarely selling. Clinic owners are suppressing new grads remuneration (in many cases running below 50%), and docs in the 3-5 year range are objecting to purchasing clinics and providing docs with a com-fortable retirement. No one is winning here. It’s akin to treating your kids poorly, and then they get to pick out your retirement home. You want Shady Pines, but you end up with something much less desirable. Let’s look at a few case studies, not on contract law, or negotiation on how a contractor gets a position, but better yet, let’s look at three competing exam-ples of how someone leaves a contract position. This is a window into mutual respect and understanding. Case 1: A first year grad took a contractor position with a clinic for a period of one year. During the covid lockdown, they quarantined with a new partner in another region, and at some point thereafter decided to move permanently. This contractor met with the owners approximately three months in advance and let them know their plans, and indicated they intended to fulfill their contract. They did so, and had numerous opportunities to debrief, learn, and even remain close to the owners to this day. The owners helped the contractor with their new contract negotiations and were supportive 100%. Discussion: While this left the own-ers down one excellent chiropractor, no one can argue with the lure of love. It would be unreasonable for anyone to expect different. Respect was shown on all fronts, and everyone was supportive. A subsequent plan for filling the role was made, and everyone remains friends and supportive of each other. Case 2: A young couple moved prov-inces after graduating from Chiropractic school. They ended up in a small town working for a local clinic. Everything was fine, they were busy, they participated in clinic meetings with the owner, and the owner indicated that their needs were www.Cndoctor.ca PROFESSION Everyone on the ‘winning’ team What comes around goes around C BY DR. ERIK KLEIN, DC DR. ERIK KLEIN is the CEO of Town Health Solutions, an Atlantic Canadian Network of corporate owned and franchised clinics, establishing a new model to rapidly scale chiropractic practice and businesses for new grads and established docs alike. Visit townhealthsolutions.com/franchising or email drerikceo@ townhealthsolutions.com. 20 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor December 2020 Photo: © weedezign / Adobe Stock hiropractic and naturop-athy are some of the only health professions in the world where some form of self-employment is your only option. For example, virtually every chiropractor will be an entrepreneur to some extent, which represents approxi-mately 9,000 people in Canada. Com-pared to the general population where approximately 10% are entrepreneurs, DCs end up at 10 times this rate. The options for our trades are owning a clinic and working in/on it, or being a contrac-tor and working at another clinic. Chiropractic clinic owners feel young docs should pay their dues. The truth is, any experience in entrepreneurship is an “eat what you kill” phenomenon. If you take time off, you don’t get paid. This is the same for clinic owners and contractors. These positions have more in common than not. It is in the best interest of clinic owners to treat con-tractors better than they were treated, even by themselves, which includes pay. It is also in the best interests of contrac-tors to respect the history and work owners have put forth.
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor December 2020: Page 20
