Paid Time Off in Aesthetic Medical Practices

Francis Acunzo
CEO of medspa810
Chair of the Aesthetic Business Institute Board of Directors

Robbi Grayson
Vice President of Business Development at Acara Partners
Member of the Aesthetic Business Institute Board of Directors

John Powers, PhD
Director of Education and Research
Aesthetic Business Institute

How much personal time off (PTO) to offer employees of aesthetic medical practices is a frequent question for leading industry consultants like Robbi Grayson. All medical practices are in search of long-term employees who will provide loyal and faithful service to their business, and PTO is an important aspect of any effective benefit package.

An Aesthetic Business Institute’s Flash Poll helps establish some general benchmarks in relation to personal time off in this industry.

Average Vacation Time Offered in the Aesthetic Medical Industry

It is important to frame the results from this survey on PTO as to what is offered to employees for 1 to 5 years of service, and then after 5 years. The respondents to the survey represent a wide swath of the medical aesthetic industry – including equal representation from those who work in med spas, plastic surgery practices, and aesthetic medicine entities, with a smattering from cosmetic dermatologists. Over 40% of those involved in answering the survey questions are from the northeastern United States, 30% from the southeast, and 20% from the southwest. Almost 70% of participants work for businesses with annual gross revenue between $1- $3 million, and over 40% have been working in this industry for over 15 years.

On average, during the first five years of employment, medical aesthetic practices offer their employees 10 vacation days per year. The highest number of vacation days provided to employees in their first five years was 21 days, and the fewest offered was two. After the five-year mark, most practices added another five days to bring the average amount of vacation offered up to three weeks (15 days). Some practices offered increasing vacation time at the five-year anniversary, while others gradually increased the time each year of employment.

There were some other interesting findings involving practices getting creative with their PTO for employees. One practice mentioned moving to an Earned Time Off (ETO) system, which represents a combining of vacation, sick, holiday and personal time.

“This was the best decision we ever made at our practice,” reported a survey respondent. “Employees can use their ETO if they for sickness, vacation days, funerals, sick children, etc. We have found that this leads to much less frequent issues around time off.” Several other practices mentioned altering vacation time for long-term employees through “performance and negotiation,” while others described increased PTO for “top providers” in conjunction with financial bonuses.