Investigating the relationship between performance-based payment and job satisfaction among staff working in teaching hospitals

Satisfaction with the salary and other payments and the way they are distributed are of the most important and effective dimensions of human resources management. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of employee satisfaction with the performance-based payment plan in 2021 across hospitals.

This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 2021 on 280 employees of teaching hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected by a questionnaire and analyzed by non-parametric tests and Spearman correlation in SPSS.

The mean of total satisfaction in the staff was 2.95 ± 0.55 (out of 5). Among the various categories in the field of satisfaction, the highest mean of satisfaction was related to the physical conditions of the workplace with 3.3 ± 0.64 (out of 5) and the least was related to the payment system with 2.56 ± 0/86. The mean performance of all employees was 63.72 ± 8.82. (out of 100). In this regard, the mean score of staff attendance was 74.22 ± 6.97, job type was 30.97 ± 15.78 and the average quality coefficient of performance was 85.98 ± 11.12. According to the Spearman correlation test, there was a significant correlation between mean total satisfaction and attendance score (r = 0.19), job type score (r = 0.32) and performance quality coefficient (r = 0.21) (p-value <0.05).

The mean of employee satisfaction with the performance-based payment scheme was estimated to be moderate. It seems that health policy makers need to work and plan to improve payment and increase the motivation of healthcare staff.