Salary Negotiation among Dietetics Professionals: Lived Experiences and a Three-Pronged Approach to Advancing Negotiation Skills and Confidence

There is a lack of tools and training to assist in salary and benefit (S&B) negotiations within the nutrition profession. This study is the first to analyze thoughts, feelings, and experiences with S&B negotiations among nutrition and dietetics professionals. The 32-item, web-based, cross-sectional survey study was completed by English-speaking individuals of any gender who identified as a “nutrition and dietetics professional,” were 18 years of age or older in the United States or US Territory. Participant demographics, experience, confidence, and success with negotiation of S&B, value of negotiation, and interest in learning more were the primary outcome measures determined before data collection. Means, standard deviations, and ranges were calculated for ordinal data with frequencies on nominal data. ANOVAs were conducted to evaluate relationships between demographics and negotiation. Participants (N = 1239) were mostly white (90.2%), female (94.5%), registered dietitian (RD) (96.8%) members of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (96.1%). Clinical practitioners accounted for the largest practice area (38.5%). Non-RD professionals had a significantly higher mean for experience with negotiation than RD’s, DTR’s and participants eligible for the RD exam (P = 0.008) and had higher confidence (P = 0.001). Clinical dietitians had significantly lower satisfaction with current salary (P \u3c 0.001) and experience (P \u3c 0.001), confidence (P \u3c 0.001), and success (P \u3c 0.001) with negotiation but had significantly higher interest in advancing negotiation skills (P = 0.017) than all other practice areas. Early education, exposure, and empowerment are key factors in improving the negotiation experience that begins in the undergraduate experience and continues well into professional practice