Why We Must Raise Our Standards

It’s 6 a.m. and your alarm is going off. You probably didn’t get as much sleep as you wanted and you’re hitting the snooze button for the first of three times before finally jumping out of bed. You shower, get dressed and maybe even grab some food before heading out for your shift. You’re essentially doing what people have been doing for centuries: Giving an honest day’s work in exchange for an honest day’s pay. What’s wrong with that? After all, that’s what productive members of society do, right?

Here’s the problem…

You’ve been running through this routine since you were old enough to get a job. Most days you tolerate it and write it off as a necessary evil, but it becomes less and less fulfilling as time goes on. The “newness” of EMS faded sometime around your second year on the job. You fight feelings of resentment and, chances are, you’re banking your livelihood on the fact that you’ll do a good enough job to not get the axe. You probably still enjoy your line of work, but it’s just that...work. You might like your place of employment, or you might even hate it, but one thing is for sure: You need it. After all, you’re an employee. You’re replaceable, right?

Since the beginning of time, society has raised us to believe that our lives are controlled by “bosses” and “jobs.” We gotta keep “the man” happy so he keeps tossing us a paycheck every two weeks. Is this really the case? Or has our perception led us to a false sense of ownership? I think we’re going about this all wrong and the misconception that has been ingrained in us since early adulthood is killing our careers and our lives.

Allow me to explain…

Regardless of what the Facebook comment threads proclaim, EMS isn’t just a job, it’s a practice. As EMS providers, we have a valuable skill set and knowledge base. What we lack is the capital to go out and perform our craft on our own. We don’t have the resources to purchase our own ambulances and medical equipment. For that, we need to go into business with an ambulance provider that will provide us with the tools we need to run our practice. They are a tool, not a boss.

When we take on this perspective, things start to change. Employment isn’t really employment anymore. It’s a two-way business deal. If they aren’t good for my practice, I’ll find someone else to do business with. Likewise, if I’m not good for their business, they’ll work with someone else. We start to take greater pride in what we do. We don’t settle for minimum standards. We constantly exceed them. In fact, our standards should ALWAYS exceed that of our employers. Why? Because this gives us the upper hand.

Instead of focusing on keeping your boss happy, focus on keeping YOU happy. Don’t go to work for an ambulance service, go to work for yourself. Be the best EMS provider that you can be. Represent your practice the best that you can. Save for your own retirement. Don’t become dependent on anyone just because they throw you a check every two weeks. When you take control of your own life, things start to change.

Don’t stop there...

Encourage others to do it. Lead by example. Strive to perform well and live the absolute best life you can so others feel compelled to do the same. Why? Because by doing so, you slowly increase the value of our profession. When we have an industry that starts filling up with independent providers who are more valuable to their employer than their employer is to them, things like mandatory overtime, low pay and poor staffing stop being tolerated. All of the sudden, we have the upper hand.

Try to imagine this: You’ve done everything you can to have the upper hand. You’ve treated your practice like a business. You’ve reduced or eliminated debt, saved for emergencies, you have an exit strategy, and you’ve done everything you can to be on the top of your game both medically and professionally. You have essentially made yourself more valuable to your employer than your employer is to you. Now, when your employer decides to roll out a new mandatory overtime policy or drastically change the working conditions, how are you going to handle that as a business partner vs. being an employee? With a business mindset, you may try speaking to your management to not only understand the reasons for the changes, but to potentially help come up with solutions. But ultimately, if their practices aren’t going to be compatible with your needs, you don’t have to just “deal with it.” When you maintain the upper hand, you can say “this business deal isn’t working out for me” and start looking for other avenues to run your practice.

When the standards of the workforce exceeds that of the people signing our paychecks, real change starts to happen.