The PT Offer Letter: What to Include (and What to Leave Out)

Part 8 of The PT Hiring Blueprint. You've interviewed well (Part 7) and you're ready to make an offer. Here's what belongs in that letter, section by section — and just as importantly, what doesn't.

A good offer letter does two things at once: it protects the practice legally, and it sells the role emotionally. Most owners lean entirely into one or the other — a dry legal document that feels cold, or an enthusiastic email that leaves too much undefined. You need both.

Compensation & Bonuses

State the structure plainly — salary, per-visit rate, or the hybrid base-plus-production model from Part 4 — along with pay frequency and how any bonus threshold is calculated. Ambiguity here is the single most common source of new-hire frustration in the first 90 days, so spell it out with an example calculation if the structure has any complexity at all.

PTO & CEU Allowance

State the number of PTO days, when they begin accruing, and how carryover works. Separately, state the annual continuing education stipend and whether it includes paid time off to attend courses — this detail matters more to candidates than the dollar amount alone, since unpaid CEU days quietly cost them income.

Loan Repayment

If you're offering a student loan repayment benefit, spell out the total amount, the payout schedule, and the vesting terms — for example, paid quarterly over three years, forfeited if employment ends before the term completes. This is one of the most competitive benefits a PT practice can offer given typical DPT debt loads, but only if the terms are unambiguous from day one.

Benefits Summary

Summarize health insurance, retirement matching, and any other benefits in the letter, but reference the full plan documents rather than reproducing every detail. The offer letter should give a candidate enough to say yes with confidence — the plan documents handle the fine print.

Non-Competes: Handle With Care

If a non-compete or non-solicitation clause is part of your offer, it should be reasonable in geographic scope, duration, and the specific activity restricted. An overly broad clause is not just harder to enforce — it can sour the entire hiring relationship before the candidate's first day.

Role Expectations

Close the letter with a plain-language summary of what success looks like in the first 90 days — expected caseload ramp, any non-clinical responsibilities, and who they'll report to. This section does the most to prevent the exact kind of misalignment we cover in Part 9: The First 90 Days, because it sets expectations before the employment relationship even starts.

Frequently Asked Questions: The PT Offer Letter

What should a physical therapist offer letter include?

A PT offer letter should clearly state compensation structure (salary, per-visit, or hybrid), PTO allowance, CEU/continuing education stipend, any sign-on or loan-repayment bonus terms and their vesting schedule, a summary of benefits, start date, and a plain-language summary of role expectations. Detailed policies like the employee handbook, non-compete terms, and full benefits documentation are usually better placed in separate documents referenced by the letter, not written out in full.

Are non-compete clauses enforceable for physical therapists?

Enforceability varies significantly by state — some states have banned non-competes for most employees entirely, while others enforce them if reasonably limited in geographic scope, duration, and time. Because this area of law is changing rapidly, any non-compete or non-solicitation clause in a PT offer letter should be drafted and reviewed by an employment attorney licensed in your state before it's used.

Should a PT offer letter include a loan repayment benefit?

Student loan repayment assistance is one of the more competitive benefits a PT practice can offer, given typical DPT debt loads. It's most effective when structured as a vested benefit paid out over 2–4 years of continued employment, which both helps recruiting and improves retention, since leaving early forfeits the remaining balance.

Once they've signed, the real work begins: Part 9: The First 90 Days.