Taking a pay cut?

Skayda · Apr 24, 2012

In some states $8.00 an hour is minimum wage right now. You were right to be insulted. I would be. We work too hard to get paid, like you said, less than a store cashier! Not to mention how much more we have to do than a typical grocery clerk, too! All the places I've worked at the CNAs and NARs were paid a few cents above the current minimum wage. I live and work in Washington State and so the minimum wage here is $9.04 an hour and I get paid $9.50 an hour. Right at minimum would be an insult and anything lower illegal! That all said, yes, I have taken a pay cut and worked for less than reasonable for love of the job/place when my mother opened her own AFH and I was unofficially her business partner and employee back in '95 and I worked 6 days a week, 8 hour shifts with 1 day off for a set salary amount of $600 a month which did not change no matter how many doubles I pulled. But I put up with it because I loved the clients, it was for family and I wanted my mother to succeed and myself to get my foot in the door of nursing. It helped to pave the way to where I am now; working for a wonderful AFH with clients I have come to adore in just the two and a half months of working there and I'm saving money towards eventual nursing school finally.

WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN · Apr 24, 2012

In Florida the min wage is 7.25

There aren't many ltc facilities in my area and they don't ever seem to be hiring CNA's. I think I'm going to go back to home health. I really wanted experience working with multiple patients, but it's not worth going from 10.00 per hour to 8.00.

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Apr 24, 2012

Hmm..well my at my 2nd CNA job I was working at an LTC. Hated it & the facility..understaffed, no supplies, yada yada. I was making $13/hr. I filled out some applications & got three more interviews. One place was offering $11.40 base, but I was looking to work the 3-11 shift so the differential for that would have been $2/hr, so I would have made $13.40/hr. Then the 2nd place offered me $12.50 base, and $1/hr differential. The 3rd place was the place I really wanted to work however. It had a great reputation & was 2 minutes away from my "main" job. They were offering $10.50..guess which job I took? Job 3. In the end I regret working for that place.. but I digress. I was young & dumb at the time so my judgement wasn't all that great. But I will recommend all CNA's that if you have years of experience, you SHOULD be paid for that experience.

northernguy · Apr 24, 2012

I wouldnt work as an aide for 8 bucks an hour, and since its assisted living, you probably arent going to gain much in the way of valuable experience. Better off working a better paying home health job, then use the extra money to go to school. Maybe get a phlebotomy cert or something.

Im also surprised there arent LTC facilities hiring. Where Im at they all always seem to be hiring. Turnover is pretty high, and thats despite the fact I live in an area of high unemployment where people tend to stick with whatever job they can get.

IsmeAmanda, LPN · Apr 24, 2012

It's only 40 cents. And from the places I've seen at least in Georgia - CNA is a minimum wage job. But there are pay differentials for the later hour shifts. Like 3p-11pm and the graveyard.

I'm in home health and I get paid $8. I'm making a move to LTC this summer and I'll be happy to be paid $8 p/hour. I have a feeling it will be less though.

LaterAlligator · Apr 24, 2012

Does that facility offer other things that help make up for the low pay? I worked at an assisted living facility that was a paycut from what I'd been making, but they had some really great policies; an extra $2/hr if you came in to fill in for an unscheduled shift, free or very cheap meals while working, etc. Ultimately, it's just about finding a balance between the work environment and the pay. If the pay is so terrible you can't make ends meet, you won't be happy no matter how great the facility is otherwise. And if the facility/workload is awful, there may not be enough money in the world to make it tolerable for you. You could always try it out and see what you think, but only if you're able to survive on what they pay.

Good luck!

WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN · Apr 24, 2012

I decided to not take the job. I have an interview tomorrow with a hospital, and I know they offer weekend and night differentials, and I'm applying for a night and weekend job! Hopefully I rock the interview, hospital interviews scare me so much more than ALF, and Home Health interviews do.

Pay matters so much here because financial aid won't cover the cost of my nursing classes this summer, and I usually use the loans to cover living costs when I'm not getting paid enough at work.

That being said, $0.40 pay difference is a big deal to me. I would rather make more money in a non-skilled, simple job, than a job in which there is some physically and emotionally demanding work involving bathing people and diapering patients and which I had to go through an entire month of training and pass an expensive test to finally become a CNA. I can't believe that just one state over CNA's get paid as much as a crew member at McDonald's. Nobody becomes a CNA for the pay, but still...

northernguy · Apr 24, 2012

If you're taking nursing classes, I would make that your priority. An aide is an aide, regardless of whether its in a hospital or at home or in LTC, its the same basic thing, regardless of whether they call it patient care tech, or PCA or whatever. Yeah aides might do blood draws and other non cna duties in some hospitals, but those are things you learn in Nursing school anyway.

The road to better pay, conditions, and more interesting job opportunities is formal education and licensing, not OJT as a CNA.

chinadoll88 · Apr 24, 2012

I took a paycut to work at a better, more adequately staffed facility. At first I was fine with the paycut, but now they have fired so many people or they have quit, and havent been replaced. It keeps getting harder and harder. And now I hear that the other CNAs havent had a raise in 3 years!! This cant be possible, can it??? It just seems that you would give the people who are entrusted with your loved ones well-being a little something better than $8 an hour!!

Double-Helix, BSN, RN · Apr 24, 2012

Honestly, CNA's always have and probably always will be a minimum wage or just above minimum wage job. The amount people are paid for their job depends on a few things: 1. Amount of education/training involved 2. The demand for that position 3. Difficulty/specialty of the tasks performed 4. Experience in the area.

CNA's are pretty low in all these areas. A one month certification program is very little education to obtain compared to positions that require a college degree or graduate level training. There are a lot of CNA's in the world, so they aren't in high demand. CNA's don't perform very skilled tasks. Let's face it- almost everyone can learn how to clean, dress and transfer patients. You have a little experience, but not really enough to make a significant difference when you're applying for a job that many other people will readily fill.

Don't be offended. I worked as a CNA for several years, and got paid just above min. wage as well, so I understand how hard it can be. But also consider that nurses in FL start out around 18-22 dollars per hour. 75 cents above minimum wage is not bad.

WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN · Apr 24, 2012

I'm not saying that CNA's should make as much as nurses or anybody with a degree, but we should at least be able to make what entry level positions make at the Home Depot. If I can't at least make that at a facility, why shouldn't I just go back to Home Depot?