Another question about nursing salaries

K O'Malley · Jan 7, 2003

Our hospital ropes in new grads with $18.00/hr. But what are experienced nurses making? I mean nurses with 30+ years of experience. $3.00/hr more. Kind of insulting if you ask me. Our hospital does the usual tired method of recruitment, recruitment but forget retention.

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 7, 2003

My hospital has retention bonuses that are paid every 2 years on your anniversary date. They increase with each payout. After the first year, it is only $500.00, but by the time an RN reaches 25 years, it is $10,000.00 and becomes a yearly bonus.

Yes, some hospitals are looking at retention. My nursing leadership team colleagues and I are very proud of our decision to reward longevity -- and to discourage people from job hopping to receive all those recruitment bonuses. We only wish we were eligible to receive the bonus we instituted!

llg

EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN · Jan 7, 2003

llg, sounds like you work for a great hospital! If hospitals don't start worrying about retention, there will be no one left to teach us new grads! Hopefully hospitals are starting to slowly realize that huge sign on bonuses don't really work, because nurses leave as soon as their committment is up.

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 7, 2003

Originally posted by Stargazer
Most staff nurses have no idea what I do on a day-to-day basis.
{edit}
And the more I go back and try to prove that I can still roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty at the bedside, the more I am perceived as a glorified staff nurse insead of an executive, the less clout I have with senior management to request and get the things I need for the staff nurses, and the poorer an advocate I become for them. And then I really WOULD be useless as a manager.

Great post, Stargazer. I loved it and couldn't agree more. More of us need to speak up and refuse to let ourselves be dragged down my that portion of the staff that will not support its leadership -- and then turn around and blame that leadership for anything and everything they don't like.

Keep up the good work,

llg

lindalee · Jan 7, 2003

llg, what state do you work in? My hospital give everyone a 1-3%bonus depending on how the hospital did during the previous year, but certainly no retention bonus.

TYGGER · Jan 7, 2003

Why is it that hospital workers in general have the poorest benefit package as a whole? Compared to the local companies, the municipalities we have the poorest package (benefit wise).

One of our staff members suggested a retention package that would keep all staff around and would keep them quiet...pay 5%/year worked for their health insurance after retirement, taking 5% back every 5 years for example

20yrs with company retirining at age 55

health insurance covered would 100%

at age 60 it woud go down to 95%

at age 65 it would bo down to 90%

then when eligible for medicare (if it is still around) that would drop your coverage to a supplemental)age 70 = 85%

and so on

What do you think of this plan?

MICU RN · Jan 8, 2003

I THINK IT IS GREAT THAT WE ARE DIsCUSSING MONEY ISSUES REGARDING FAIR COMPENSATION FOR OUR SERVICES. FOR ALL OF YOU WHO STILL THINK THIS is TABOO OR THAT We SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF TALKING ABOUT HOW TO INCREASE OUR COMPENSATION, I have news for you, that is a big part of the problem. As nurses we have to get over it and accept that it is only through discussing and complaining that there will be change.

I was recently at a party where a good friend who happens to be a very good physician and his boss the medical director at the hospital where my friend works. Guess what? They talked alot about how to maximize there compensation in this ever changing field. They expressed no shame about it, they expected to be compensated well for what they did. They talked plenty about the business aspects of providing good healthcare in this country and still making a good living. Wake up people and realize we are getting a very small piece of the pie and that we have right to be compensated better for our services.

I believe that higher wages will create more respect. I know in my professional circles that alot of doctors are starting to respect what the CRNA's are doing and the number one reason is the crna's are starting to make low end physician wages (100k-150k). As long as we are fighting for 25-50cent raises we will continue to be treated with little respect and looked upon as helpers instead of college educated professionals. I am personally sick of patients and family members thinking that anyone can be a RN and that you you don't need to go to college to have our job, our image has to change and a good start would be with higher wages.

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 8, 2003

Originally posted by lindalee
llg, what state do you work in? My hospital give everyone a 1-3%bonus depending on how the hospital did during the previous year, but certainly no retention bonus.

I live in Virginia. Ours is the only hospital I know of that has such a plan. It's not a common thing in this state. A part of my job is to assess whether of not programs such as this retention bonus is helping our staffing. As it was only instituted last spring, it is too soon to tell. However, we are hopeful. At least we have a system that is consistent with our values.

As for salaries, our staff has gotten anywhere from 2% to 10% per year for the 5 years I have worked here. Our policy is to stay competitive with the market, but not necessarily at the top.

llg

JNJ · Jan 8, 2003

This is from my own experience (I'm a 30 yr RN with certification in a speciality, an MA, and possibly an inflated sense of what an expert RN is worth):

I believe that until RNs start thinking in terms of independence, we will not have appropriate pay scales or working conditions. We all have different needs as RNs and I think it's important not to rule out flexible responses e.g. the RN who will work for less for a better vacation package or a nurse who wants more $ for working more weekends.

There is huge disparity, not only between pay scales across the country/specialites, but also in what that RN means. If you believe you have expert skills, you can get paid for them whatever the pay scales state. I was fortunate to be around during the last RN shortage and negotiated a sweet deal simply by looking disappointed when told the pay scale. Look as if you might turn away from that job - it takes guts, but you may be surprised at what they might offer next. HR can always find an extra bit on the scale for certain expertise/experience or a certain shift. (I got $2 an hour above top scale, tuition reimbursement for an MA program I was already in and a 2 week vacation honored at the coming Christmas time).

I have done this many, many times since. I even had an independent contract with a facility ten years ago (I was asked to keep it quiet then and I did, but in retrospect I should have told every RN I met and empowered us all).

At another facility, some years ago, prepared to work a crazy schedule, but offering skills they badly needed, I negotiated $42 an hour (their own registry were accepting $28 until I started to spread the word).

Take a class on assertiveness or negotiation - amazing what skills you can add to that RN to help yourself. Be an employee while you can learn, but when you have real skills, sell them to the highest bidder if $ are your goal. This sort of business thinking will do more for our cause(s) than comparing ourselves with other professions - no one but another RN truly understands what an RN does each day/night.

Incidentally, I'm an independent working for Medi-Cal ($31.94 an hour). I can earn more at the local speciality hospital, but I'll now take a little less to schedule myself and choose the client(s) I want to work with. My needs have changed as I got older.

In terms of pay scales in general, I was recently head hunted, flown across the country first class for the interview etc etc. They were offering $35 an hour for a senior management post with an international agency type business. I turned it down - seemed like too much work/hours for not enough compensation. Two years ago I was earning $30 an hour as an instructor, but the hours were not 8 - 5.

Power to us all.

TheBrainMusher · Jan 9, 2003

JNJ,

Thank you for your insight. As a current banker, looking to move into the nursing industry ... I work in a predominately MALE field, yet more and more women are breaking through and finding ways to break down the glass ceiling in pay and positions. I've worked for my company for 5 years, they know what I'm worth and I know I can finnagle things from them that others wouldn't be able to. I've kept quiet for now, but the options are there if I wanted them. WOmen need to be more assertive to get what they want and stop complaining. You can make a difference, you just need to find the tools to use!

RNpupil · Jan 9, 2003

Starting salary in Fort Lauderdale, Fl is 18.44 an hour ADN or BSN

allnurses Guide · Jan 9, 2003

After 22 years, I make $30/hour, and only that much because I get 50 cents an hour for having a BSN, 40 cents for 2 national credentials (although my area requires at least 4, they only pay up to 2), and I have to pay rather a lot for family health insurance coverage. In a large city to the south of me, the wages are slightly higher but the cost of living is significantly lower (I could own double the size of house I have here for the money). There are many personal reasons why I stay here so I put up with it. And I'm a step up on the "clinical ladder", a whopping 75 cents an hour for the extra duties that come with "CNII".

My hospital does pay a bonus (on top of differential) for working straight nights and/or weekends, but no retention bonus. When I'm in charge in the ER at night, at least half the staff are travelers (God bless them). And yes, we do have a union, which is why my wages are as high they are:rolleyes:

Around here, $30 sounds great, until you look at all the stuff we do (as so eloquently described by others already).