Differentials make a difference

[Emergent, RN]

I was checking out my online pay stubb. Last year I made over $7,000 from differentials, nights and weekends. It says I made over $4,000 in overtime too. I don't remember picking up a lot of extra hours last year, in fact, as I recall, my New Years resolution last year was to work less.

I got over $5,000 in vacation pay and over $3,000 in holiday worked. I wonder what my colleagues who really work the system make out? I never get double backs, never milk the clock, and don't bother filling out the paperwork for missed lunch break. I made over $90,000 from nursing last year, counting my Per Diem job.

And the price of gas is down, let the good times roll! Thank you God for my blessings, I would have never guessed that I, who once was so lacking in confidence in myself, could come this far.

[proud nurse, BSN, RN]

Heck yeah, that's how I make my money. I work the weekend program on nocs. That's a $10.00/hr differential. And if I pick up extra hours, you can bet it's on a shift that pays differentials. My time is valuable, lol and I want to be compensated for it.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

It says I made over $4,000 in overtime too. I don't remember picking up a lot of extra hours last year, in fact, as I recall, my New Years resolution last year was to work less.

Could be those extra minutes just clocking in and clocking out slightly more than exactly 8 hours apart. That's how it is for me- I clock in as early as we're allowed (5 minutes prior to start of shift) and some days I clock out at 1-5 minutes past the end of the shift, meaning I'm getting from 6-10 minutes of overtime. Over a year, that little bit can add up!

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

Working nights alone at my hospital will bring in 10k more a year. If one worked every weekend, that would also bring in an additional 6300. Without holidays or overtime, you are already looking at 16k in pure differential pay, more than one would make working 40 hours per week at a minimum wage job.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Thank you for sharing that. I see a lot of people (particularly students and new grads) expressing disappointment in the starting pay rates they are hearing who don't seem to understand that the "base rate" X 36 hours per week X 52 weeks per year is NOT what they will be making in their first year. They greatly under-estimate the amount of money that they will make in differentials, over-time, etc.

It might help them develop a more realistic perspective of compensation if we talk about these things more.

A lot of us also seem to under-estimate the value of benefits like insurance, retirement programs, paid vacation, etc. That stuff adds up to a lot of money. As I am starting to consider the realities of retirement in a few years, I am finding that I am appreciating how that stuff adds up more than ever -- now that I am considering life without those things!

[Katie71275]

Absolutely! Working nights, I earn 3.50 extra 7p-1045p, then from 1045-715am, make $5 extra an hour. Throw on top of that that I mainly work weekends at 10.00 extra an hour, and I make pretty darn good money! Now if I was on dayshift and didn't work many weekends, I'd be broke, as a family of 6 who covers us all with medical, dental, and vision!

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

I just got my new compensation package for my new job about two weeks ago; I get 10-15% diff through the shift along with 6.00 for weekend PLUS differential when I work weekends. I probably only will see my base pay during orientation and education days.

I have lived a life without differentials...I'm not trying to return back there for a LONG time.

[B52, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I'll start working at a hospital Jan. 19. Looking forward to shift differential. Right now I get nothing extra for working double shifts every weekend. For 2 years I've had this schedule. This was the only way for me to work full time and go to school full time.

[AJJKRN]

Absolutely! Take my base and add my leveling pay/percentage increase, float differential, night shift differential, weekend differential, resource nurse differential, and often precepter pay and cha-ching cha-ching! Happy New Year everyone, may you reap in benefits of differentials (and a base pay bump too)!

[Libby1987]

I don't get differentials, I give my call time to a PT coworker ($3,600 for infrequent night phone calls but I don't fall back asleep so my loss), and our census was low all summer long so I used the shorter work days to concentrate on my fitness. I lost 15lbs and still made 103K M-F days with 4 weeks PTO (took 3 1 week long vacations and some scattered 3 day weekends).

I did did have to learn EMR and apparently there are lots of bugs so there's that.. LOL.

[GmoneyMama]

I worked three jobs in one year trying to get ahead. All I got for it was a bounce to a higher tax bracket! Nice job Emergent :)

[LilRedRN1973]

Thank you for posting this! My differential is only 5% which amounts to $2.13/hour. But when I add it up over a year, it comes to $4089/year. And since our holiday pay is double time, I make about $90/hour on the holidays and when I added that up, it definitely adds a significant amount to my pay. Hmmm. Maybe that is why my tax bracket is now 30%. Gah.