Hourly Pay or Salary... What is best?

[Cairo662]

What is best???? Hourly pay or Salary? I would love to hear from experienced nurses out there. Can you tell me your opinions and why? I would appreciate it greatly! Thanks.

[stillpressingon]

Hourly. They must pay you for overtime. If you're salaried you belong to THEM and they can work you for as long as they like per day/week.

And they WILL take advantage of you. Give me hourly any day! Actually, I don't think I'd even consider taking a salaried position for that very reason. Being hourly when I'm off, I'm off. The only exception is if I feel extraordinarily generous and decide to work on a day off. But being hourly I'm still getting paid for the extra time and if I go into overtime they're payin' for that, too. Getting off my soapbox....

[MultipurposeRN]

I do about as well salaried as I did hourly, except when I was doing In house registry at premium pay. Of course, I was PRN for years so didn't usually work full time, either. If I went back to bedside I would definitely want hourly. But the salaried job I have now is great in terms of hours and flexibility so I don't plan to give it up while I'm a single parent w/ a child still at home. It actually pays better per hour than being on the floor as a staff nurse.

[huskersfan]

Absolutely, hourly pay. My management salaried nursing friends all ***** about how much they end up making per hour after putting in 60 hr weeks every week.