Is this low?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

I am a traveler at heart and want to see the world. I started a new job very recently and I have only accrued about 12 hours of vacation after five weeks. In the first year of service, I accrue approximately 4.7 hours of PTO biweekly. After one year, it will go up to 5.3 hours of PTO biweekly and will continue to rise up to a maximum of 8.3 hours after 15 years.

4.7 hrs/pay period sounds so low to me especially since it has to cover sick time as well. I almost feel as though I will not be able to travel the world often with a full-time job. HR says that I can request unpaid time off if I want and with a PRN job and no debt, but I am not sure how realistic that would be.

Is it possible to be able to travel often with a full time job with these accrual rates? And by often, I mean every six months take a couple weeks off to go over seas and then schedule myself in a way where I can take a long stretch of days off without having to touch my vacation time for other smaller trips.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

At my previous workplace I accrued 4.8 hours of PTO per each two week pay period, so the amount of PTO you currently accrue sounds about right to me.

I was accruing the 4.8 hours per pay period in spite of having been employed at this place for more than five years.

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As a new grad RN, I accrue 12.6 hours of PTO biweekly, so your hospital PTO does seem low, comparatively.

Have you thought about travel nursing? You could constantly be on the go, and there is a big demand for NICU nurses. Many nurses who travel stay per diem at their staff jobs, and work them when they return home in-between assignments.

Or, you could ask to stack your shifts. I have a coworker that does 6 shifts in a row, and then 8 days off, as a permanent schedule, and she takes a week long vacation twice a month to go on mountain biking trips and explore. Just saying it is possible.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
As a new grad RN, I accrue 12.6 hours of PTO biweekly, so your hospital PTO does seem low, comparatively.

Have you thought about travel nursing? You could constantly be on the go, and there is a big demand for NICU nurses. Many nurses who travel stay per diem at their staff jobs, and work them when they return home in-between assignments.

Or, you could ask to stack your shifts. I have a coworker that does 6 shifts in a row, and then 8 days off, as a permanent schedule, and she takes a week long vacation twice a month to go on mountain biking trips and explore. Just saying it is possible.

12.6!?! Wow...that is crazy! I have never heard anyone getting that much...do you work for the government?

Unfortunately, my job doesn't allow us to work six in a row. :/ But I could still schedule myself for a stretch of days.

I have thought about travel nursing. I am mostly interested in traveling abroad, if that is an option.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
At my previous workplace I accrued 4.8 hours of PTO per each two week pay period, so the amount of PTO you currently accrue sounds about right to me.

I was accruing the 4.8 hours per pay period in spite of having been employed at this place for more than five years.

What? Only 4.8 hours after five years? At my job, five years of service would have earned you at least 6.2 hours per pay period.

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Yes it is definitely an option to go abroad, just need a BSN, so you are set. Australia and other English speaking countries take traveler's from the U.S.

No, I work for a non-profit regular hospital. You should really think about traveling, it pays awesome and you get to see the world. :)

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
Yes it is definitely an option to go abroad, just need a BSN, so you are set. Australia and other English speaking countries take traveler's from the U.S.

No, I work for a non-profit regular hospital. You should really think about traveling, it pays awesome and you get to see the world. :)

Would LOVE to spend time in Australia.

Just have to get my two years of experience in and then I'm good to go!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, NICU.

Wow, that's really low PTO accrual! Not to rub salt in the wound, but when I started, I accrued 8 hours of PTO bi-weekly and now receive about 10.5 hours a pay period at my experience level of 4-5 years. 4.7 hours/pay period gives you around 122 hours which will only cover 10 shifts, if you work twelves. 5.3 hours/pay period gives you about 138 hours which will cover 11 shifts.

I think you can still make traveling work, but you will have to be creative about how you schedule it. For example, work Sunday/Monday/Tuesday at the beginning of a pay period and then take 3 PTO days to finish out the pay period. Then, for the next pay period, you can play around with your schedule and take some unpaid leave to try to push your workdays towards the end of the period. That way, you should have at least 2 weeks free to travel but only use 36 hours of your PTO.

Now is the amount that you accrue determined per hours worked and can vary or is it a set number? We normally work 72 hours/pay period when full time but can accrue PTO on up to 80 hours. So, when we know we're going to need extra PTO, we try to pick up extra time. Is this an option for you?

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/LDRP/Ortho ASC.

When I was a staff nurse and we self scheduled I would request 3 in a row at the beginning and end of the pay period so I always had a week off in between. It was awesome.

As far as your PTO rate, it has really varied for me by hospital, as low as 4 per pay period and as high as 12

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
Wow, that's really low PTO accrual! Not to rub salt in the wound, but when I started, I accrued 8 hours of PTO bi-weekly and now receive about 10.5 hours a pay period at my experience level of 4-5 years. 4.7 hours/pay period gives you around 122 hours which will only cover 10 shifts, if you work twelves. 5.3 hours/pay period gives you about 138 hours which will cover 11 shifts.

I think you can still make traveling work, but you will have to be creative about how you schedule it. For example, work Sunday/Monday/Tuesday at the beginning of a pay period and then take 3 PTO days to finish out the pay period. Then, for the next pay period, you can play around with your schedule and take some unpaid leave to try to push your workdays towards the end of the period. That way, you should have at least 2 weeks free to travel but only use 36 hours of your PTO.

Now is the amount that you accrue determined per hours worked and can vary or is it a set number? We normally work 72 hours/pay period when full time but can accrue PTO on up to 80 hours. So, when we know we're going to need extra PTO, we try to pick up extra time. Is this an option for you?

I am jealous.

It accrues up to a maximum of 80 hours per pay. So if I worked forty hours per week I would receive 128 hours for the year or about 3 weeks.

Do yours roll over?

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Specializes in Pediatrics, NICU.
I am jealous.

It accrues up to a maximum of 80 hours per pay. So if I worked forty hours per week I would receive 128 hours for the year or about 3 weeks.

Do yours roll over?

We can roll some over, but our employer caps how much.

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Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.

I haven't worked on a unit that would be staffed in a way that you could take more than two weeks off - at the very most! - at a time. But your mileage may vary there.

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