Mandatory Voluntary Extra?????

[KaroSnowQueen]

I work as agency for a facility that mandates each nurse work a "voluntary extra" day. Is this the worst case of double speak you have ever heard? How can it be "voluntary" when it is mandated???

No one asks questions or raises their eyebrows, they just sign up for their VX days, and go on. VX are the first to be cancelled, and they can't be pulled from their floor on their VX days, but still......

In my book, mandatory and voluntary are opposites, not the same thing!!! :confused:

[ktwlpn, LPN]

I don't remember Karo saying she wanted to fight over this-she posted this topic to discuss it...And-It is not appropriate for any non-employees to get involved in any type of labor dispute-if ya are not on the payroll ya don't need to be on the picket line...Not the same thing as turning a blind eye to a particular "wrongdoing" that does not effect them...In the case of a doctor "chewing out" a nurse-that NURSE needs to be professional and stand up for herself-the last thing that needs to happen is for staff to crowd around like kids on the playground and get involved..That gives the butthead an audience and almost always escalates the situation.......Many people work in Black holes-lots of people ***** and moan all day-and they are seldom the types that are willing to leave a bad situation or stick their necks out to try to make a positive change...They just like to bytch.If the rank and file are not talking with their feet then they must be content...If an agency nurse gets too involved with the politics of a facility she may find herself not invited back-and most agency nurses that I know do agency to stay OUT of that type of mess anyway....

[KaroSnowQueen, RN]

NO, I am not interested in fighting this battle, it is not mine, but I just find it odd. And yes, the regular staff whine and moan somewhat behind the scenes, but no one that I have heard of has brought to the DON's attention. I was just astonished that the facility would indulge themselves in such double speak and that the staff nurses would let it go on without bringing it to the attention of someone who could help. I have NO intention of getting into a discussion about it at work. Just wondered if it was a common thing, or just had popped up here.

I personally would not do this. They do get paid for it, and a small bonus, 25 bucks maybe? I'm not sure. They don't let people gobble up the hours, dont' want to be paying someone a gob of OT, every person gets assigned X hours they have to VX, some weeks 4, others 8, others 12 or 16 , depending on staffing needs, etc.

Like I said, just discussing among us. I work my 12 or 8 and go home happily.

[jadednurse]

Originally posted by Eddye

Jaded

Interesting choice of a "handle". Does it say as much about you as it implies?

My how perceptive of you Eddye.

You state "It's one thing if no one cares, but it's quite another if you have to show up to work every day and hear people b!tch!ng all day/night because their management sux yet no one is doing anything about it."

And the point you were trying to make w/ this statment is what? If the agency nurse has to listen to staff complaining then...what? She or he should somehow get involved? Set management straight? What? Again, not the agency nurse's place IMHO.

And I'm curious to know how you would handle this situation Eddye.

BTW, I couldn't tell from your profile...are you a nurse? Have you ever worked agency?

KaroSnowQueen, thanks for sharing this. I have never heard of such a thing and would never want to work for an organization like that. Perhaps this is why I have chosen the agency route.

[Nurse Ratched, RN]

Karo does nothing wrong by keeping out of it. She is just, as I would be, curious as to the specifics of this. In the middle of a nursing shortage, employers that treat their regular staff with respect don't need to keep a lot of agency staff. If I had to bet, I'd say Karo isn't the only agency nurse there and that this employer has a LONG way to go before it manages to keep sufficient amounts of regular staff.

By meekly accepting this sort of nonsense, employees only encourage mgt to do this sort of thing. Karo, like and strong nurse, has stood up for herself, saying loudly through her choice to be an agency nurse that she will not tolerate being treated in this manner. If others choose to allow it, that's not her concern and she has no obligation to push it.

[Agnus]

Originally posted by KaroSnowQueen

NO, I am not interested in fighting this battle, it is not mine, but I just find it odd. And yes, the regular staff whine and moan somewhat behind the scenes, but no one that I have heard of has brought to the DON's attention. I was just astonished that the facility would indulge themselves in such double speak and that the staff nurses would let it go on without bringing it to the attention of someone who could help. I have NO intention of getting into a discussion about it at work. Just wondered if it was a common thing, or just had popped up here.

I personally would not do this. They do get paid for it, and a small bonus, 25 bucks maybe? I'm not sure. They don't let people gobble up the hours, dont' want to be paying someone a gob of OT, every person gets assigned X hours they have to VX, some weeks 4, others 8, others 12 or 16 , depending on staffing needs, etc.

Like I said, just discussing among us. I work my 12 or 8 and go home happily.

IMHO I believe you are correct when you say this is not your battle. This is political double speak. It's like genuine immitation. However, there is some thruth in that prase.

It ges on becaus nurses too often expect someone else to fight their battles.

Too often I have stood up for myself and other nurses spoke to me and said that they felt my speaking up would improve things for everyone. Wrong. As long as you accept a situation, even when administration KNOWs you are grumbling on the side they will continue to do what they are doing.

Until those nurses speak for themselves they will be walked on. They won't speak because they have the misguided notion that they will loose this precious job the one that they are unhappy with. Never mind they could get another one. Never mind that adiministrartion may take notice and make the needed change. People tend to hold on to a job they hate with fear that they might loose it as though it meant thier very life and the last job. on earth.

In effect these nurses have effectively enslaved themselves. Saying yes sir no sir three bags full.

If only they could get over their unrealistic fear and get a back bone. It is not just nurses that do this. I have see people in other field do the same thing.

Their job is more important than self respect.

[katscan]

Another example of the crap we will take unless we stand up and say NO!!!!!

How can they get away with this? How 'bout asking teachers to work one of these types of days? How 'bout lawyers? doctor? No-they are all in charge of their own professions and no one comes in and tells them they have to do something like this? Why do nurses put up with this abuse????

[Agnus]

Originally posted by katscan

Why do nurses put up with this abuse????

Why indeed.

We are of a herd mentality. Unfortunatelly we are more like the unskilled service worker because there are more of us than anything else in the health care industry. So we are treated as such. AND we respond like an unskilled worker would.

Some do not of course. But on the whole we accept what is thrown our way. Because a vast majority behave like pink collar workers the few who will stand thier ground have no effect. Ten percent of 50,000,000 (a hypothetical number) nurses is less impressive than say 10% of 2,000,000 people in a less prolific profession. So if say 10% stand up and the rest follow the herd nothing changes. just for the heck of it 10% of 50 million is 5 million and of 2 million is 200 thousand. These figures are purly imaginary on my part but you get the picture.

Also because we are so many and we constitute a (perhaps the largest) large portion of health care cost, it is in the interest of cost to keep wages down and to keep us over working like machines.

That may or may not be short sighted, as we do burn out and make mistakes. However, we are very prolific and replaceable as there are a lot of us. They can count on another drone stepping in when we fall over.

[katscan]

Oh My, Agnus, so VERY VERY well said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Originally posted by John Coxey

KaroSnowQueen:

- I hope by "volunteering" -- you mean they have to work that day. Hopefully, they/you still get paid for that day.

- Does any one jump on the chance to grab these extra days, in the hopes of making extra $$$.

My hospital went through a period of extreme short staffing, and tried to solve the problem with "mandatory extra shifts," which they could get away with because everyone worked straight 12s -- 3/week, which made them 90%. Everyone was asked to sign up for an extra 8 hour shift twice every 6 weeks. If they worked them, it would still be straight time. (Average less than 40hr/week)

This policy got everyone so riled that they backed down as soon as they could and still save face. What they did instead was ask for "voluntary extra shifts." If you signed up for that, you were eligible to be cancelled if the shift was overstaffed, and if you actually worked it, it counted as a float. Floating is so unpopular that lots of folks signed up for the extra shifts to avoid floating. And this is now a popular policy!

[Agnus]

In NV anything over 40 hr. week is over time. I know in some states it's over 80 hr in a two wk period. But here if you work 41 hour this week and 39 last week it is 1 hr over time.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

Originally posted by Eddye

Not to sound belligerent, but isn't this the same type of thinking that allows people to justify looking the other way when other things are wrong but don't directly affect them; say, just for example, when a doc is chewing a nurse for something (especially if it is something stupid) in front of co-workers/patients?

Eddye, love, there is a reason that many of us dedicated professionals go agency.

It is because one day after tilting at way too many windmills and being treated way too much like crap, we hit the road.

If you choose to work for such an employer, then you agree to work for those terms. If there is no violations of codes of ethics, or violations of Board rules, it is not my fight as a nurse. If however, the facility is doing something to harm Nursing as an entity or commiting some grievous violation, then it is my duty to speak.

The employees also are choosing to work there - they could go agency like the rest of us. While I do not choose to work there, for an employer that practices such a load of BS as "policy", it is their right to do so.

And when their employees quit in mass, and work for them as agency instead under much better conditions and without those requirements., well the facility will learn from their stupidity.

As far as an MD yelling at a nurse, I would probably take up for him/her, but only if s/he will take up for herself also. If s/he takes it over and over, and takes no action, well, then s/he obviously is willing to pay that price for the job and it is not my place to interfere. But , as for me, I don't take that crap - and that is my price (not getting asked back) that I am willing to pay.

[dragonfly954]

I left an ICU position that I really loved because of something like this.We were paid every 2 weeks.During that 2 weeks were required to work an extra shift,like it or not.So 7 12 hour shifts in a 2 week period without it being overtime ;anything after that was overtime.Lots of the time I ended up getting my seven in a row not by my choice by getting my 4 mandatory and 3 starting the next payperiod.If I objected,watch out!Finally I left when I ventured out and discovered that this was not the the way it was supposed to be.18 other nurses left off pcu and icu(same floor) because of this.They could not understand why!