merit based salary increases

[woo 2]

my hospital is getting ready to switch to merit based salary increases. while i believe that the nurses who do the work should be rewarded i also am afraid some backstabbing will occur, one person trying to make self look better to get salary increase, hopefully they will have criteria in place before starting this system anyone have this now please advise

[grouchy]

We have the merit raise system, no cost-of-living adjustments, and were told last year that merit raises were capped at 2%, due to the hospital's financial difficulties. 2% is, in my mind, a cost-of-living adjustment, not a merit raise.

However, they did end up giving a one-time across the board raise to all nurses last year, and are now offering $10,000 sign-on bonuses and $2000 retention bonuses.

[fedupnurse]

We had a strike over this very issue nearlt 9 years ago. Merit pay is way to subjective. The little ass kissers to mgmt. get the top increase and those of us that provide great care but don't compromise our principles by sucking up get screwed. We made a very objective tool which administration is trying to water down and get the subjective standards back in, but I still think a set amount is the way to go. If you can avoid Merit Pay, avoid it. People who haven't worked under it don't have a clue about the impact of favoritism.