Threats from Management

hbncns35 · Jan 5, 2006

More like Motivation to be there...............Talk to DON to see if there are alternate meetings on days that you will be there. There will always be a few that don't make it. Get Excused first before you have a problem....HB

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 5, 2006

I believe that employers are getting more explicit in stating their expectations (and the possible consequences for those who fail to comply) because they see it as a necessity in today's world. If they do not state the expectations clearly and/or do not say what the potential punishment will be ... then they have staff members who will try to "weasel out" of such things and/or say that they were not aware of the expectations/potential punishment.

It's a sad commentary on the state of our nursing workforce, but I have found it to be true. Management can no longer assume that the staff understands what is expected of them ... and must therefore resort to such explicit statements to avoid misunderstandings, grievances, and lawsuits.

llg

kitty=^..^=cat · Jan 5, 2006

When I was a hospital DON, I revised the nursing job descriptions to include the attendance requirement for unit meetings (80%) and non-mandatory inservices (70%) and had everyone review and sign that they understood...

I was surprised at how many of our licensed personnel ended up with less than the required number of one, the other or both when time for their evaluations rolled around.

Not only did they miss out on their annual pay increases, they also ended up with written warnings in their personnel files. Yes, it was a hard stance to take, but if you expect to be treated (and compensated) like a responsible adult, act like one, you know?

I have since left that facility, but I understand the requirements are still in place and strictly followed...

LEL · Jan 5, 2006

When I was a hospital DON, I revised the nursing job descriptions to include the attendance requirement for unit meetings (80%) and non-mandatory inservices (70%) and had everyone review and sign that they understood...
I was surprised at how many of our licensed personnel ended up with less than the required number of one, the other or both when time for their evaluations rolled around.
Not only did they miss out on their annual pay increases, they also ended up with written warnings in their personnel files. Yes, it was a hard stance to take, but if you expect to be treated (and compensated) like a responsible adult, act like one, you know?
I have since left that facility, but I understand the requirements are still in place and strictly followed...

While I understand and agree that inservices are a vital part of nursing, I don't understand why inservices are not scheduled on 2 different days and at 3 different times. Perhaps administration needs to act like responsible adults when scheduling inservices.

Nurse Ratched, RN · Jan 5, 2006

I don't understand why inservices are not scheduled on 2 different days and at 3 different times.

One of several reasons why I recently left my part time hospital job was a proliferation of mandatory meetings - all held during my fulltime job's hours, none on alternate shifts. Figured I'd better get out before it became a black mark on my record. My fulltime workplace was extremely understanding about competency days and all the other usual business that goes along with hospital work, but I just didn't want to nickel-dime them to death with stupid stuff every time hospital mgt got a bee in their bonnet to call us in for information that could've been disseminated by other means.

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 5, 2006

Certainly, the employer has the responsibility of scheduling meetings, inservices, etc. at reasonable times -- and not to schedule an unreasonable amount of mandatory activities. I won't disagree with you on that.

However, we have more and more employees these days who don't comply with ANYTHING unless it is explicitly stated that they will be fired if they don't do it. For example, my hospital tries to complete some of its mandatory education through the use of computer modules that take only about 2 hours to complete. The staff has ALL YEAR to do them and can choose ANY TIME that is convenient for them. Computers are easily accessable and 80% of the staff has no problem meeting the requirements months ahead of the deadline. However ... as the end of the year approaches, reminders and warnings become more frequent ... an yet ... we have a dozen or so each year who just "never get around to it" and have to be suspended until they meet their requirements. Another 20 or 30 cut it to the wire and only complete the requirements at the last possible moments, under threat of suspension. That's the type of "professional adult" behavior that creates the need for employers to make such threats.

llg

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Jan 5, 2006

Hi there from one of those non-compliant employees!! We have those computer training modules, I've never had an issue getting those done, like described by a previous poster, they are available at any time on any hospital computer. I'd prefer if there were accessible from home, but it's no big deal, I get those done. When we have unit meetings held in the middle of my shift and my assignment isn't crazy, I go to them. Our managment is usually very understanding about scheduling these one day shift as well as nights, then they will repeat them that weekend on days then again and at night. When I say at night, I mean like 10-11pm (our shifts are 7p-7a). The charge nurses/resourse nurses will run around the unit trying to cover for that hour so everyone can get away.

Ok, but if there is some hospital-wide required meeting, they do them during business hours and I'm not at the hospital during business hours. I also think it's asking a big much for me to drive almost 50 miles round trip for an hour or two meeting. Almost all these required meetings could be covered by an e-mail or a short computer course. I have also learned that a lot of what they state is required isn't really. I found this out accidently when I would miss a required meeting because I was out for a couple of weeks on vacation and would come back to find I'd missed a meeting. If it really was important they reschedule more meetings and usually eventually send out a printed version for me to sign.

As for mandatory meetings and raises, yes, that's in our "rules" and on my eval. The only thing they track though are unit meetings and you get credit if you sign the minutes on a sign on sheet especially designated for those who didn't attend but read the minutes. Besides my raises are getting pretty pathetic (as is a problem for nurses who have worked more than 10years) and I've pretty much topped out so even if I'm performing on level (which I've always done) I get something like 2%. I might as well wait for those across the board raises they give every once in a while (they survey all the local hospitals and try to get the average wages to match to keep people from moving back and forth from facilities).

southern_rn_brat · Jan 5, 2006

I work weekends only. I do so because I have other commitments during the week. My DON recently told me that I am required to be there, despite the fact that I took the weekend position in part due to these other commitments. She informed me that she REFUSED to tape these inservices so that the weekend staff could watch them on the weekends and she REFUSED to relay the information in these meetings. She said if we didnt come to her meetings then we could just find out about new policies from other staff members. I challenged her and reminded her that communication is our worst problem in our facility and that will only make it worse but she said we had to come in. She never ever has inservices scheduled on the weekend (we have alot of weekend only staff) unless it is an inservice that I give as the nursing manager. Drives me nuts:o

fergus51 · Jan 5, 2006

I have never worked at a place that had mandatory meetings. I went to a few of those voluntary staff meetings and quickly realized what a HUGE waste of time they were, then stopped.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Jan 5, 2006

I love mandetory meetings. I love how they expect you to attend but fail to supply the needed coverage for you to leave your unit and actually attend. I love the way they schedule them but put up a brief little note on a window someplace near the nurses station and expect everyone to know about it and be there. I love they way they expect people to come in on their days off for their meetings but dont want to pay for your mandetory attendance,(like im going out of the goodness of my heart?), my time is worth something too.

suebird3 · Jan 6, 2006

While I understand and agree that inservices are a vital part of nursing, I don't understand why inservices are not scheduled on 2 different days and at 3 different times. Perhaps administration needs to act like responsible adults when scheduling inservices.

I love mandetory meetings. I love how they expect you to attend but fail to supply the needed coverage for you to leave your unit and actually attend. I love the way they schedule them but put up a brief little note on a window someplace near the nurses station and expect everyone to know about it and be there. I love they way they expect people to come in on their days off for their meetings but dont want to pay for your mandetory attendance,(like im going out of the goodness of my heart?), my time is worth something too.

Guess I am lucky.....my boss sets up meetings at different times. AND the notices are posted RIGHT next to the time cards/time clock. Makes it reeeal easy to see. It's not like this is anything new, either....so no one can say "I didn't see it...."

Oh, and several of the mandatory meetings are scheduled on paydays.....Duh! How much easier can it be???? IF there are any problems, the person who missed would be filled in.

Suebird