Staff RN's earn more than Nurse Manager?!

claudette,

Please have a look at my thread on "resigned from nrs mgr position" in this forum. I don't think I mentioned pay on there ~but~ I know how much my staff RNs made compared to what I made.... Hourly, they made a h#!! of a lot more than I did (hourly) and they were not responsible for the floor 24 -7!!! At least not at this organization I worked for.

However, I do think it depends on the unit you are on. If you are thinking about being a Med Surg manager - I say forget it!!! That job stinks!!! Go for the "specialty" areas.

Just my
Ginger

That's common in many professions, not just nursing. The lower levels of the managment positions are less than the highest levels of the staff. So the senior staff members don't even have to work off-shifts and/or overtime to earn money than their manager.

It isn't unitl you get some experience as a manager and move up in the salary range that you earn more than most of your staff. It may take many, many years to earn more than those staff members at the top of the staff nurse range who are also earning exta money by earning differentials, overtime, etc.

Many staff nurses don't realize that and think their manager is being lazy and unreasonable when he/she doesn't work extra hours to cover short staffing very often, etc. They imagine their managers earning big bucks for sitting around doing nothing. In fact, the manager may be earning less than many of their staff and receive NOTHING for working off-shifts, weekends, or overtime -- not even regular, straight pay.

As a member of the staff development department (also salaried), I was once asked by a staff nurse on a Friday afternoon if I would come in on Saturday and cover a shift. I explained that if I did, I would receive NO PAY for the shift and asked her how many time she came in and worked a shift for free. She was a friend and this was a friendly conversation -- not as "snippy" as it might sound. She simply hadn't realized what she was asking me to do and that her expectation that the leadership team pick up shifts on the weekend was unreasonable.

llg,

You hit it right on the head!!!

I had nurses that worked OT and made more than me. I also had nurses that did NOT work any OT and still made more than me. And this was both hourly and yearly accumulation.

I suppose that if you had at the very least a Master's with some certifications and 20 yrs experience that you might come out ahead of your staff money wise.

Unfortunately turnover among managers is high becuase of the poor treatment and stress so relatively few managers remain in a position for long term to boost their salary. It is much easier for a staff nurse to keep the same job for 20 yrs than it is a manager.

Definitely.

I had 14 years expereince plus a MBA - the story is the same.....

EXPERIENCED STAFF NURSES MAKE MORE $$$ THAN NURSE MANAGERS!!!

If you're looking
to make the big bucks
Go for top level management positions
(Associate/Assistant Director of Nursing/Dept Head, Director of Nursing).

Or else you will burn out
like so many
Nurse Managers do.

I am now salary and make slightly less than I did as a staff RN due to losing my overtime, differentials, etc. When they calculated out my salary as an hourly rate it sounded like more, but after working 14 extra hours last pay period with no extra compensation....

I am learning that I need to put limits on the number of hours I work each day, because I could stay for 12 hours each day and I would still have piles of work on my desk when I leave

Being salary has its benefits, though. I can leave campus for lunch each day. Heck, I get to eat lunch at all- that's a change from working as a staff nurse I am looking forward to a three day weekend if I can only get out from under all the work I have to finish tomorrow! If I was a staff RN, however, I would be working 12's all weekend.

Exactly.... you don't make the weekend, night and holiday differentials because you DON'T have to work nights, weekends and holidays like RNs do.....

IMHO, I avoid overtime. I was mandated by my last job to take 3 12-hr call shifts every 6-week schedule, and ALWAYS got called in. I had no choice but to come in, while getting paid OT.