Accidentally told my coworker what I make, BIG ISSUES NOW

Nurses Relations

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Hi all! So I am relatively a new graduate (3 months prior experience) before landing a job at a SNF. I have only been there for a week and although I was told during the interview that I would be working nights, my manager wanted me on the 3-11 shift to learn admissions for a month. I've been working with this RN for about 2 days now and shes really nice. We talk about out personal lives and etc. (For example she had a daughter by someone who is the same ethnic background as me..etc). So I'm explain my experience from my last job at a large teaching hospital and simply mention that I am taking a pay cut but its worth it because I want the experience. She then asks "Oh what are they starting you at." I stupidly tell her my wage (37) and didn't think anything of it. I explain that I usually leave the part on the application where it says to put your desired wage blank but this time around I put a high wage (I was getting paid 5 dollars more at my last job than this one.) She then says oh wow your very lucky and that they didnt start her at that wage and she put 38 on her application but management told her that they couldn't afford to pay her that. Anyways she says I'm lucky and we leave it at that.

My next day, I notice that she is acting a bit different but didn't think anything of it...it is a stressful job however. I do notice however that we dont seem to see eachother at all and that she didn't teach the the computer system (the most important part) but is teaching the other new hire the computer system. When I sit down to observe so I can learn the phone rings. She quickly looks at me and says "Can you answer the phone in a dismissive tone." Again, didn't think anything of it.

When night shift comes on, one of the night nurses says its her last day. No body knows why it seems very VERY abrupt because nobody talked about it before. I see her and this other nurse(my preceptor I suppose) kind of talking privately. This nurse that resigned was a nice girl and I ask "Oh where are you going?" All she says is "Somewhere." which again I thought was a bit odd.

The next day my manager comes up to me and asks me to meet him in his office. By his tone I can tell something was wrong but have no idea. He asks me if I told anyone my wage and I said yes to my preceptor. He then informs me that 1 nurse (the night nurse) quit because of it and that 2 more are considering quitting. I explain that it was naive and I didn't know i confided in her. He tells me she is not your friend, she went and told everyone and that she is already treating you differently. He then says next shift you will be on nights, I need to get you away from them. EVERYTHING now makes sense to me.

Sorry for the long post but what should I do or is there anything that I can do to rectify this situation. Should I confront/talk to this nurse who went and talked about me to everyone? I do not know how much the other nurses are making and had NO IDEA I was even making more than them. IDK if its because I have my BSN or bc they knew I wouldn't have accepted a job or a wage any lower when I was making $5 more at my last job. I feel HORRIBLY about this especially because our SNF is already so short-staffed.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Yikes. I'm sorry you are in such a mess. I would not confront the nurses. I think they will twist anything you say into further ammo, despite how professional and diplomatic you would be. I would keep the discourse strictly focused on patient care. Pay disclosure has never been an issue for me because I have always worked on union hospitals; the base pay and experience/shift/education/certificate differentials are posted in the contract and online for all to see. I didn't realize the potential hazard in revealing this in other circumstances.

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Yeah, I didn't realize either and this is exactly what I told my manager. That in my previous job plenty of people talked about their pay (with my ICU buddies even telling me that they compared checks LOL), it was union too btw, and I guess should have reconsidered when taking on a new job. I'm just very frustrated about the situation because I already know all of morning/day shift know, by subtle differences that now made sense to from before till now.

I guess I agree about not confront the co-worker as I was considering the possibility of it getting out of hand and it possibly getting back to my manager but I feel really upset and kind of betrayed. Yes, I am trying to understand it from their shoes but to blab to everyone?? (Well guess that's how nursing is.) The main issue for me is that I would not want to stay in this kind of environment for long, I already miss the hospital, but I feel like I absolutely could not quit or change my hours now

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

religion, politics and salary. 3 things to keep to yourself. This too shall pass though.

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Hi all! So I am relatively a new graduate (3 months prior experience) before landing a job at a SNF. I have only been there for a week and although I was told during the interview that I would be working nights, my manager wanted me on the 3-11 shift to learn admissions for a month. I've been working with this RN for about 2 days now and shes really nice. We talk about out personal lives and etc. (For example she had a daughter by someone who is the same ethnic background as me..etc). So I'm explain my experience from my last job at a large teaching hospital and simply mention that I am taking a pay cut but its worth it because I want the experience. She then asks "Oh what are they starting you at." I stupidly tell her my wage (37) and didn't think anything of it.

Why are you telling someone you've known all of 2 days things about your personal life? That is a mistake.

Secondly, you now know that talking about salaries is never a good idea. Live and learn.

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OP,

This is not your problem, this is a company culture problem.

There are more and more companies moving to an open salary culture which I think is fantastic. This is no different than the government sector where you can look up anyone's salary.

Secrecy allows for discrimination and other unethical behaviors.

Why An Open Salary Policy Always Beats Secrecy | TechCrunch

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

Should you "confront" her about "blabbing" to others? Considering that you were the first to "blab" however innocently, I think you have no business confronting anyone.

Keep your head down & work hard for your salary. Congratulations on your new job.

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yes indeed!

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I rarely see BSN nurses make much more than an ASN, most I've seen is .50/hour more. I don't think that's why she is getting less. At the time you were hired, they were desperate enough to pay you more because they needed someone.

I think if I had more experience at a job and I found out someone was making more, I'd be peeved also, wouldn't make a big stink of it, but I can understand how that would feel.

I kind of wonder how you, as a professional educated person, would think it would be an appropriate topic to discuss with a new coworker. It seems common sense would be screaming DO NOT!

Anyway, this relationship with the coworker is never going to be rectified. Best move is no move at all, just try to do your job as best as you can and avoid sharing personal information. Good luck, its not your fault you make more, but you certainly learned this life lesson the hard way.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

Lesson learned!! I'm just glad that management didn't pull the whole "you're forbidden to discuss salaries" because they can't enforce that. I agree that 2 days into a working relationship with such personal discussions is beyond strange, I won't buy the "accidentally" part of you telling her your salary either. I will concede to some form of tricked however.

I doubt there is anything that you can do to rectify things with the nurses that are now upset with you, hold your head up and move on. Their leaving isn't on you either, don't let your manager make you believe that it is

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Specializes in ICU.

I agree with the above poster that said don't ever discuss money, politics, or religion with anyone except your immediate family. By immediate, I mean significant other. Not even brothers or sisters!! Seriously.

I must be from that last generation that we were taught to never talk about money. So she quit? That's her problem. She obviously didn't have another job lined up. Now, she has no income. I hope it was worth making her point.

You learned a valuable lesson. Don't do it again. You know, I see more pettiness on here with SNF facilities than I do anybody else. Is that just that culture? I hope not. It doesn't seem to be with anybody I encounter in life but on the Internet, it seems to be awful.

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Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.

My line for 44.5 years, "not enough" :roflmao:

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