Can someone tell me if I'm overreacting? How do I keep this from happening again? I work in the hospital on a closed inpatient unit. Rather than self-schedule, we have master patterns that repeat monthly and we pick up on-call to fill gaps. I say the above to say that we rarely get bonus shift opportunities.
Today our HUC/scheduler just asked me to swap my 4/7 shift to work 4/5 instead, and just to be nice I said yes. It didn't really help or hurt me to do so. Within 1 hour of making the swap, she announces that she is opening a bonus pay shift on 4/5 for any RN willing to pick it up who is already going to meet their FT hours for the week.
I'm kind of pissed off. I would have rather kept my 4/7 and picked up 4/5 as a bonus shift. I get that her job is to balance the schedule but how do I keep this from happening again, just stop being flexible altogether? I'm not trying to be doomsday about the whole thing but it really felt like a bait and switch & at a time when it's so hard to keep staff, I can't understand why they behave this way.
Martyr syndrome is marked by self-sacrifice and service to others at your own expense. Administration knows how to spot said martyrs and will ask them to take on extra hours, projects, meetings, etc. It's hard to work with a martyr because she/he sets unrealistic expectations for the rest of the unit. The martyr will then complain that nobody is helping her/him. Administration's strategy is to pit one HCW against another. Don't fall into this trap!
I feel like I have just had a very therapeutic group meeting. I am a recovering Martyr. I am strong enough these days that I don't wish to rehash the things I willingly agreed to over the years. But let's just say I did way more than my share to cover for colleagues who had the good sense to do only what they wanted to. My managers loved me, my colleagues knew it was fine to say no as I could be counted on to say yes, no matter how unreasonable/ uneven it made things and by the time I resigned I was burnt out, bitter and resentful.
On 4/17/2022 at 10:13 AM, K. Everly said:
Mic drop. ?
Yep. I like my managers but they are directly in between helping me out and helping out the higher-ups, and the higher up's hold their jobs in their hands, while I'm really just another body to fill the space for them.
I have to remember, helping profession aside, this is a profession and a business relationship. I owe them nothing more than my job description entails.
It is 100% a business to hospital management. If a computer is cheaper at Walmart than Best Buy you will go to Walmart. It took me years to learn that if I wanted my work to be valued I had to stop giving it to at a discount. Now if the offered wage is too low at a new job I tell them no and the dollar range I would accept - I was amazed when it actually worked. When I don't wish to swap my shifts, instead of doing it and being resentful other people don't take their turn I say no and walk away.
I'm 100% happier. I'm also proud that I'm no longer role modeling being a Martyr to other nurses. As a group we deserve better.
KP2016: Have you ever noticed on your employer's intranet they post little blurbs about staff who have gone "above and beyond"? Most, if not all of these articles involve people working outside of their job descriptions (I.e. a nurse who cleans a room so a new patient can be admitted). Rather than staffing us appropriately, management is showering us with praise for taking on extra responsibility (as if we didn't have enough already). My goal is to NEVER have my face posted on that webpage!
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
It's times like these that I hate management, and I am management. Everyone here gave great advice. Look out for yourself, because nobody else will. It's okay to ask if there is an incentive to switching a shift before agreeing to do so, and it's okay to decide not to, if there is no incentive. And don't let anyone guilt you into being a good little worker bee martyr.
kp2016
522 Posts
I feel like I have just had a very therapeutic group meeting. I am a recovering Martyr. I am strong enough these days that I don't wish to rehash the things I willingly agreed to over the years. But let's just say I did way more than my share to cover for colleagues who had the good sense to do only what they wanted to. My managers loved me, my colleagues knew it was fine to say no as I could be counted on to say yes, no matter how unreasonable/ uneven it made things and by the time I resigned I was burnt out, bitter and resentful.
It is 100% a business to hospital management. If a computer is cheaper at Walmart than Best Buy you will go to Walmart. It took me years to learn that if I wanted my work to be valued I had to stop giving it to at a discount. Now if the offered wage is too low at a new job I tell them no and the dollar range I would accept - I was amazed when it actually worked. When I don't wish to swap my shifts, instead of doing it and being resentful other people don't take their turn I say no and walk away.
I'm 100% happier. I'm also proud that I'm no longer role modeling being a Martyr to other nurses. As a group we deserve better.