Allow me to vent please

[Tweety]

I've been a loyal staff member of the hospital I work for now for 24 years. They've been good to me and the manager I currently have is the one that hired me. I've moved around the hospital some and have good experience and like my coworkers.

Like other places we have high turnover and being Florida out winter season tends to be busier. A local hospital chain pays very well and we lose a lot of younger people to them after they get their experience here. We recently lost yet another coworker and we're constantly short staffed.

To deal with this they are hiring "seasonal pool" which is a three-month contract at about $15 more an hour than the average staff makes. They've started a float pool at $10 an hour differential higher than the rest of us. They also use travel nurses through different agencies at high cost and give them housing.

Meanwhile those of us who are staff just got our evaluations and were told "we're under consideration for raises, but not sure it can be budgeted".

When they get their heads out of the sand they whine "why can't we keep any staff?? We need to have a committee look at this. Let's give them some cookies."

I promised my boss I'd stick with her until she retires in a year and a half and then perhaps I can get a nice well paying job. Too bad it probably can't be at my place of employment because rather than reward us they are paying new people so much money they can't fit us in their budget.

Thanks for listening.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

If the float pool goes to floors you don't like, that's a reason not to do it. Maybe. How often would the float pool send you to floors you don't like as opposed to those you do?

A lot, those floors can't keep staff.

Remember, my vent is not that I don't make enough money or am unhappy at my present position, it's that long-term staff may not get a raise, because it's not in the budget, when these high paying positions, like travel nursing, and season pool, are budgeted. Perhaps if they treated us better they would retain nurses and not need these people.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Understandable, but unless you have a strong union, management rules. So your option is to continue where you are, or try the float pool. Clearly, your management group isn't concerned with fairness.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I'm "maxed out" at my job, too. So I haven't gotten any kind of raise (not even cost of living) in almost 5 years. There are a couple of people in my department in the same situation.

But I have been enjoying 1 perk of longevity recently. I have so much vacation time saved up that I have to "use it or lose it." I earn a little over 1 day per pay period. So I am taking off 1 day per pay period while being paid for full time. I've been doing that for a couple of months now and I have come to really like it. I usually use that day off each pay period to run errands, make medical appoints, etc. and do some work for a 2nd, very part time job.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I'm "maxed out" at my job, too. So I haven't gotten any kind of raise (not even cost of living) in almost 5 years. There are a couple of people in my department in the same situation.

But I have been enjoying 1 perk of longevity recently. I have so much vacation time saved up that I have to "use it or lose it." I earn a little over 1 day per pay period. So I am taking off 1 day per pay period while being paid for full time. I've been doing that for a couple of months now and I have come to really like it. I usually use that day off each pay period to run errands, make medical appoints, etc. and do some work for a 2nd, very part time job.

That's a sweet way to manage it.

There definitely are perks. I take two vacations a year. In March I took a 17 day tour of Southeast Asia. Next month I'm going to Costa Rica for 8 days.

I used up all my sick time this year being out 11 weeks for shoulder surgery. When we got bought out a few years ago, they eliminated 200 sick hours I had and made us start all over. So that perk was unperked.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

A lot, those floors can't keep staff.

Remember, my vent is not that I don't make enough money or am unhappy at my present position, it's that long-term staff may not get a raise, because it's not in the budget, when these high paying positions, like travel nursing, and season pool, are budgeted. Perhaps if they treated us better they would retain nurses and not need these people.

Yup. I get your vent. I have been in the same position as you, and i remember how frustrating I found it that management was willing to throw a bunch of money at new grads whom we KNEW had plans to get into anesthesia school just as quickly as possible. (One girl never even made it off orientation before giving her notice to leave for anesthesia school.). But somehow there wasn't enough money in the budget for raises for senior staff. They froze the salary of anyone making over X amount of dollars, and kept it frozen for three YEARS while everyone below us got raises as usual. When the folks who had been new grads when they froze our salaries started to catch up, they unfroze our salaries, but we weren't given compensatory raises. I had been a loyal employee for years. New staff got all the holidays off the first year, and we were so understaffed at Christmas and Thanksgiving that most of us didn't get time to sit down and eat the potluck we'd brought. The following year, management announced that they were doing it that way again "Because if we don't keep the new staff happy, they'll leave." Guess what -- they were all planning to leave anyway!

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

I am with you 100% on this. I too have been with my facility for 20+ years and nurses have been getting the same old no raise song and dance for years. While those of us who have been there get nothing, the short staffing has caused new nurse wages to climb to where they are almost caught up to the veterans, not to mention a large sign on bonus. I have started making some noise about this. I'll update you if if it actually gets me anywhere.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Yup. I get your vent. I have been in the same position as you, and i remember how frustrating I found it that management was willing to throw a bunch of money at new grads whom we KNEW had plans to get into anesthesia school just as quickly as possible. (One girl never even made it off orientation before giving her notice to leave for anesthesia school.). But somehow there wasn't enough money in the budget for raises for senior staff. They froze the salary of anyone making over X amount of dollars, and kept it frozen for three YEARS while everyone below us got raises as usual. When the folks who had been new grads when they froze our salaries started to catch up, they unfroze our salaries, but we weren't given compensatory raises. I had been a loyal employee for years. New staff got all the holidays off the first year, and we were so understaffed at Christmas and Thanksgiving that most of us didn't get time to sit down and eat the potluck we'd brought. The following year, management announced that they were doing it that way again "Because if we don't keep the new staff happy, they'll leave." Guess what -- they were all planning to leave anyway!

Yep that sucks. I've been maxed out and haven't gotten a raise for several years. I've taken a Clinical Nurse III position (charge nurse) and I might be eligible for a raise this year. What's bad is that it's not veterans, it's anyone that's a staff nurse. Staff nurses getting annual reviews are told "it's under consideration for the next budget" which means it's a no because we haven't heard anything for months. New grads, especially millennials aren't putting up with this and leaving for no reason other than they can get more money next door. Don't blame them. Meanwhile they created the "seasonal pool" at a rate way above and beyond what any of us staff get cover shortages they could have avoided in the first place.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

I am with you 100% on this. I too have been with my facility for 20+ years and nurses have been getting the same old no raise song and dance for years. While those of us who have been there get nothing, the short staffing has caused new nurse wages to climb to where they are almost caught up to the veterans, not to mention a large sign on bonus. I have started making some noise about this. I'll update you if if it actually gets me anywhere.

I am quoting myself, which I think is kind of funny but I need to to put this post in perspective. The noise I started making about wages actually did some good. I took my request to the administrator first and she agreed that my wages weren't quite where they should be so she took the matter up with the DON. It must have made a huge difference coming from her instead...[YIKES!Space..bar..malfunction..again!!]..of.me...I.got.a.raise...and..it..is..a..substantial..one.