Am I just clueless here?

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I've been reading a lot of these threads discussing pay. I've been a nurse for 2 years, 3 different fulltime jobs in 3 compact states. Now know traveling can pay better but I keep seeing posts from people saying things about what the travel company offers like this for example, "1200 a week and no housing included?? That's bad". I guess from a travel perspective?

I have almost never brought home a check more than 1300- and that's bi-weekly full time! Bringing 1200 a week sounds A- OK to me! What am I missing?? I guess costs of benefits for staff jobs in comparison to all the costs/hardships of being a traveler??

I probably make no sense. Lol. Enlighten me please

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I know for me, I will not work for 1200/wk WITHOUT housing. If I'm gonna bring home that amount, it damn well better include housing.

I am traveling in California right now and my take home pay is 2200/wk and I took the stipend and found my own housing. This is on four 12 hour shift a week.

You can make a lot more as a traveler by taking the housing stipend and finding your own housing.

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You will have to pay your monthly rent or mortgage on your "tax home" when u take an assignment, in addition to paying rent at your new location. Paying for 2 homes can eat up the extra money.

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Oh right! Didn't think about that

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How you view compensation depends largely on your frame of reference. In general, most compact states are not the highest payers. If you happen to be from the South, even the lowest paying travel contracts may seem like manna from heaven. Some travelers are paid more than others for many possible reasons (specialty, geography, experience, agencies, types of facilities), and so you will see a wide range of opinions on what constitutes acceptable pay. The same is true of staff nurses nationwide.

ShoegalRN's pay appears to be substantially higher than the average traveler (it may include overtime), most contracts, even in California, pay between $40 and $50 an hour in total pay, housing included. So take that pay with a big grain of salt (for being a generally obtainable goal), and also recognize that the housing costs where she is working could be extreme, like over $2,000 a month.

As raindrop pointed out, housing is a major cost of being a traveler, and can make a real difference in disposable income. Short term housing historically cost 30% more than long term housing. You also have to furnish housing, pay deposits for all utilities, and get everything done just in time to start an assignment. It doesn't matter if the agency puts in the hours to find and provide housing, or the traveler does, it is costly in time and money. There are ways to dramatically reduce housing costs, but not everyone is willing to perhaps take a hit on their quality of life expectations, or the time needed to find housing at a lower expense than the housing stipend.

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Ned, it does include overtime, I'm contracted for 48 hours a week. I lucked out and got cheap housing on this contract.

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Good to hear, it is disconcerting when really high weekly grosses are posted, it gives people the wrong idea about travelers, especially since they don't take housing costs into consideration. I was thinking $61 an hour was high and suspected it might include overtime (lucky guess). Now you are comfortably in that $40 to $50 an hour bell curve I mentioned when you take $2,200 and divide it by 40 regular hours and 8 overtime.

Nice job for making money! Only once in my career have I had a guaranteed 48 hour contract (never worked for Fastaff). I did once work like 35 days in a row because of unit need and made a ridiculous amount! I was on call every hour I wasn't working on top of that. I'll never say what the amount was because I will be called a liar - it was really up there. It was over the holiday period and they did stacked overtime, something I've never come across before. So get called in at time and a half, but the holiday bumps it up another time and a half! Pretty sweet. I'm on my way back to that facility now, but there needs are no longer that great a couple years later. Hoping things change by the holidays.

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I had that in my nursing home when I came in and picked up extra time as a CNA, at my LPN wages. Bet yer bippy it was sweet. I can only imagine how much sweeter it was as an RN!

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Specializes in ICU, PICU.
I know for me, I will not work for 1200/wk WITHOUT housing. If I'm gonna bring home that amount, it damn well better include housing.

I am traveling in California right now and my take home pay is 2200/wk and I took the stipend and found my own housing. This is on four 12 hour shift a week.

You can make a lot more as a traveler by taking the housing stipend and finding your own housing.

ShoeGal, can I ask what region of California you are traveling? (Aka SF Bay Area, LA area, SD area)

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Just as an FYI, I believe from ShoeGals description that her total hourly pay is on the order of $42. I'd say that rate is consistent with Southern California (but may be somewhere else in the state). This is actually on the low side for travel contracts since most fall between $40 and $50 an hour. The reason why her weekly pay is so high is simply that she is working an extra shift weekly, 33% more work. You could do a similar contract in other parts of the country (Fastaff is big on 48 hour contracts) and do better since the housing cost is lower. Potentially more work of course compared to the consistent staffing ratios in California.

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Hey Ned, out of curiosity, if she's doing 4 12's per week in California, would that not equal 16 hours overtime in California? I thought I heard their OT laws were anything after 8 hours. Is this true?

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The base law is overtime after 8. However there is an alternative workweek allowed in the law based on worker vote initially which a lot of hospitals do, both because the nurses want it (the alternative is going back to 8 hour shifts), staffing is much easier, and there is better continuity of care. Some hospitals are also exempt from the law, which would include military hospitals, VA hospitals, Indian hospitals (not aware of any in California), and California district healthcare hospitals (equivalent to county hospitals) of which there are 17. Lots of twists in the law and there is a good article on PanTravelers about California overtime (and a link to a database to see if you are being paid correctly). The article also discusses missed breaks, overtime after 10 for those 4 x 10 alternative workweeks, doubletime after 12, and day 6 and day 7 pay.

But generally, agencies may follow hospital practice, or choose to pay overtime after 8. I've run across some hospital contracts where if the agency does not pay time and a half after 8, the math just doesn't work out to the benefit of either the traveler or the agency. A technical issue, not a legal one.

The law really doesn't matter much at the traveler end. The agency can adjust the base pay rate for time and half over 8 to make the weekly pay exactly the same (some would call that a blended rate - often quoted for California assignments so the hourly number looks. There is actually a benefit to straight time for 12 hours. If you get sent home early, you still get max pay (or blended rate) per hour, where it would be lower if you were paid overtime after 8.

I calculated effective total pay per hour at about $42 base rate with 8 hours of overtime. It is 100% certain that ShoeGal's contract numbers will be different. But it doesn't matter as the total weekly gross is exactly the same - we are just talking math here so it doesn't matter if she got overtime after 8 on a daily basis or not. By the way, PanTravelers calculator is set up to analyze agency offers both ways so you still end up with a level playing field with agencies that pay differently in California, even at the same hospital!

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