Are you paid less than new hires?

[jcaste]

I am currently doing a clinical at a hospital where they have a history of paying their established nurses less than the new hire nurses. Their longtime nurses of many years are paid less than brand new RN graduates.

Appearantly, this has been going on for years. I would like to know how common this is? I haven't heard of this issue at other hospitals that I have been at. Does this happen at your facililty? Are you paid less than you are worth?

[cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN]

. I could somewhat understand not paying experienced nurses all that much more more than new grads.

I can't.

[jcaste]

Your story is inspiring. Thank you

[jcaste]

Do you have a state union for nurses over there? They might be able to help you form a union.

[jcaste]

I can understand the need to recruit new hires, but at the expense of creating heart burn or heart failure for the seasoned nurses.....it doesn't seem to be the right choice.

Administration must be tough, but I do wonder if they employ the same practices for new administration hires as well...............

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

That happened to me and about 200 other employees. We petitioned the board and offered resignations en masse. It took less than a day and we all got back pay for a year plus a new rate of pay representing seniority. That was also when the career ladder started. Nurse I, II, III IV V etc with their corresponding definitions and performance requirements. That year I went from XX dollars up to 5.25 an hour more. Plus that year they also started shift diff and weeekend diff. It really made a difference. Now that it's a member of a corporation of 3 hospitals maybe more I doubt that would ever happen again..

[GrumpyRN63, ADN, RN]

wow, that's lame. it's not the case with my agency. i could somewhat understand not paying experienced nurses all that much more more than new grads, but paying new grads more is absurd. i'd get a job somewhere else that'd pay reasonably instead of allowing a facility to treat me like that.

i doubt you'd think that in 10 or 20 years

[James Huffman]

That happened to me and about 200 other employees. We petitioned the board and offered resignations en masse. It took less than a day and we all got back pay for a year plus a new rate of pay representing seniority. That was also when the career ladder started. Nurse I, II, III IV V etc with their corresponding definitions and performance requirements. That year I went from XX dollars up to 5.25 an hour more. Plus that year they also started shift diff and weeekend diff. It really made a difference. Now that it's a member of a corporation of 3 hospitals maybe more I doubt that would ever happen again..

You -- and the other employees -- got action because you showed the hospital that you meant business. That's the only thing hospital managements understand.

What I am at pains to point out is that if an employers knows you will not leave, they have you over a barrel. What every nurse must make plain is this: when a better offer comes along, I'm gone. Without that kind of a threat (and the guts to back it up), there's nothing to stop the worst kind of treatment. There's nothing inherently wrong with an employer paying a new hire more than experienced nurses. We might not like it, but employers pay what they have to pay. And if they know that a nurse isn't going to leave, they may correctly assume they can get away with paying that nurse less.

Hospital managements know that people get comfortable. We like our routines, and we don't like the idea of leaving, and management takes advantage of it. Getting used to frequent change is a good thing, and it keeps a nurse at the top of the pay scale.

[jcaste]

That happened to me and about 200 other employees. We petitioned the board and offered resignations en masse. It took less than a day and we all got back pay for a year plus a new rate of pay representing seniority. That was also when the career ladder started. Nurse I, II, III IV V etc with their corresponding definitions and performance requirements. That year I went from XX dollars up to 5.25 an hour more. Plus that year they also started shift diff and weeekend diff. It really made a difference. Now that it's a member of a corporation of 3 hospitals maybe more I doubt that would ever happen again..

That is a fantastic example of what nurses need to do when this is happening in their facility. Who would take care of the patients if the nurses went on strike? It is also an insult to the new hires when they are offered more pay. At first glance, it might not seem like an insult, but the message is "We are only paying you this because we have too not because we think you are worth it. Stay with us 5, 10, 20 years and you will be the lowest on the pay scale."

[Perpetual Student]

I can't.

I can "somewhat understand" it, but I don't agree with it. I realize that I should've been more specific in my previous post. By "all that much more" I meant roughly 10 bucks per hr max for people working in basic jobs with no added responsibility (e.g. not preceptor, not charge, not supervisor, not APN). Is a nurse with 15-30 years of experience much more effective than a nurse with 5-15 years of experience? How much money is that difference worth if she is a more effective nurse? In many (most?) other industries one needs to advance in order to make substantially more. My agency has no maximum pay rate and there are annual raises based upon a performance evaluation. I believe that's a decent structure.

I believe all nurses should be paid based upon their performance rather than their longevity or years of experience. I have coworkers that have decades of experience who I would not want to provide care for anyone I care about--even if I do like the nurses as people--yet others with similar amounts of experience that are worth a ton of money.

One major problem that I see is that facilities and agencies fail to even give raises to keep up with inflation, meaning that nurses actually get a pay CUT every year. Now THAT really is a bummer.