Benefits - how to tell good from bad

control · Apr 29, 2006

hello everyone! i'm a canadian bsn student that will be graduating next spring, and one of the big issues i feel is not covered in nursing school is assessing job offers. now, i can decide where i want to work, and what shifts i'm willing to work. pay rate + diff is pretty straight forward. BUT! i know nothing about benefits. as well, i'm hoping to move to the us immediately after graduation, and since health insurance (and insurance in general) is such a biggie down there, i'm asking for help from some of the pros out there! so, for example,
how many paid days off is avergage? great? what kind of sick leave, education assistance, insurance, should i be looking for? should evaluation/raises be discussed duriing the interview? how common is it to pay for parking? what about uniforms? anything else anyone can think of, please include!!
thanks again for everyone's suggestions! :monkeydance:

depending upon where you settle to practice in the US, "good benefits" will vary.

Here in the southeast US (I'm in Louisiana), you probably will have to pay around 15 a month for parking in the hospitals parking garage, or if you park outside of employee areas probably a dollar an hour. There is lots of free parking available, but it's usually some distance from the facility and maybe not the safest if you get off work at night.

Sometimes facilities have uniform sellers come to the hospital, but you can generally find uniform sellers in the phone book or online. Also the nurse manager/manager will usually talk to you about the uniform and where most other nurses get theirs.

Education assistance usually comes after a year of full-time employment. The amount usually varies.

Evaluation can be discussed during the interview. Raises, too, but I would save any money discussion for the end of an interview.

Nurses usually get major holidays paid as a benefit. If you work the scheduled holiday in a hospital, you will usually receive regular pay plus a bit more; if you don't work it you will just receive regular pay. Major holidays include Christmas Day, Thanksgiving Day, New Years Day, and July 4 (Independence Day). Others are usually included, but it varies from employer to employer.

Vacation days are usually given. Generally a weeks worth. Sometimes another form of this benefit, called PTO (paid time off) is used.

Everyone gets sick days. Usually you get some upon employment that cannot be used for a certain probationary period (e.g., the first 3 months of employment or 90 days).

Insurance is insurance. If you have other means of being insured, then you don't take part in the insurance plan; if you don't have other means, you usually participate. Or you can buy your own, but it's usually cheaper to participate in a group plan.

If I think of anything else, I'll add. Hope that helps. :)