Cash money vs. sweet benefits

caliotter3 · Jul 30, 2012

More than one person found their place out of state and has not returned to CA. Try it out. If you like it, fine. If not, you can return to the CA race of rats.

pixiestudent2 · Jul 30, 2012

If you have kids free daycare is awesome!

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Jul 30, 2012

Hey all,
CA new grad, doing the CA new grad thing. I have a second interview out of state in the next few weeks. Like many I was considering getting my exp and returning to CA for the high salary.
I checked the out of state hospital's benefits online and i gotta say wow, it seems pretty sweet. So now I'm wondering with all things considered do the benefits outweigh the difference in wage? roughly 1/2 of CA wage, with cost of living its not quite balancing it out but close.
So here's the highlights:
- standard medical/rx + vision + dental
- life + disability
- 200% match on retirement (my teachers told us nurses dont get retirement funds!)
- PTO year-0 = 193hrs (so if im on 12's its a bit over 16 days? its that alot??!)
- tuition loan $3k/yr, CME $500free/yr
- free childcare onsite
Thats the highlights, there is the standard EAP, 1.5 time holiday etc.
What are your thoughts on this? If its as good as it sounds i may just forgeddabout CA and settle down.

PTO is average for a hospital, that's standard, it also rolls into your sick time. I think the things that state above and beyond is the retirement match, that's an awesome deal for every dollar you invest they invest 2 bucks...that's unheard of. The childcare onsite is pretty significant also.

Otherwise, it's about what you'd expect at a hospital :) If you get the job, I'd just go ahead and take it. As long as you can stand the area. I'd drive around and get a feel for the place :) Good luck!

Wild Irish LPN, LPN · Jul 31, 2012

wow, and i thought I had it good with my state job here in Colorado....sounds good to me, and sounds like you have little ones to boot....Take it bro-seph....:)

jules_tx · Jul 31, 2012

When my husband and I (he's a nurse too) left our last hospital and went job searching in a different city, we actually wandered the floors of two different hosptials and chatted with a few nurses. We asked them about ratios, benefits, availability of supplies, nursing admin. etc. We felt a little wierd doing this, but we were surprised how friendly and open the nurses were about sharing their experiences at the hospital. It helped us to decide where we wanted to work and I ended up at one of the hospitals, my husband at the other. I will tell you from experience, although dollar signs are nice, you have to think about the work environment. The hospital we initially worked at paid great, but turnover was horrible, it had unsafe ratios and everyday I worried I was putting my license on the line. We both ended up taking a pay cut, but the decrease in stress level and the great tuition reimbursement paid for my msn. Hope sharing this helped!

Good luck in your decision!

eleectrosaurus · Jul 31, 2012

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I have spoken to the floor nurses and most of them gushed about how they love it. That pretty much makes up my mind.

P.S. My "man on the inside" spoke to the mgrs today, he said this interview is a formality, it's in the bag.

:w00t:

SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS · Jul 31, 2012

Congratulations!

Yes, for anyone with kids, daycare is very expensive (especially for the youngest ones), and the PTO right off the bat is generous. Not sure where your prof got the "nurses don't get retirement funds" thing. Nonprofits offer a 403B that you can pay into, just like a 401k that employees of for-profit companies can use. Nobody has "retirement" set up like it used to be.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Jul 31, 2012

To take a tangent with the retirement thing: YOU are the only person who is responsible for your eventual retirement. Pay attention to it NOW - while you are young. Put in what you need to to get the maximum from your employer. Max out a Roth with the rest. and KEEP PAYING ATTENTION TO IT! Educate yourself about financial planning. I'm so glad I did. A helpful website is Dave Ramsey Homepage - daveramsey.com. There are lots of others - this is the one that had the most info for me.