Changing Seniority rules to get a Day position

[MvfRN, ASN, MSN, RN]

Would so appreciate your thoughts on this issue, pros & cons, how your company/unit handles it & the response by you & your coworkers. 
 I currently work in an ICU in a small acute care hospital in which seniority is based on how long you have been with the company, not how long you’ve been in our ICU. We are currently in contract negotiations with our company and quite a few of our newer night shift nurses (~ less than 5 or 6 years as a nurse) want to change the policy from company seniority to ICU seniority for the purposes of applying for the few day shift positions that become available.  We’ve had night nurses who lost out on a day position because someone from Tele, Cath Lab, or one of our sister hospitals transferred into our night ICU and they had more company seniority (they transferred because they wanted to advance their skills, not for the day position).  Some things to note:  We had a kind of mass exodus a few years ago, so we have a lot of newer nurses on the night shift.  We are also talking about changing just ICU not the rest of the departments, We’ve had a good discussion on our bargaining facebook page, but I’m really interested in what other ICUs are doing, especially those who changed from one seniority to the other, or any other creative ways to manage this issue.  Thank in advance to all of you who reply! 

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

On 4/4/2021 at 6:01 PM, MvfRN said:

Would so appreciate your thoughts on this issue, pros & cons, how your company/unit handles it & the response by you & your coworkers. 
 I currently work in an ICU in a small acute care hospital in which seniority is based on how long you have been with the company, not how long you’ve been in our ICU. We are currently in contract negotiations with our company and quite a few of our newer night shift nurses (~ less than 5 or 6 years as a nurse) want to change the policy from company seniority to ICU seniority for the purposes of applying for the few day shift positions that become available.  We’ve had night nurses who lost out on a day position because someone from Tele, Cath Lab, or one of our sister hospitals transferred into our night ICU and they had more company seniority (they transferred because they wanted to advance their skills, not for the day position).  Some things to note:  We had a kind of mass exodus a few years ago, so we have a lot of newer nurses on the night shift.  We are also talking about changing just ICU not the rest of the departments, We’ve had a good discussion on our bargaining facebook page, but I’m really interested in what other ICUs are doing, especially those who changed from one seniority to the other, or any other creative ways to manage this issue.  Thank in advance to all of you who reply! 

One of the hospitals I worked at used a weighted system that factored in both hospital seniority and unit seniority. I don’t remember the specifics but for instance you got like 3 “points” for every year you worked on that specific unit, but got 1.5 points for every year you worked for the hospital. It seemed like a decent balance where you got rewarded for being on the same unit, but also got rewarded in a way for staying with that hospital.

[chare]

On 4/4/2021 at 7:01 PM, MvfRN said:

[...]

We are also talking about changing just ICU not the rest of the departments, We’ve had a good discussion on our bargaining facebook page, but I’m really interested in what other ICUs are doing, especially those who changed from one seniority to the other, or any other creative ways to manage this issue.  Thank in advance to all of you who reply [emphasis added]!

In my experience, all of which has been in non-union facilities, seniority on the unit and seniority with the hospital have always been two separate categories.

As for what you are trying to do here, I think this is going to be problematic.  Even if the union agrees to this and allows it in the proposed contract, my thought is that your facility will make every attempt to reject it.

Best wishes.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Non-union, but depending on what the purpose is we consider both hospital seniority and unit seniority. For peak vacation times (Summer and the week of Christmas), we go by hospital seniority. For things like off shifts (with the exception of those who want to work them), we use unit seniority.