Does Banner offer referal bonuses? If so. . . I'm looking for work in AZ, CA

catlady, BSN, RN · Jul 14, 2006

You mean because somebody in that other thread you started said she saw an ad for nurses making $90K? I'd surely like to know where that is, because I just got hired on staff by a hospital in Phoenix and my base will be many thousands less than that, and that's with over 20 years' experience. From what you wrote in the other thread, you have a few years' experience and it's not recent.

None of the facilities I talked to were offering any sign-on bonuses, either. I've also worked in two management positions in this area and didn't make close to $90K. Given your physical problems, you might have thought of case management. Expect to make in the $50-60K range, DOE. Long-term care actually pays higher than the hospital in many cases, but it's brutally hard work, both physically and mentally.

neophyte · Jul 14, 2006

Thanks for the help Catlady. I see you have a lot of posts on allnurses.com. . Thanks for the advice on long-term care paying more, but being that much harder to do. As I mentioned in my initial thread "I'm about 100% healthy again, and stopped whining about my accident before I even left my house/hospital bed I was stuck in there. . . so, I'm READY TO WORK, and I have a great attitude.." So, yes I am out of practice, but no my physical status should not be an issue. . . almost 100% means what it says: I can put in a full days work alongside the best of them (my "physical problems" are not that great. . .). And finally, NO just because one semi-anonymous person said I could make $90,000 in Phoenix is far from good reason to all of a sudden want to work there. Phoenix does seem to offer some VERY competative salaries, especially when you consider the cost of living index compared to other places I've looked at. Finally, I'm not at all sure where you've been looking, but I've found multiple bonus offers including a $40,000 payout over 5 years ($5,000 minimum for one year's work) at not 1 but 2 hospitals in the Phoenix area. That and they are offering "extra shift diffs" that put your wages double your hourly salary once you go into overtime hours. Here's part of the "ad" I received prior to posting in the AZ section of the allnurses forum: "Earn Up to $40,000 Retention Bonus - ($8,000 annually) for 5 years

for ICU and Telemetry Staff ($25,000 over 5 year for all other nurses) OR

Student loan repayment up to $40,000 for any nurse specialty.

* Relocation Assistance Available

* Extra Shift Incentive - Work an extra shift and get an extra shift

differential of $12/hour + Overtime after 40hrs.

* Next Day Pay - Get paid for your extra shift the next day - Need an

extra $600 for the weekend?

* Speak Spanish? - Get paid an extra for .75 cents/hr for translating

* Tuition Reimbursement - $1250 / yr OR Full reimbursement is

available with commitment.

* Accrue up to 17 paid time off, 6 sick days, and 6 reserve sick days"

We shall see just how valid the above comments are.. . but with a base salary of $24/hr for lower experienced RN's, it seems like a good offer. I have a phone interview next week, and will gladly post the two hospitals in the Phoenix area that make these claims once I have accepted/declined the position (which will be soon).

PhoenixGirl · Jul 14, 2006

I'm hearing some of the highest salaries in the country are in Phoenix right now. .. If anyone working there knows of referal bonuses with Banner (Anywhere in AZ). . . I'd be willing to split it with you if you are eligible and I end up accepting a job there. . . I might have some direct questions about just how good a facility you work at is (moral, training, safety record). . . but considering that would only take a few minutes and how much referal bonuses are. . .:wink2:

I beleive the Banner Hospitals offer relocation and sign on bonus's for RN's to move to Phoenix. They have their own registry within their hospitals.

You could also try travel nurse agencies. I read your other post and saw why you feel the need to move someone and make some money.

I've spoke to RNs in Az who talked about making around 90K a year. But it was doing stuff like registry, working nights, overtime and working in places where they offer overtime bonus's. Recently before the facility I'm at was staffed up, they were giving us LPNs $150/shift to work extra. Now it's back down to $75. But when I was doing clinicals I spoke with Rns who said hospitals were giving them $400/shift to pick up OT. Not to mention OT is time and half! So the money can be good. You'll work your butt off for it. But if your healthy and willing, yea, it can be done in Az. Plus cost of living is still very nice.

Rebecca

catlady, BSN, RN · Jul 14, 2006

Thanks for the help Catlady. I see you have a lot of posts on allnurses.com.
We shall see just how valid the above comments are.. . but with a base salary of $24/hr for lower experienced RN's, it seems like a good offer. I have a phone interview next week, and will gladly post the two hospitals in the Phoenix area that make these claims once I have accepted/declined the position (which will be soon).

Why, yes, having been registered on this site for seven years, I've averaged a whopping 0.16 posts per day, or about one a week. Golly.

$24/hr works out to just about $50,000 per year. You can probably get that just about anywhere. Most places will give special incentives for OT, too, and most places offer relocation. Due to the runup in home prices by out-of-state speculators, housing here is comparable to what I paid in the Northeast; food and clothing cost the same, and the sales tax is higher. The pool temperature was 94 degrees yesterday--too hot to swim, and my electric bill was close to $400 despite having the thermostat set at 83, which is fairly intolerable when it's 113 outside. What's so special about Phoenix?

I am not really interested in where you end up. Hoping ever so slightly that you don't end up near me. From your few posts, I see you have a lovely little attitude. My life's too short to tolerate arrogance. I won't be reading or responding to you, so have a nice life.

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Jul 14, 2006

The place I work at offers triple time when they really need nurses. However, I agree with the PP, so my hospital will remain unnamed.

So you want to come to PHX just because someone in the other post told you that we make a lot of $$ out here? Have you ever been here? Have you looked at the housing market? Go to Cali-they are in a union and can make $56/hr maybe more. Maybe Hawaii. They make bank too, since that's all you're interested in.

Again, why not try a meeting with a financial advisor? The answer to debt isn't always more money.

wjf00 · Jul 14, 2006

I'm hearing some of the highest salaries in the country are in Phoenix right now. .. If anyone working there knows of referal bonuses with Banner

Banner is always bottom of the barrel on pay in Phoenix. I personally witnessed their abysmal pay practices. The relocation bonus?... they refused to pay it to me, it seems coming from San Diego was not far enough away for them to qualify it for 'relocation'. The sign-on bonus?.... took 6 monthes and endless phone calls for them to 'pony-up'. Then those vultures wanted it back, said I left after less than 1 year. They only count the year from the day they finally paid me. The bonus money ($100/shift promised when ever they are desperate)?.... Chased that for monthes to no avail, then I finally gave up. The pay?.. Each year I was there they raised the 'new grad' pay, yet they never increased the pay of nurses already there. So 'new grads' were making more money than RN's already there. Raises?... the only way to get a decent raise was to quit and then come back. Some nurses I knew had quit and returned almost annually.

neophyte · Jul 15, 2006

WOW. I thanked the Catlady and did a poor job of showing appreciation for her many other posts (I read old posts from folks to get a feel for their credibility and liked hers), and THEN made the mistake of pointing out that I thought she had made an error or two (including not reading far enough to see that I AM ready to work, but that I WAS injured serously years ago. And of course I thought the $90k salary was too good to be true. She indicated no hospitals she sought out were giving out bonuses in the Phoenix area, and I just wanted others looking in the area to know that they are. It's a forum, how someone could almost immediately take my comments as being so negative is easy to believe, but I thought the point of a nursing forum was to feel like I was chatting with friends and to feel welcome and to be welcoming to others. How my words were already so misinterpreted to the point where someone I have never met is "hoping" I don't end up near them is dissapointing however. Finally, I life in an "expensive" city myself. . . Phoenix IS special to me because the exhaustive research I've done at sites like Salary.com indicate strongly that the current cost of living in Phoenix is about 10% lower! If I make 60k or so in a year. . . that's another $6,000 bucks in my bank account to pay off bills. . . Sorry to get you wound up there Cat. . . I'm glad I won't be hearing from you just the same. (PS, I'm not arrogant, though I am self-confident. I do "fight" people that make hateful statements on my posts however.) allnurses has provided me some great information, including the importance of unions to nurses in many areas of the country. For those of you that work at hospitals that seek out things like Baldrige Awards: you KNOW there is an alternative to unions. As a recent graduate (summa cum laude) of a Health Adminstration program in Texas, I can tell you that there are some HUGE issues that are going to cause a slow but certain culture change in our industry. With enough time and a Herculian effort (not more money mind you) there are hospitals that are becoming great places to work for all concerned. I'm going for the big bucks right now so I can get out of debt and then turn around and work my tail off in administration to put control of patient care back where it belongs: the clinicians hands. Making work something to look forward to is very hard in our industry, but there are a handful of hospitals that are doing it already.)

neophyte · Jul 15, 2006

Thanks for the reply. Phoenix has a lower cost of living than the city I live in now, and I think I'd like living there. . . I guess I could have spelled that out before, but though y'all would just trust me on that one. Cali looks good, oh yes it does. Except for the super high cost of living... a lot of that extra money I could make goes right back into rent and stuff (just like NYC). I love Cali and NYC, but so far Phoenix is a hot spot for a multitude of reasons. (Besides, I don't have a family so I'll probably just rent out a room in someone's house to live on the cheap. Helps them pay the mortage and me save, save, save.) I've not looked into Hawaii, but that's a good idea too. I know the cost of living is super high out there too, but that kind of beauty would be worth it! Any your right, the answer to debt is not always more money. My personal finances are in great shape as far as credit rating and having saved up enough to buy a smaller house in just three years (all prior to my wreck). But, my wreck and ensuing medical bills just put me so far in the hole that I'm willing to take on a job where pay is a little closer to the top of the list instead of last. Seriously, if it's in nursing I will love what I'm doing, and if the hospital is safe to work at. . .

The place I work at offers triple time when they really need nurses. However, I agree with the PP, so my hospital will remain unnamed.
So you want to come to PHX just because someone in the other post told you that we make a lot of $$ out here? Have you ever been here? Have you looked at the housing market? Go to Cali-they are in a union and can make $56/hr maybe more. Maybe Hawaii. They make bank too, since that's all you're interested in.
Again, why not try a meeting with a financial advisor? The answer to debt isn't always more money.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2006

I do "fight" people that make hateful statements on my posts

What a mess. I would imagine this comment is addressing my post on the thread about making alot of money fast. I find it sad that you assumed that I was being hateful. Even when I provided further clarification you still pontificated about compassion and did not address my clarification. That is troublesome. I think we had the potential to communicate if effort was excerted on both sides. We quite possibly might even be in similar positions since I am frequently labeled the "bleeding-heart liberal." If anything, we had potential to understand each other and bridge any disagreements with respect. But your snarky comment and further compassionate pontificating prevented that and just made some leary of your posts.

neophyte · Jul 15, 2006

Thanks for the word wjfoo! If Banner wants to play games to intice people to come work for them. . . I'm not going. If I do take a job with them, I'll be certain to get as many "facts" as I can. . . shafting people out of promised money is one reason hospitals can be such hard places to work at! I'm on a track to become a hospital administrator and promise to not allow any deception to be going on at all. Transparency is the way to build trust, and with that trust we'll be able to ride out the tough times and enjoy the good ones that ensue. It takes about 10 years to take an average hospital and make it great. . . I've got a lot more time than that! And yes, new grads sometimes make more than seasoned folks. In the Human Resources trade it's called "salary compression" and it's part of a vicious circle of rising costs to patients. I'm actually seeking out the highest paying jobs, knowing full well that I am only HELPING TO CONTINUE A CYCLE OF ESCALATING WAGES. . . I freely admit that. I've joined the system because of the huge bills I have, but that's very temporary for me anyway! I have an offer to work using my degree, but it will put me at poverty level wages. . . I will literally not be able to pay my credit card debts (accumulated while getting my degree in health admin) and pay rent with that salary. So, even though I don't like it. . I'm going for the bucks right now. That means leaving the city and friends I love dearly. . . but guess what: There is a silver lining. I'll get to see more of the world while I'm at it, a chance to bring some home grown love to a new place, and eventually (in 2 years or less) I'll be ready to seek out a challenging job helping turn a regular hospital into one like Bronson in Missouri. . . it took them 10 years, BUT now they have some of the lowest turnover rates in the country and, OF COURSE, it's not all about the money. This forum is not the place to try and tell you what I learned in the last 2 years, but there ARE people out there that want to make quality health care at an affordable cost for everyone a reality. Sounds like a pipe dream, but like the man said .. . . I have a dream. So far in my life, all of my dreams have come true, my life threatening/debilitating wreck was just a bump in the road.

neophyte · Jul 15, 2006

muticollinarity. . . I was not replying to your post specifically, but you have my apologies for the miscommunication. As far as needing clarification I can only say that this post has been a mistake. By "is it worth it to work in the middle east" I meant is rooting yourself up from home and going to a foreign land worth it. The safety issues are not something I was concerned about. . . As I am certain you have seen there were some excellent posts regarding my original question (no matter how poorly worded) that gave a first hand account of what WORKING over there is like. Thanks for your time.

What a mess. I would imagine this comment is addressing my post on the thread about making alot of money fast. I find it sad that you assumed that I was being hateful. Even when I provided further clarification you still pontificated about compassion and did not address my clarification. That is troublesome. I think we had the potential to communicate if effort was excerted on both sides. We quite possibly might even be in similar positions since I am frequently labeled the "bleeding-heart liberal." If anything, we had potential to understand each other and bridge any disagreements with respect. But your snarky comment and further compassionate pontificating prevented that and just made some leary of your posts.