Favortism

sapphire18 · Oct 30, 2012

Can you elaborate?

Nursetastic · Oct 30, 2012

It is ridiculously rampant where I work as far as who gets what assignments. Scheduling shows no favoritism. It's first come, first serve as far as requests off.

RNperdiem, RN · Oct 30, 2012

Of course, it is human nature.

There are some people who people just like. They are liked, favored and have the ability to get away with plenty.

psu_213, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2012

Hard to give a very detailed answer without more specifics; but, yes it is inevitable. The other thing that is inevitable--people who get eaten up with jealousy because of the mistaken belief that others are benefiting from favoritism.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Oct 30, 2012

if you have a solution as to how it could be done more equitably then tell your manager. At least you will have tried.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2012

My experience of this in Nursing is basically equivalent to my experience of being a little girl growing up with other little girls.

Let's say Sarah and I were best friends. Our group of friends also included Dina- Sarah's sister, Jenny- a neighbor from up the street and Kara- a neighbor from across the street. One day, Sarah wants to play dolls but I want to ride my bike. Because we disagree, Sarah decides that we cannot be best friends anymore and names Jenny her new best friend because Jenny agrees to play dolls. She then tries to turn Jenny against me and, by association, against Kara, who has decided to go biking with me.

I'm not exaggerating in the least. When I worked in the hospital, if you were on the manager's good side, you were her best friend. You got everything you asked for as far as the schedule went and if things happened (like med errors) that others would get spoken to about, you'd get a free pass. If you ever disagreed with her- especially if other people knew about it- you'd be retaliated against. They'd purposely screw you on the schedule... putting you on days you requested off, putting you on days, nights and evenings all within the same week (including like Sunday night and then Tuesday day- which was officially against the hospital's policy), denying you vacation time even though no one else was taking vacation, singling you out for arriving 2 minutes late once when the person who never arrives before 7:20 doesn't get spoken to because she's a hired spy.

I have experienced this from both sides. Several years ago, I was going through a very difficult time due to some medical challenges. My manager knew about it while none of my colleagues did. During this time, she was uncharacteristically nice to me. She went out of her way to help me, changed my schedule for me and basically did anything I asked. During this time, I didn't care about anything that was going on in the hospital/on the floor because I had too much going on in my personal life.

Fast forward a year and a half or so... medical crisis more or less over so I start feeling more like myself. I am not one to keep quiet or to accept things that are wrong when I'm myself. After I responded to an email she sent with my opinion (which was not something she wanted to hear), I was blacklisted. This particular hospital's motto was basically "1 plus 1 is 2, it's always been 2 and it's always going to be 2, so don't try to tell us we should change anything because we're right." I was basically trying to prove that 1 plus 1 is 4 in anything I said. (And I honestly believe I would have had more luck convincing someone of that.) Soon, I had the same schedule as the new grads. People who started years after me were working all 12s while I had a million 8 hr shifts. I was getting put on days that I'd requested off and there was no doubt that it was because my manager was mad at me. I started trading shifts with people so I only had to work nights/weekends to minimize my contact with her. After a night shift, I'd give report and sneak out through the side door so I didn't have to see her. She was shocked when I gave her my notice after 6 months of that. She didn't look at or talk to me for the remainder of my time on the floor. Just like how my childhood best friend might have stopped talking to me because I rode my bike with Kara instead of playing dolls with her.

I don't know if it's nursing or if it's that it's a female-dominated profession (I think a little of both because my mother seems to experience similar things in teaching), but it's definitely real.

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · Oct 31, 2012

Negotiation is an art form. When you are hired, is there a hire letter? What shifts does it say you can be scheduled for? Can you negotiate? Can you negotiate 12 hour shifts? Do you have signed documentation that you requested such and so day off? Are you a union facility? If one is being scheduled the same shifts as new grads--is it because they want you to precept? Is there a differential for that? Sometimes you got to spin your own web as opposed to get caught up in someone elses. A million 8 hour shifts is not ideal, unless 12 hour shifts are too much. I would do 5 eights to help out as opposed to 3 12's in a row--but that is just me. You could bring up self scheduling. One can go to their Union rep--which is largely based on seniority. If one is ill and needs time adjustments, and management is willing to do that, it could be (right or wrong) that now one hand washes the other. There could be lots of things happening behind the scenes that someone else is not a party to that necessitates schedule adjustments. So all in all, favortism is subjective and sometimes things are not always as they seem...

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Nov 1, 2012

Not a union facility and, as I said, I experienced it from both sides. I experienced being on the good side and being one of the favorites and I experienced being blacklisted a year later. It was when I was on the good side that I realized how real the favoritism and special treatment in this place was.

The understanding at this facility was that the more senior staff had preference for 12 hr shifts unless they chose to work 8s. People who had been there YEARS fewer than I was were being put on all 12s and majority days while I was put on evenings, fake days off, extra weekends, etc. And, no it didn't have anything to do with precepting as the new grad I referenced was just off orientation and no, there is no differential for precepting at this place. And this facility DID do self scheduling- but the self schedule was a "wish list" and they would change it how they pleased. I recently spoke to a former colleague who still works at this facility because she was caring for a patient that I now follow in home care... she has been working on this floor for over 10 years and still gets regularly screwed on the schedule. She shared that one of the newest hires came to her one day and said "why do I have a better schedule than you?" Absolutely anyone who worked on this particular floor would tell you that favoritism was rampant there... those who were willing to kiss the boss's a&^ and those who were willing to be her spies got whatever they wanted. Those who voiced their opinion when she asked in a meeting "does anyone have any thoughts" were blacklisted. This is a floor that has seen a > 25% turnover in the past year.