Feasible to get Thanksgiving and Christmas off as new RN?

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Hi all,

I'm excited about pursuing my career in nursing, but I am also worried about missing out on family gatherings due to having to work holidays :sniff:. I hear it alot, that nurses 'have' to work certain holidays or a certain number of holidays out of the year. Also, does that mean we only get, for example, Thanksgiving day off? What about the Friday thru Sunday after? Does that typically come as a package when you get that holiday off? And is it feasible to get both Thanksgiving and Christmas off as a new grad, if we work all the other holidays throughout the year?

Any info would be great!

ps. I am not a nurse yet, and none of the job postings for the hospitals I'm interested in post holiday schedule options. This is why I have no clue on how it works.

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Every hospital and/or the unit you work on is going to be different. The hospital I work at it is policy for us to work a certain amount of "major" & "minor" holidays thru the year - every holiday is counted including Mothers/Fathers day. We are required to work Christmas Eve OR Christmas Day. Usually if you want Thanksgiving off, the charge nurse will try and schedule the thur-sunday. Same with new years - will try and work it out that you have New Years Eve + Day off.

I have been lucky - the last 2 years I have worked I have been scheduled Christmas Eve, but our census has been low so I ended up being on-call - so I actually had Christmas Eve + Day off.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

Every place you work will be different, but the short answer to your question is, "most likely not."

Some examples of holiday scheduling from places I have worked:

1. Spring/summer holidays grouped together (Easter, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day) and winter holidays grouped together (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day): everyone must work 2 of each group of 4 days. Everyone signs up for preferences (ranking the days 1-4 from most want to work to most want off) - scheduling then ensues. Conflicts are resolved first by seniority, then by individuals playing let's-make-a-deal. Thanksgiving was a simple matter of dividing the entire staff in half, and alternating years.

2. Having all staff rank holidays in order of preference and then sorting it out from there.

3. Alternating all holidays so that one year each staff member works 3 or 4 of the 7 legal holidays and then has the alternate holidays off the next year.

No matter what method is used, most places do develop their own formal or informal version of let's-make-a-deal so that staff have some leeway to arrange what is most important to them.

If you've never experienced working holidays, it does seem like a terrible concept at first. However, you may very well find that holiday celebrations do indeed happen, even if they have to be adjusted somewhat, and life does very happily go on.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

It's feasible, just don't expect it or demand it, or call off sick.

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It's feasible. I worked the day after Thanksgiving. My employer gave me off Christmas Eve and Day and New Years Eve. I work New Years day.

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Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.

A lot of staff members are flexible and like to trade around. Don't expect BOTH Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and the weekend after off. That normally doesn't happen. However, if you are REALLY against working Christmas day, you can usually find someone willing to work it for you if you work their Christmas Eve evening shift, or New Years Eve Evening shift or night shift. Same with Thanksgiving... You can usually talk someone into working it for you, but then don't expect black friday off and the weekend of as well.

I am a per-diem nurse with no holiday requirements. So yes, I can get out of working all holidays. However, I am put on the schedule the weekend before or the weekend after (whichever is closer to the actual holiday) and usually end up having to work both the day before and the day after the holiday. I COULD request all weekend off, since I technically don't have to work those either... But then eyebrows raise and whoever requests that usually isn't given any time to work for awhile there after...

My advice would be to pick what day you REALLY want off, and be willing to work the other shifts/days surrounding that. 3 day weekends in nursing or 3 days off around holidays are RARE if you are full time. When I was full time, I would volunteer to work Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Years days, and all weekends surrounding them, so that I could have Christmas Day and New Years eve off. Usually you can find others to switch with, since a lot like to have Christmas Eve etc. off instead of the actual holiday itself.

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At my hospital we are given a choice of what 3 holidays we would like off (T'giving, Xmas Eve or Day, New Year's Eve or Day) and asked to rate them in order of what is our first choice. It's not a guarantee we'll get what we want but they do take into consideration what holiday we want off this year and what we worked last year.

We also have a lot of (young) new grads working on our unit now and most of them seem to think that just because they want a certain holiday off, they're entitled to it. Nurses work holidays. They miss out on family stuff sometimes. It comes with the territory. I wish I could make some of them understand that you work when you're scheduled to work (and yes, efforts will be made to grant your requests but that is NOT a guarantee). Making yourself into a squeaky wheel will not get you automatically greased. It will, however, make you look like squeaky wheel who should be thankful you have a job.

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Specializes in LTC.

Unless you work in a docs office you can count on being at work for holidays the majority of your nursing career..or unless you end up in upper mgmt. Hospitals and SNF's are open 24/7 which means so are the nursing staff. I work in a SNF...and before our DON came to be our nsg staff was good about rotating holidays...like....if I worked Thanksgiving last yr..Id be off the following and vice versa....but when it comes to New Years and Christmas...we were always required to work one or the other or both. Since we have a new DON...I guess she doesnt go by that old policy...she just does whatever......If we dont request a holiday off weeks in advance and it happens to fall on our regular day to work....we have to work it. Now..mgmt gets every holiday off and every weekend where I work. When my son was born in 07 she had me down to work christmas eve and day...when I had requested christmas day off months in advance....me and another nurse went to her and told her it wasnt fair...(now mind you this other nurse was new and Id been there already since 2000) she gave the new nurse off.....and told me I had to work and if I didnt then Id be fired and that she was thinking of the people who had "little ones" at home...so I say....Umm...I wasnt out for 8 wks for the fun of it. I had a baby!".....2 days before Christmas she finally got someone else to do Xmas day. I was HOT!!!! ....esp since the other nurse was new and had adult kids MY age!

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Specializes in Going to Peds!.

Most places have informal let's-make-a-deal amongst staff. Just because you are scheduled to work it doesn't mean you'll end up actually working it. I have successfully traded new year's eve and day and thanksgiving holidays to get black friday, christmas eve and day off since I was a brand new grad. Networking and negotiating. My coworkers also know that I'll happily exchange shifts for them on occasions other than holidays, which makes them more receptive to trading holidays around.

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You're going to be working some holidays so you might as well resign yourself to it now. I went ahead and volunteered to work Thanksgiving and Christmas because I felt it was my obligation as the new kid. So what I got was Thanksgiving Eve and Black Friday (a night shift and a day shift) and Christmas night. You'll be missing family events thru your career but this is what we do and the sacrifices that we and the rest of the family have to make.

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We have three rotation groups: A, B, and C. You are assigned to one when you are hired. This year group A works Christmas and 4th of July; Group B works Thanksgiving and Memorial Day; Group C works New Years Eve/ New Years and Labor Day. Next year Group A will work Thanksgiving and Memorial Day, Group B will work New Years and Labor Day, and Group C will work Christmas and 4th of July. Then the year after that it rotates again.

That way the senior nurses still have to work some holidays, no one is stuck working every major one, and you always know way in advance which holiday is yours. So, our hospital recognizes 6 major holidays, and you have to work two.

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As a new grad I worked every 3rd holiday and every 3rd weekend.

otessa

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