Feasible to get Thanksgiving and Christmas off as new RN?

Nurses General Nursing

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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.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

The bottom line is:

1. You need to take your turn, just like everyone else.

2. Hospital use a variety of different systems to assure that everyone takes their turn.

3. Sometimes, you can trade "your turn" with someone else, but you can't count on always being able to do that.

4. If you appear unwilling to take your fair share of "turns" working the unpopular shifts, you will earn a very bad reputation among the managers and the colleagues you work with every day.

5. One of the worst things you can do to earn a bad professional reputation is to be unwilling to do your fair share of the "dirty work" or work your fair share of the unpopular shifts.

The patients don't all get better and go home over a holiday. So, all you can expect from an employer is that they have reasonable policies in place to assure that everyone bears their fair share of the burden of working on the holidays. That's all you can ask.

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Specializes in ICU, psych, corrections.

This is exactly why I love my job.....after years of bartering to get Christmas/Thanksgiving off, I finally have a job that gives me 13 paid holidays off each year, including Thanksgiving, day after Thanksgiving (it's considered Family Day), Christmas, and New Year's Day. It wasn't a big deal working holidays before I had kids but after that, I saw why having Christmas morning off was important. That being said, I DO miss the time and a half.....it doesn't exist in my world! = ) Then again, I love not having to working any OT.

Good luck with the holiday thing....my first year as a nurse, I worked Halloween (yes, it was considered a "minor" holiday), Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and day, so I could get Christmas off.

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Sure you can. It's not like anyone else wants them.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Actually, your odds of skipping the holidays may be pretty good as many facilities pay time and a half or double-time for holiday shifts, so there will probably be plenty of volunteers willing to work the holiday and pick up the extra cash. I managed to miss all of them so far...I did make myself available (we have to be available to work 4 of the 6 holidays) and put in for shifts on those days, but I wasn't picked up. Fine by me ;)

But don't expect to be off the hook for every holiday (I know my turn will eventually come)...and yes, be prepared for the fact that you will probably have to work on birthdays, anniversaries and other special days and miss out on special events. Nursing is 24/7/365.

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Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.
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.

I like that arrangement!!! I bet people don't complain too much that way.

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We just got used to scheduling our family holiday dinners the weekend before the actual holiday. Too many firefighters/paramedics/nurses in the family to even dream of everyone getting the day off. So it was like celebrating it twice!

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Specializes in LTC, Subacute Rehab.

At my facility, we rank Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day according to preference; we are required to work two holidays. They do try to schedule a day off after the requested holiday. I haven't had any trouble getting Christmas Day off - most people want New Year's Day so they can party :cool:

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Specializes in AGNP.

At my hospital we work every other holiday. Our holidays are considered New Years, Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am on night shift so the holiday for us is actually the night before. This year I worked the night before Thanksgiving (holiday) and Thanksgiving night but had the rest of the weekend off. Christmas is not considered my holiday so I have Christmas Eve off but have to work Christmas Day night and then I work New Years Eve. They are trying to get it so we only work every 3rd holiday but so far hasn't happened. The only good thing is it is guaranteed in our contract we cannot be scheduled to work the same holiday 2 years in a row.

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I am a new RN, and I have Thanksgiving and Christmas/Christmas Eve off. We have to work 2 of 5 winter holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve, and New Years. We put in our choices 1-5, and our manager is pretty good about getting your 1-3 choice. I put in the New Years holidays as my 1 and 2 choice, and Christmas Eve as #3. While I didn't want to work Christmas, I realized when I took this job it was 24/7 and I needed to do my fair share of holidays, weekends, and less desirable shifts.

I'm the only person on nights that has a young (3) child. Everyone else has at least teenagers. So between my manager and my coworkers stepping up, I got my 1 and 2 choice.

Really we have a pretty good unit that is fair. I want Halloween off for my little one, but Valentines I don't care too much about. Mothers Day, Fathers Day... while I'd like to be off they aren't too big of a deal to me. Labor Day and Memorial Day...just another day. I'd like July 4th off for the little one, but if I have to work there are usually fireworks the weekend before or after, so as long as I have a day off in there somewhere, I'm good.

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Thanks for all the info on how things work/have worked in your place of employment! (Well everyone except SuesquatchRN who didn't really help at all did she :down:). All this info gives me a really good idea of what I'm in for and how to prepare myself for it. My kids are all still really small and wouldn't know the difference if we celebrated many of the holidays on a different day. The only one that truly matters is Thanksgiving, when my entire extended family gets together out of state for the long weekend. My strategy will be to just make myself available for all holidays and hope they'll show mercy on my soul and give me Thanksgiving weekend off!

Thanks again!

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This year is the first time in 5 years that I've had both Thanksgiving and Christmas off. I'm off those days since I am a pool LPN. Where I worked as a CNA (the previous years), the nursing staff could request specific holidays off, but it was hard to get them. If their days off happened to fall on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any other major holiday, then they were off. Holiday approvals were based on seniority, so a newer nurse or CNA (unless it fell on their days off) were less likely to be off on the major holidays.

Also, one thing that I should suggest is to try not to use the "kid card" to get a specific holiday off. I know that it's one of the main reasons nurses want a specific holiday off. However, people who don't have kids, or younger kids, may still have families/partners that they want to spend the holidays with, so they should have an equal chance of getting a specific day off as those who have kids.

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