Finding your own coverage

[heron, ASN, RN]

Hi, guys ... taking a straw poll on a personnel management question.

The question: do any of you have to find your own replacement to cover scheduled time off? I'm not talking about late requests or sick time ... I'm talking about time off requested well before the schedule is due to be posted.

A little background: I work for a for-profit multi-site agency on an inpatient unit. Our site management has been in a state of terminal chaos for a long time. We're on our fifth executive director in almost five years.

We have had six unit managers in that same five years. #6 is some newly created "Inpatient Management Specialist" who's supposed to become familiar with the site/unit in order to train unit manager #7, who has not yet been hired. The jury is still out on whether she's a competent manager or just an empty suit.

She recently announced that staff will have to find their own coverage for all time off. I'm feeling resentful that I have to jump through yet another hoop in order to use time off that I've earned and requested well in advance (my pending request is for the end of August) ... but that's just me.

Would like to hear from other hospice staff, especially inpatient, to get a sense of whether this practice is al all prevalent.

I also wonder how you would feel about a separate call from every nurse looking for time off if you were the prn nurse.

[caliotter3]

Was in this type of situation one time when working at a facility that was also in utter chaos. Sounds as if this is a last ditch effort employed by facilities that can't keep their regular staff working around the clock. Seem to recall it was also used when one called in sick. If I were a PRN nurse, I would prefer separate calls, because then I would know that I wasn't being left out of the PRN work loop.

[tewdles, RN]

Sounds like crummy management, IMHO. Is management thinking that if you cannot find coverage then you may not be allowed your earned time off?

Please refer to your employee handbook...any requirement for replacing yourself for routine vacation time should/will be included there. If there is no such requirement in your handbook, contact Human resources and discuss the issue with them.

In my estimation, this is an envelope which needs to be pushed and tested.

[heron, ASN, RN]

Thank you! Hadn't thought of that approach. Have been trying to think of how to address it without getting pissy or whining. Great idea!

[Seliah]

I work in a nursing home. I'm a CNA, not an nurse. We have the same issue, however. The particular setup to the way this NH runs is very unconventional. We are broken up into houses on a campus rather than a centralized skilled nursing facility.

The end result is that if we have to calll out sick - we are required to find our own coverage, or else we have to come in sick (even though they will tell us constantly NOT to come in if sick.)

If we have an emergency - we are still supposed to make an attempt to find our own coverage.

The CNA's handle the dietary needs, the laundry needs, the basic grounds maintenance, ordering of supplies, ordering of food, cooking... this is all in addition to the standard personal care and other typical CNA duties.

We are also required to find our own coverage to take scheduled time off - IE vacation time, holiday time, etc. Now, with our holiday time, if we do not use that time in two weeks, we lose it completely. It does not tally up, we do not have the option to just have them pay us for having worked the holiday.

Most of the time, we can't get coverage. Usually, no one is willing to work for you.

There is of course, nothing in the employee manual, the policies, etc, about this. HOWEVER, we are told right during the hiring interview that if we want to take the time off that we will have to find our coverage, and HR will enforce this as company policy.

We also don't have the ability to bring in agency workers, as we have an extra creditation that is required in order to work in the facility.

I wish I had some possible solutions to offer you, but we're still struggling with how to solve the problem ourselves, too. Most of the time it comes down to "i'd really like x-y-z days off, and if you cover them, I'll cover your x-y-z days off that you want."

But if nothing else... I suppose this lengthy response amounts to, "I totally feel your pain."

~ Seliah

[Hospicetex]

We will see. I have a vacation coming up and did sign up for my weekend of call but noted "vacation" on my slot when I would be gone during the week.

[Ginapixi, BSN, RN]

no good management if you want my opinion!

they tried that where i work, did not fly!

and if management has to fill in once in a blue moon it is a big deal

when i worked as ADON in a LTCF and staff called off it was my responsibility to fill in, be it med nurse charge nurse or at times CNA; strange how some always feel they are entitled to be above all others!