Full Time or Per diem (But Full time)

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������Hi Nurses!

i just want to ask some opinions from you.

I am working full time but recently i was thinking of working as Per diem but full time. I will still be giving 3 days (12 hrs shift) but with my own set of schedule. I know there will be no benifits for this position.

I am under my husband's insurance (Health & Dental) He is working with the Post office. I may be full time but I dont enroll for benefits such as Health/Dental but only my 401k.

if i change my status as Per Diem, do you think ill lose my 401k benefit?

should i Go with per diem or stay with full time?

your answers will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.

It just depends on where you are at in life right now. Find out from your work re: any benefits you will lose, including those already accumulated, what benefits you will keep, do the math and see what works for your personal situation. I have worked both full time and per-diem depending on my personal situation at that time. Make it work for you!

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The thing with per diem is there will always be a possibility that you may be cancelled. I work per diem and I love it. Right now I don't want to work that many hours because I am in school. Just the other day I called my job and asked them to cancel me the morning I was due to work.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

The advantages of going per diem is the ability to set your own schedule and in many places it pays considerably more. The disadvantages are there are zero benefits and no guarantee of hours. If you don't need benefits that's not a deterrent but you will in a way lose that 401k. The money that's in there won't go anywhere but no more money will be added to it. You can always roll over that 401k into an IRA that you can fund yourself. You will also lose the extra pay you'd get from Holidays and vacation pay, but the higher hourly wage might make up for that.

While there is no guarantee of hours, and no guarantee that the hours you want will be available you might still be able to keep pretty much full time hours as long as staffing is typically a little short. If your employer fills all open positions with regular staff though there might not be as many shifts available as you would like.

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Just the other day I called my job and asked them to cancel me the morning I was due to work.

Cancelling a shift you are scheduled to work (especially at the last minute) is not really a benefit of working per diem and isn't how being per diem works. You are expected to show up for your shift. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you did.:bag:

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Specializes in ICU, PACU.

As someone who has multiple per diem jobs (but still work a full-time), I can tell you there are some benefits to it.

-Pay rate is generally higher than a regular staff. If you're relatively healthy, the pay will offset calling in sick a few times per year.

-There are facilities that will allow you to contribute to a 401k/403b as a per diem. I work in one of them. If not, so what (unless your facility offers matching)? Set up an IRA/Roth-IRA account. My fulltime job gives 1 year credit for vestment in our pension even to per diems as long as you work 1000 hours/year. Find out what benefits you'll retain from HR.

-You can set your own schedule. At one hospital, I only work during the week. In another per diem, I only work on the weekends. You can use this to your advantage if you have kids or need a whole chunk of days off together. If you're scared of getting cancelled or floated all the time, put yourself on the days that you know are the busiest or the days when nobody wants to work.

-If you know want to go on vacation for like a week, work 4 days/wk the month before to make up for the lost income, etc.

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Cancelling a shift you are scheduled to work (especially at the last minute) is not really a benefit of working per diem and isn't how being per diem works. You are expected to show up for your shift. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you did.:bag:

I ask to be canceled on occasion, too. It's not the same as calling in/off as they will only cancel you if they were going to cancel someone anyway. I think she's just saying she doesn't want to work a lot and doesn't need hours. I hope! :)

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I ask to be canceled on occasion, too. It's not the same as calling in/off as they will only cancel you if they were going to cancel someone anyway. I think she's just saying she doesn't want to work a lot and doesn't need hours. I hope! :)

So if they weren't going to cancel someone do you go in? I'm confused. Once you say you will work a shift that needs covered and the schedule is out how can you just change your mind and decide you don't want to work it after all? That would be a nightmare for the schedulers and the staff who would then have to work short. Granted I haven't worked at every facility in every state but this is not how per diem nurses worked at any of the places I've been. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you as well.

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So if they weren't going to cancel someone do you go in? I'm confused. Once you say you will work a shift that needs covered and the schedule is out how can you just change your mind and decide you don't want to work it after all? That would be a nightmare for the schedulers and the staff who would then have to work short. Granted I haven't worked at every facility in every state but this is not how per diem nurses worked at any of the places I've been. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you as well.

Yes. If they're not canceling anyone then I go in. Some people don't want to be canceled, so it's actually helpful to staffing to know who wouldn't mind. As per diem, I'm one of the first to get canceled whether I call or not ...but sometimes there are multiple per diems scheduled.

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Yes you'll lose your 401k benefit...the decision is up to you otherwise.

Depends on the company. Mine still has 401k for PRN nurses. The agency that I work for also offers the same 401k (own by same main company as the individual hospital) for per diem nurses as well as those who sign a contract with any facility. All of the contributions are to the same one 401k that I have.

I no longer have most healthcare options (although they do offer one crappy option for PRN, I have my husband's which is better than any of the FT options), no PTO, no tuition reimbursement, or ‘guaranteed' hours (no worries at this point, agency is there all the time so they'd be cancelled before me). My hourly didn't go up much, and overall compensation is actually less, but in my case I need the flexibility of making my own schedule so this option is the one I went with.

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True ...I've been floated for the past six weeks. I haven't been on my home unit, at all. I've also been canceled for two months at a time when the census is low.

Any time I've worked PRN I've also worked agency for one or two companies. Usually between the three one would have an immediate last minute need that I could fill when cancelled. I'm someone who can be thrown anywhere and be able to do okay. I know some people that this would cause a lot of anxiety for, not knowing what to expect on any given day

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Yes. If they're not canceling anyone then I go in. Some people don't want to be canceled, so it's actually helpful to staffing to know who wouldn't mind. As per diem, I'm one of the first to get canceled whether I call or not ...but sometimes there are multiple per diems scheduled.

Where I worked years ago, the supervisor loved to know who didn't mind getting cancelled first when we were slow. It didn't matter if per diem or staff, if requested, they got it. Then it started down the ladder-per diem, PRN, PT, FT.

Once when I got employee of the month one of the reasons given for the nomination was "takes call offs with dignity" because I didn't pitch a fit if the phone rang. Granted, I had two other places that I could call to go to work for that day instead, but they were okay with that too.

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Yes. If they're not canceling anyone then I go in. Some people don't want to be canceled, so it's actually helpful to staffing to know who wouldn't mind. As per diem, I'm one of the first to get canceled whether I call or not ...but sometimes there are multiple per diems scheduled.

Well that makes sense and I can see it not being a call-off. I think I misunderstood the terminology of "asking to be cancelled". I thought that meant the other poster was actually cancelling the morning she was scheduled to work not letting them know she didn't mind being cancelled if they needed to.

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