Does Your Hospital give extra $$ for Shifts?

P_RN, ADN, RN · Sep 28, 2006

Not gonna happen. The "nursing service line" is of a different budget than the CEOs etc. Also different from the marble lobbies etc.

Remember that your bennies/perks like insurance, etc. make your "pittance of a salary" actually double. That way hiring agency etc at one and a half times your salary is actually cheaper.

bethin · Sep 28, 2006

I'm a CNA. If I'm called in, I don't get premium pay--which is basically time and a half. Now, if a RN or LPN is called in they get premium pay.

TazziRN, RN · Sep 28, 2006

When we are in a staffing crunch and are desperate, the hospital will offer $200 bonuses for extra shifts. The extras have to put you in overtime in order to collect the bonuses though. I've done it once or twice.

MQ Edna · Sep 28, 2006

Our hospital allows staff to sign up to work "holes" in the schedule as overtime shifts. The overtime pay is 42.00/hr for days (7a-7p) and 45.00/hr for nights (7p-7a). Overtime shifts are signed up for in 4 hour blocks. When staffing is desperate we can make even more. In the last two weeks I was asked twice to work 4 additional hours (a 16 hour day 7a-11p) to fill in for lack of staffing. I received 50.00 an hour (for the additional 4 hours) and a 25.00 gas card. Not too bad except for the fact that since I am salaried the overtime is taxed very heavily (at around 40%).

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2006

Nope, no premium pay for extra shifts here. Would be for overtime only figured into your regular pay period. Then you would probly be called off before they had to pay the overtime when the census drops. You would be the first one they called off.

asbigham · Sep 28, 2006

Any time we are called in we make bonus pay ($3 extra for techs/secretaries/EMT's & $6 for RNs) If they need people to work bad the put us in peak bonus ($4 for techs and $10 for RNs). I work in the ED and we always make bunus on any hours we work over our scheduled hrs. I am part time to any hours over my 24hrs/wk are all bonus and they always need people so i usually work 40-60 a wk. I wouldnt work near as much if we didnt have any sort of bonus.

vamedic4, EMT-P · Sep 28, 2006

Hospital administrators are notoriously ignorant about the staffing needs of hospitals, and therefore make stupid and downright dangerous decisions regarding care. Paying employees "bonus" money for shifts makes the employees feel more appreciated and seems to add to a sense of "we're all on the same team". Bringing in agency nurses and paying them the crazy rates that they earn makes regular staff angry and widens the gap between nurses and management. How stupid is that??

Our facility, during the winter months, used to pay a premium for anyone who wanted to work 12 hours extra...for RNs it was 200 for a weeknight, 250 for a weekend shift...for techs like me it was 75 for a weeknight, 125 for a weekend.

But they haven't done that for awhile. Now our managers are saying the same thing..."you all just need to work more, no bonuses"...sorry, but I only "have" to work 36 hours a week. If it's not making life better for my kids, I'm not doing it for yours...especially since I've put in a full week already.

vamedic4

still close to going to bed.

AtlantaRN

Indy, LPN, LVN · Sep 28, 2006

Not gonna happen. The "nursing service line" is of a different budget than the CEOs etc. Also different from the marble lobbies etc.
Remember that your bennies/perks like insurance, etc. make your "pittance of a salary" actually double. That way hiring agency etc at one and a half times your salary is actually cheaper.

We got that song and dance from our VP of nursing at a meeting once. It's very interesting. The problem I had with that info was the way in which it was presented. Supposedly a thing to improve our chances of getting magnet status, and it was supposed to be so nurses could talk to this guy about salary and benefits. He did a lot of talking, fast, and threw this out as if to say we should be grateful for what we get, then was very flustered when a lot of nurses had real questions for him, for which he had no real answers and the corporate BS didn't cut it.

So, I really don't care for the "hey we are doing you a favor" that seems to come from that line of reasoning. Agency nurses aren't allowed to be called off for low census, like the full time employees are. There are times we have to spend our benefits just to get a paycheck; they don't make agency nurses do that.

Not all nurses use all their benefits. As in, insurance. So, you can do the paperwork to try and make me think that I'm getting paid double, but unless I "collect" on that by actually using the insurance for a big-ticket thing like surgery, all I'm doing is paying out a couple hundred bucks a month. My $2400 a year contribution for family insurance is more than I spend a year for prescriptions and doctor's visits. I don't mind paying for insurance, as I've worked since I was a teenager and don't expect things to be handed to me, as a rule. However!

When my hospital says they want yet another expansion as they haven't finished with the one they are on, throws around money left and right, yet sets limits on what their insurance will cover that clearly makes about half the nursing staff upset, I'd say they have some of their priorities skewed, and their idea of how to set up budgets needs some rearranging. What they don't need is to talk down to us and tell us they are actually paying us more, how lucky we are to have a job, please answer nice on your surveys so we can get magnet status!

/rant off. In no way am I intending to crawl up your hiney, P_RN. More of a rant in the general direction of management.

allnurses Guide · Sep 28, 2006

Any shift over regularly scheduled times (for me that's anything over 24 hours a week as I am parttime), gets time and a half plus bonus. Evening bonus in 6.25, nights is $7. Can sign up ahead of time, or accept a call asking if you will come in to cover sick calls.

If we are below the minimum core staffing ratios, which includes techs and secretaries, we all (nurses, tech and secretary) get time and a half to compensate for carrying the load for the missing staff.

NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2006

Nope, no premium pay for extra shifts here. Would be for overtime only figured into your regular pay period. Then you would probly be called off before they had to pay the overtime when the census drops. You would be the first one they called off.

:yeahthat:

NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2006

."you all just need to work more, no bonuses"...sorry, but I only "have" to work 36 hours a week. If it's not making life better for my kids, I'm not doing it for yours...especially since I've put in a full week already.

That's pretty much the same song and dance where I work. The same holes have been in the schedule for about eight weeks and could have been filled easily by an agency nurse (who they can cancel at the last minute if someone decides to sign up for overtime. I know. I've worked agency.) weeks ahead of time, but they just try to make us feel sorry for them that they are short at the last minute and want us to come in. They could have solved that problem weeks ago, but try to run things on a shoestring budget so they can hit their bonuses. :nono: I don't mind helping out in a jam, but do I feel obligated? Absolutely not.