Is job hopping the only answer for matching pay...

[tarotale]

Hi, today I want to discuss a topic that we are all attentive of, and that involves our pay. I am constantly hearing at my workplace about how we are the least paying level 1 trauma center in the metro, how our insurance is the worst among the main health systems in the metro, how this hospital has magnet, how that hospital gives excellent benefits, how that hospital even has a child care center or helps with adoptions (!), etc etc.

That's fine, I am young, single, so I don't mind all that, but what about our raises? Our raises are mainly based on evaluation. Evals are dependent on individual basis, but largely department-based; think about it this way. I was a server few years before being a nurse, and one of the restaurants did tip share. There are few servers who bust their behind all night, and there are few who doesn't do half the work, but everyone gets equal dollars at the end. How is that fair? Plus I am at always-understaffed-ER, where everybody thinks that the world owes them something, so complaints and whining reflects the "patient" satisfaction survey.

So what is the solution to this, I hear? Job-hop. Find a better place to work where they give competitive wages and care about retaining and satisfying their RNs. There are places that provide 5-6 ER techs/medics every shift in my metro. We are lucky, REALLY lucky if we have 2-3 after 2300.

I really love the people I work with, but you know, the work environment sucks. What about competitive pay? Raises? Even a shop clerk, UPS workers, teachers, or corporate workers get their deserved raises, but how come we have to rely purely on the grace of administration and luck? What, am I going to be in my late 30s and still get few changes more than when I was in my 20s?

If the answer is job-hop, count me in!

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I hate that job hopping is the answer, but it is. I haven't stayed long enough to get a raise at my current job, but I got $.50 at my last one. I saw coworkers get smaller raises than me, and I saw one get $.60. He had been there eight years and only made $3.00 more than I did as a new grad. It looks like it takes ten years to get $5.00, if the hospital does not go into a pay freeze. I got almost $3.00 plus better diffs to switch jobs. How are people expected to stay loyal to their employers under these sorts of conditions?

[llg, PhD, RN]

Each person has to decide for himself/herself what is most important. If that is pay & benefits -- then go to where they are the highest. If it something else (that you already have in your current job, but would not have if you switched), then stay where you are. It is that simple. What is your priority?

I would not give up a good job in a place I liked for a small improvement in compensation. The quality of my work life is too important to sacrifice that for a few dollars. But if the compensation is much better at one employer and the quality of the work environment is equal to or better ... then I'd be switching.

[firstinfamily, RN]

When I have switched facilities it was usually to find another type of nursing for me to try. I have left acute care twice in the past and am currently returning to it. My pay is better now than before and I was told it was based on my years of nursing experience total not the type of experience. I maxed out when I was 30 at about $50.00/hr when I worked agency along with my regular job. It depends on the geographical area where you work, the type of experience you have. It is true raises are based now on how the facility rates as a whole, even though it is "pay for performance" it seems if the facility does not meet its quotas there may not be raises. You should be where there is opportunity for growth, whether it be with your education or clinical ladder incentives. There is no perfect facility out there. Sometimes you have to settle for where you are. Remember our whole country economy is just starting to stabilize, eventually the pay rates will adjust.