Keeping experienced staff!!!

Nurses General Nursing

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What is your facility doing to keep experienced staff? I need ideas to give the management at my facility. What benefits do nurses that have been on the unit for years have to stay?

Specializes in retired LTC.

Is this a homework assignment?

Specializes in Palliative, Onc, Med-Surg, Home Hospice.
But what if it's REALLY good pizza...?

I can't get good pizza. Live too far from Chicago for that. Guess I'll just want money, better staffing and respect!

As a staff RN for almost 26 years, I feel I can provide some clues. In my tenure, I have noticed a steady 'not so gradual erosion' of staff benefits. Some examples; Staff pensions-Gone! Quality medical/dental insurance-Gone! 7-8 paid holidays/year (double time and a paid day off of work on that particular day)-Gone! Christmas bonus-Gone! Cafeteria discount-Gone! The coup de grâce for me was realizing that hospital administration would really like to replace us few experienced nurses, who are maxed out on our salaries, with fresh face new ones, at a fraction of the cost! Not to be bitter, but this is why I left to travel, as I found few real incentives left to stay! From my perspective, Hospital administrators and senior management everywhere I have been, ALL say the same thing-hollow words and lip service.

"...administration would really like to replace us few experienced nurses, who are maxed out on our salaries, with fresh face new ones, at a fraction of the cost!"

This. When money is king, administration really doesn't have any motivation to retain experienced nurses, let alone give raises.

Involve the experienced staff in making the rules and guidelines; policies and procedures.

Too often, the higher ups make imprudent decisions affecting staff duties and patient care with a limited, parochial perspective.

Perfect.

And I just realized this would motivate me to stay more than a raise. A raise actually feels a little dirty because it's just throwing me a few more bucks to put up with the abuse. But being able to give input into the rules, etc, well that's the respect beenthere,donethat is talking about, and it's about the only thing I can think of that would matter to me at this point.

Involve the experienced staff in making the rules and guidelines; policies and procedures.

Too often, the higher ups make imprudent decisions affecting staff duties and patient care with a limited, parochial perspective.

The powers that be.. are there to protect their bottom line. They will never listen to staff regarding rules and guidelines. That is why safe staffing ratios are not universal.

Okay, so in NY...we want more $$$, more respect, and pizza.

Well, in Florida some retail stores are now starting their employees out at the rate a large home health care company is paying nurses who work Medicaid cases....let's see, better hours, better benefits, no student loans...an a hell of a lot less stress....of course now that mcdonald's hamburger will cost $15 soon....

But seriously-experienced nurses want better pay. My father has a business degree and is making 4x his starting salary 40 years ago. Why, because he's got the experience. Minimum wage has not gone up enough to compensate his difference, trust me. To think that almost 20 years in and I only make a few dollars more per hour (if anything) than a new grad is a bit disheartening.

Also, if we've stuck around for a while and are full time, preferential staffing assignments would be a good incentive to stick around and not go agency.

My employee just started giving us a bag with a few pieces of candy in it each month. It just makes everyone made because they won't give out raises but they have money to buy that stuff.

In fairness, maybe it is your actual employer but I wouldn't be surprised if it's coming out of your manager's own personal household budget, either...and it's really difficult to try to show tangible appreciation on a budget - anything more than a treat bag gets prohibitively expensive very quickly.

I appreciate the token, except when it's a substitute for respect.

Pay, staffing, respect, and LEAVE ME ALONE WHEN I'M DOING MY JOB!!! I don't need someone looking over my shoulder, I KNOW how to do my job! You don't, and don't walk in my shoes, so GO AWAY! And if I NEVER hear "work smarter, not harder" again it will be too soon!

I know, let's just have a mass firing and blame the individuals performance after years of devoted service with no real performance issues at all. That would be nice! We have plenty of experience doing that! :troll:

Let the write ups begin! So and so said such and such....how rude! Write her up! Try to find some more. Let me question all her coworkers.

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