Have you ever heard of an attendance policy like this???

[NurseCard]

Okay, so last night at 2am, it was only myself, an LPN, and one MHT/aide on a floor with 22 male patients. At 3am, we were supposed to get another aide; a guy who normally works 7am-3pm but picked up an extra day and agreed to work 3am-3pm today. So when I came in to work at 11pm last night, this extra MHT was ON MY LIST to work. It wasn't a "oh, you just might have an extra person come in to help you at 3am." No this guy was SUPPOSED to work. My UNDERSTANDING, was that he was SCHEDULED to come in at 3am and work!

3am rolls around... 3:15... he hasn't shown up. So I call the house supervisor and have trouble getting a hold of her. Finally I get her at 3:30 and tell her that this aide has never shown up. "Oh *long pause*... okay, I'll call him".

She calls back a few minutes later. "Scratch him off your list, he's not coming in". That's it. I was mad, so were the other two staff but whatever... mornings are crazy busy with having to get everyone's vital signs, serve coffee and juice (yep, psych), get finger sticks, chart vital signs, chart how long everyone slept, keep 15 min. checks on everybody... horrible staffing has become a way of life.

4 hours later, I'm giving report, I'm flustered... and the aide that was supposed to be there at 3am walks into the report room. He says to some of the other ppl in the room, "I set my alarm wrong.. supervisor called me at 3:30... I said, at this point I'm not biking all the way there... I'll be in at 7".

When he leaves I say "well gee, I'm glad that he can just come in whenever he wants to and that's OK with everybody". A couple of other people in the room are like "Well, he picked up extra, that's his right to come in or not come in."

So what I'm getting here is... this place has a policy that if someone picks up an overtime shift, they can apparently call in anytime and say no, I don't think I'll work afterall. Or they can come in later than they said they would, if they want to. And they are not penalized for it.

I don't quite know what to say. I mean, why even bother asking staff to work extra if you have this policy??? I've never heard of such a thing. Everywhere else I've worked, once you agree to work, you're on the schedule and you get penalized just the same if you call in without a valid excuse.

I understand that the guy picked up by the goodness of his heart. I also understand that he was going to have to ride a bike over. But the point is, if you agree to work... you agree to work!

I'm just used to places where you actually get in trouble if you call in without a valid excuse. What do I know??

[NurseCard, ADN]

virgo,student nurse said:

My job has the same policy, if you volunteer to work extra shifts, you can back out at any time without any discipline. You can also take the full shift, or half the shift depending on what the supervisor is offering. I don't work for the private sector, but we must follow union rules, and that is one if them.

Hmm, yeah I guess I can perhaps see a policy like that for unionized workers. I have never been part of a union myself. Sometimes I really wish I were!

It's just a huge, huge inconvenience for workers who thought that they were going to get help and then they don't get it because someone CHOSE not to come in because they didn't want to. But I guess that happens all the time; what difference does it really make if that person gets in trouble or not?

Again, I'm over the whole thing. ? Last night was a much better night, on a unit that I like more.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

NurseCard said:

Hmm, yeah I guess I can perhaps see a policy like that for unionized workers. I have never been part of a union myself. Sometimes I really wish I were!

Well, this, to me, is one of those times where a union could be more of a hinderance than a help...I can't imagine a "come in when you want" policy, even for OT pick ups. We are depending on those folks to come to work when we expect them. What is the point of having someone signing up to cover a hole if we don't know if they will come in until the moment is upon us?

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

If he was on your staffing list, he was scheduled. Any facility I ever worked in it would be a considered a call off.

Just curious.... if you do want to work there, why are you arming yourself with "things to throw in their face"?

[NurseCard, ADN]

Because I'm jaded, I guess. Every place that I've ever thought that I wanted to work, turned out to be a hellish hole in the earth.

MOSTLY because of administrators being.. numerous words that I can't use on here.

I mean, the last place I worked.. I loved my residents... no problem with the actual work or my residents. Well, except for one particular resident and her family.

It was the DON and her bull and her attitude that made it suck.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Sigh** if you find someplace that isn't a hellish hole in the earth... please let me know.

It usually is administration, not the patients. Now I am in a hospital where the ATTITUDES send it to a lower level in hell.

[DedHedRN]

Where I work there is a guy who comes in when he pleases, leaves when he wants, and no one ever says a word to him. He is cocky and tells the other CNAs that he isn't working this shift or that shift leaving us short handed all the time. He has been scheduled for PM shift several times and just shown up for days. Since our PPD wasn't off none of the heads cared even though it left us short for PM. Its super frustrating.

[caliotter3]

I've seen similar situations at places where I have worked. How the person was treated seemed to have a lot to do with who they were and whether or not they had that magical "in common" trait with the supervisor on duty.

[Marshall1]

I also work psych and am new to it...I can tell you that there seems to be a lot more "flexibility" with call outs/no shows on this unit than any other place I've ever worked..similar to LTC around here..why? Because no one wants to work this unit - every single person to this unit is new to psych except for one (and some hires are new to nursing period). I'm new to psych but not nursing. Some staff have left w/in the first 3 days of hire, some left w/in the first month this facility opened, one never showed at all...and the management doesn't seem to notice or care - for them - it's $$