Holiday Scheduling - how to make it fair

[DisneyNurseGal]

So, at work, I am on a committee to decide how we are going to [fairly] schedule for the holiday season. My unit considers six holidays:

1) Thanksgiving

2) Friday after Thanksgiving

3) Christmas Eve

4) Christmas Day

5) New Years Eve

6) New Years Day

It is important to know, that last year, my unit had the nurses, by seniority, select two holidays (out of the six) that they wanted to work with a third choice as a backup. So a nurse could work Thanksgiving, and the day after and have Christmas and New Years completely off.

Some people want to select by seniority again, others want to go by what you worked last year, and this year you must work THAT holiday and take other days off. This second idea does not work perfectly because more than 50% of our unit were not here last year (so how to we schedule them). Seniority also doesn't work because theoretically you could end up with Christmas Day being staffed by new nurses.

My question is this, how does your workplace handle the holidays so that it is fair AND patient safety isn't compromised. We (as a committee) understand that no solution is going to make everyone happy - we just need some ideas!

Thanks

[DisneyNurseGal, BSN, RN]

I think your holidays are odd also. Since when is the Friday after Thanksgiving a holiday? New Years Day should be one but not New Years Eve.

The company I work for considers the Friday After Thanksgiving a paid holiday. We include NYEve in the list of holidays because so many people want it off.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

The company I work for considers the Friday After Thanksgiving a paid holiday. We include NYEve in the list of holidays because so many people want it off.

Wanting isn't getting. If someone is scheduled to work NYD, they SHOULD have the Eve off, no exceptions. If, however, they have the Eve off....they should expect to be coming in on 1-1-15 :)

[caliotter3]

When I worked in facilities, the work schedule just went on as usual. The chips fell where the chips fell. Add to that, there were those who requested days off on holidays and were accommodated based on their chumminess with management. That is how you could explain the same people getting the same holidays off every year in a row.

[Caffeine_IV]

The only holiday that was really considered was Christmas Eve and day and we just flip flopped each year. And we also only worked 8 hr shifts vs 12.

It's really not going to be fair because someone will be working a holiday that they don't want to. I recall working Thanksgiving 2 or 3x in a row.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

A & B rotating holidays are the most fair.

Want to trade? Sure, work it out.

Want to work them all? That usually works too.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

If they consider Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, etc., all has holidays, I think one person should work both and then next year have both off. As someone who travels a couple of hours for family celebrations, it would seem like EVERY holiday is shot if I'd have to work either the eve or the day of EVERY holiday.

[roamingtheworld]

I'm fortunate in that we work one summer and one winter holiday. We sign up for what holiday we want to work in an order dependent on the holiday worked the previous year. For winter holidays, those who worked Christmas choose first, then those who worked New Year, then those who worked Thanksgiving, and then those who didn't work a holiday the year before either because they got lucky or because they weren't working in the unit then. Switches are allowed, including someone working extra holidays, but the rotation for signing up is based on the original list before any switches. So if I traded my Christmas for someone's Thanksgiving, I would still pick first the next year. Nobody has complained, and we actually like the system because it means we control our schedule. Probably helps that it is a very small unit of 12 though.

[Lennonninja, MSN, APRN, NP]

Please consider night shift. The night before Thanksgiving for example isn't considered in holiday scheduling but then we work 8 hours of Thanksgiving & waste the whole day asleep. My unit rotates between Thanksgiving & Christmas (you never work them both in the same year) and then you sign up for 4 "minor" holidays throughout the year - those being every holiday except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Trades are allowed if both parties agree to the trade.

[suanna]

When I worked the floors, every staffer was assigned either 'A' or 'B' upon hire. 'A' would work Memorial, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. 'B' would work New Year's, Indepence Day, and Christmas. Each year, the holidays assigned to each letter changed, but everyone always kept the same letter. If you were a B, you always worked B holidays.

So one year you'd work one summer holiday and two winter ones. Following year you'd work two summer holidays and one winter one. In essence, you were simply alternating holiday; if you worked Christmas at the end of 2001, for instance, you'd expect to be off New Year's Day 2002. No one had two holidays in a row to work, UNLESS they switched with someone (their choice, staffing didn't care).

For night shift, the holiday always started the evening BEFORE the holiday, meaning that night shifters scheduled for NY would actually be working NY Eve, but off at 0800 on NYD. Christmas, the same: come in on Christmas Eve, be off at 0800 Christmas Day (they'd already worked 8 hours on Christmas). Fair and simple as it gets, I think.

Ours is very similar to this with the addition that nurses wanting time off during the winter holidays (for Christmas it included the last 3 weeks of December) signed up for it about a mos ahead of time. Also if the "A" list had 8 Nurses and the staffing pattern called for 5- the nurses who last worked the holiday were the ones off that holiday(providing they asked for extra time off- see above) with 1 Nurse off but "on call" in the event of a call-off. Each unit kept a log of who worked what holiday, and when, going back 3 years.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

So you mean the "eves" and "day after" AREN'T really holidays, you're just trying to fairly schedule, yes?

In that case....see my previous post, LOL, and add in "if you work the day, you don't work the eve....if you're OFF 'the day', you can EXPECT to work 'the eve'.

Working Christmas Day? Good, you're off Xmas Eve. Working NYD? Off NYE. Next year.....alternate, repeat

That's great if your family is in town. If your family is out of town, you NEVER get to spend any holiday ever with them.

Each holiday is a block. Rotate the blocks.

Of course, you can just make holidays triple pay, and you just might be having to make it fair who has to take the holidays off. That would never happen though....

[caliotter3]

There was nothing I found more annoying than being off (or on) the day or eve of one of these holidays and having to plan around working the very next time period. What did this mean? Of course, I could not make that trip to be with family, or do anything that would make it a pleasant holiday for me. So I agree, block out the eve and associated holiday shift and give people the opportunity to actually make viable plans to enjoy themselves.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

That's great if your family is in town. If your family is out of town, you NEVER get to spend any holiday ever with them.

Each holiday is a block. Rotate the blocks.

For those who had the same problem you describe (and it IS a problem!) they switched with people. I honestly don't remember anyone having this as an issue (not being able to travel for family things, every OTHER year) but of course it can happen.

No schedule for holiday work is perfect, to be sure.