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!
The first facility I worked at was just like RNsRWe's: they broke everyone up into two teams (seniority didn't matter). Then they divided up the holidays and assigned them to each team. They divided the days so no team worked two consecutive holidays. Each year the teams would swap holidays.
For the night shift, the holiday started at 2300 the night before so 0000-0700 fell on the holiday itself. Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and Black Friday were not considered holidays.
If you were on Team A, you worked whatever holidays were assigned to that team. If you couldn't work a holiday, it was on you to find your replacement. You didn't have to swap holiday-for-holiday; you just had to find a warm body willing to cover for you. If you couldn't find a replacement, you had to come in to work. If you called out, you faced disciplinary action...and no, a doctor's note didn't guarantee you'd be off the hook. Volunteering to work a Team B holiday didn't get you off the hook for your own Team A committment either.
It seemed like a pretty fair solution to me. Yes, not having a say in which holidays you were working could suck at times, but it's a lot better than having to deal with the drama of staff fighting over the holidays. And at least you knew well in advance what holidays you would be working that year--heck, what holidays you'd be working in any given year--so you could plan accordingly.
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.
If you want to share a holiday, why can't those people switch?
The onyt holidays we have a system for is the December 24-27th stretch and the 31st-1st New Years stretch.You work one and get the other one off and next year you switch. All others holidays if it falls on your nirmal work day you work it unless you can get someone to cover for you.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
There are seven holidays where I work: MLK Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. As above, each new nurse when hired is assigned either an "A" or a "B" -- so the first week of orientation, she already knows whether or not she'll be working Christmas. Each team works every other holiday. For example, I have TG off, work Christmas, have NY off, work MLK, have Memorial Day off, work Independence Day, have Labor day off, work TG . . . and so on. You can plan 10 years in advance to know which holiday you'll be working.
If you're just starting, I'd assign everyone who worked Christmas last year an "A". Everyone who worked TG gets a B. Talk to the folks who worked New Year's and ask them which team they prefer. Divide the newbies up equally between A team and B team, and everyone who hates what they're working this year can trade with someone on the other team. Or can trade teams if they can sell that to someone. Going forward, assign everyone to either A team or B team when they're hired. It's simple, easy to do, and fair.
When granting time off if your holiday happens to be overstaffed, either the most senior folks get first dibs on the time off, or use a lottery system.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
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 :)
I think it should be the opposite. If you have NY off, you also get the EVe off. If you work Christmas, you also work the eve, and if you work Thanksgiving, you work Black Friday. That way folks who have Christmas off this year can spend it with their parents in New York or San Francisco, and no one comes in to work January 1 still drunk from NY Eve.
When I worked in the hospital, we had six big holidays that caused scheduling issues- Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years (including the eves) for winter and Memoral Day, July 4th and Labor Day for summer. For each season, as in the OP's scenario, a list went up and every nurse filled it out with their preferences 1-6, 1 being the shift you most want to work and 6 being the shift you least want to work. Objectively, the A/B way is more fair but there are pros and cons to both, I'd think. I worked Thanksgiving and some part of Christmas every single year for the 5 years that I worked in the hospital. To some this would be unfair. I couldn't bear the idea of having to spend 3 horrible days with my family so working 2/3 of them was perfect. My favorite was the year I worked Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Eve... I was able to attend Christmas Day (important in my family) but was also able to duck out early because I was "tired". I don't work holidays anymore and having to deal with my family on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is a little much. New Years Day was always FULL of all the senior nurses. Some nurses worked New Years day every single year that I was there and that was their only winter holiday. Christmas Day was so full of newbies that a few times we had to train someone to be charge just to have a charge on Christmas. The non-Christian nurses were also always more than happy to work Christmas which was nice for those for whom the religious aspect of it was important (and, in return, of course any of them would be willing to fill in on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur).
I agree that holidays should be in blocks for fairness. If you're on Thanksgiving, you work Thanksgiving and Black Friday or Wednesday night/Thursday night if you're on nights. Then Christmas Eve/Day for that block and New Years Eve/Day for that.
We had a whole bunch of other holidays that the hospital observed (MLK Jr Day, President's Day, Patriot's Day, Veteran's Day most of which I think have since been taken away) that didn't involve this system. There was never a shortage of nurses willing to work a random Monday for time and a half.
One place I worked we all just bartered with each other and usually ended up working our usual shifts. If it fell on that particular holiday, yay, holiday pay and (maybe) the free food if you worked day shift. (This place lived up to the hospital food stereotype. It was safer to pack a lunch those days.)
Another we were divided up into squads and rotated through the holidays.
A third place split up the shifts into half-shifts, posted them all in the break room, and told everybody to sign up for X number of half-shifts. First come, first served.
Everybody fills in what they would like to work on the request roster. Nobody is allowed to have both holidays off - you either get Christmas or New Years - or you can work both if you want to. There are plenty of people who are happy to work for the public holiday pay that it's not often that people do not get what they want.
If you want to share a holiday, why can't those people switch?
What do you mean, "share a holiday"? People were assigned to the same schedule year after year, always alternating so no two years in a row for any holiday. But people were ALWAYS free to switch with anyone else for any individual date. If I was scheduled for Thanksgiving and you were scheduled for Christmas, but we each wanted our scheduled day off, we could certainly switch (for that year).
Now that I've been reading out the pros of being on for both the Eve and the Day of holidays, I can definitely see the draw of doing it as a block. But I suppose you'd have to know the culture and habits of your area/region, too: for the crew I worked with, we all knew we had at least PART of EVERY holiday to be with family (local, true, or within traveling distance). IOW, Suzie might be on Christmas Day, but then have Christmas Eve with her family. Or vice versa. Suzie (and anyone else assigned to both Xmas Eve AND Xmas Day) would be beyond incensed at having to work BOTH of them, and NEVER spend time with her family. Much like the concern of travelers not getting a block of time away, the local people ALSO wanted time with family, if only part of a holiday. And remember, people were ALWAYS able to switch any date with anyone anytime.....and they did.
I really don't remember it ever being any issue; everyone knew literally YEARS in advance what holiday they were on and off. EASY to plan, even.
We had that too for a while. But if your family is local, and you can't get someone to switch part if your block, just show up at 7:30 after you get off work and you've still got part of the holiday with them. Can't do that if your family is a 5 hour plane ride away.
I guess our scheduler doesn't have it so bad trying to figure out fair holiday schedules. Corporate policy is rotating holidays [at least it used to be] but that was never followed. We have block scheduling so my schedule never changes. There have been stretches of years working the same holiday if it fell on my day to work, just as there have been years of having a particular holiday off. I know my schedule so far in advance that if I want a holiday off I request it months in advance and I usually have no problem getting it. I haven't worked a 4th of July or Black Friday in years just by being smart enough to ask for it off 6 months earlier. I don't ask for every Thanksgiving and Christmas off as it just wouldn't be fair [we do have a senior CNA that hasn't worked Christmas in over 10 years though].
Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN
4 Articles; 7,907 Posts
The first facility I worked at was just like RNsRWe's: they broke everyone up into two teams (seniority didn't matter). Then they divided up the holidays and assigned them to each team. They divided the days so no team worked two consecutive holidays. Each year the teams would swap holidays.
For the night shift, the holiday started at 2300 the night before so 0000-0700 fell on the holiday itself. Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and Black Friday were not considered holidays.
If you were on Team A, you worked whatever holidays were assigned to that team. If you couldn't work a holiday, it was on you to find your replacement. You didn't have to swap holiday-for-holiday; you just had to find a warm body willing to cover for you. If you couldn't find a replacement, you had to come in to work. If you called out, you faced disciplinary action...and no, a doctor's note didn't guarantee you'd be off the hook. Volunteering to work a Team B holiday didn't get you off the hook for your own Team A committment either.
It seemed like a pretty fair solution to me. Yes, not having a say in which holidays you were working could suck at times, but it's a lot better than having to deal with the drama of staff fighting over the holidays. And at least you knew well in advance what holidays you would be working that year--heck, what holidays you'd be working in any given year--so you could plan accordingly.