12 hr every weekend shifts

Katnip, RN · Apr 20, 2006

I've never worked that kind of shift but in the places where I worked that had that option, you only worked holidays if they fell on the weekend. But there was no chance of getting that holiday off, so if Christmas falls an a Saturday or Sunday you work Christmas and New Year's day. But that only happens every 7 years or so.

jandmsmom38 · Apr 20, 2006

I work 12 hr shift and a lot of them happen to fall on weekends. I love weekend shifts. There are not as many MDs, PTs, OTs on ect so you have less people to deal with. Pt also don't have as many tests scheduled. It is just a much more relaxed atmosphere. The big plus is your pts' usually have visitors and you don't have to play waitress as much. I actually get a lot of "nursing" work done! I would have to say the biggest determinate is whether you have a family or anything that will miss you all weekend. Can you deal with missing family cookouts for example? Five days off a week is sweet!

ljds · Apr 20, 2006

At least one hospital in the area has the weekend option, which means that for every weekend you work (saturday AND sunday), you get a bonus which is equivalent to another shift. You are also considered full time. If you work another shift during the week, you get time and a half for that shift. You don't have to do this every weekend (but then, if you want to maintain full time status and benefits, you need to have three days that week).

Pretty lucrative; I would do it if the hospital were closer. The commute for me would negate the benefits, in terms of my time and my commuting expenses.

jrring1019 · Apr 20, 2006

Does anyone work this fully benefitted position? I am wondering if it is worth it, and I am considering working it to have the 5 days off. It must be nice having 5 days off, and getting paid to work 4. How does your hospital do holidays with these shifts?

I did this for 6 years. I worked 24, paid for 32 and had FT medical benefits. I had to rotate day/nights. I loved it because the pay was great and I was home with my kids. I didn't have to pay for daycare, which was an even bigger payday!

And I only worked holidays that were on the weekend. Also had 5 wkds off a year.

Only hard part was not being home with dh once in a while. One of us was at work every day of the week!! Also, you miss out on family gatherings, which are mostly on weekends. And MOST of my vacation time was planned around having my kids b-day parties on the weekends.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2006

I was a nurse manager in a hospital that did this. There were basically two groups of full time staff nurses. The 8 hour bunch that worked Monday through Friday and the 12 hour group that worked every Saturday and Sunday. The weekend people received the same benefits including holiday, vacation and sick pay just like anyone else. If a holiday fell on a weekend it was handled like any other. People were given the day off by a rotational method and prns or other people who volunteered to work the day were brought in. However, I found that a lot of the weekend people often wanted to work their holidays. Here's why. They actually worked a total of 48 hours in a pay period (4 12-hour shifts) and were given a bonus amount if they showed up to work those 4 days that brought their pay up to exactly the same as the group who worked 10 8-hour shifts. If they called off any one of those 4 days in a pay period they lost that huge bonus. By working the holiday they made double time. Also, most of the weekend staff were students and mothers who needed Monday through Friday off so holidays were a chance to pick up extra money.

Here was the down side to this. You pretty much had to have an almost perfect attendance record to get into this program. Attendance was tracked to the point of being anal at this facility. Too many call offs and you got bumped back to the 5 days a week. If someone did call off on a weekend it was very hard to replace them. The weekday staff was tired and didn't want to come in for a 12-hour day on one of their 2 days off. And, the worst of all was that the staffing was noticeably one or two nursing staff people shorter per shift per unit on the weekends, so those people really earned that money. This is why one person calling off made such a big impact. What I saw was that most of the weekend workers were real workaholics--you had to be to survive it.

We had a couple of real go-getters who were weekend nurses who then worked extra time during the week on a couple of 8 hour shifts. When I went through the time cards before turning them in to payroll I learned that other nurse managers knew who these two were and were calling them to help fill holes in their schedule during the week. These two nurses cleaned up. When I saw the payroll budget I couldn't believe the size of the payroll checks these two ladies were getting!

dld, ASN, RN · Apr 20, 2006

Wow, what good info. I imagined weekend parties and sick leave would be a problem. Tell me Daytonite, did the weekenders ever have any weekends off, or were all weekends mandatory?

mandana · Apr 20, 2006

This is the kind of schedule I'd like to work, if possible. It would stink to be away from my DH so much on the weekends, but my kids are little - I'd be able to be home with them all day, and still be considered a full-time employee - wow.

Amanda

JR816, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2006

The hospital in my area has an incentive program where if you work two weekend 12's, (Fri, Sat, or SUn) and one weekday twelve, they will pay you $20.00 more plus shift diff. Is that sweet or what???????

nrcnurse · Apr 20, 2006

I work a "weekend contract" where I work 12 of 14 weekends and receive an extra $5qh + weekend/holiday differential. These are 12h shifts. I also work one 12h shift during the week, usually Wednesdays. I'm on the day shift.

I like it because I have some "order" to my life re my schedule. I really hate a "random" schedule where my days are different every week.

busylynn · Apr 20, 2006

I work the weekend plan. We must work 12 hour shifts. Dayshift weekenders work Sat. and Sun. and one weekday. Nightshifters work Fri. and Sat. night and one week night. For example, I work Thur. Fri. and Sat nights. others work Fri. Sat and Sun night.....You get to pick your 3 days. We are entitled to every 8th weekend off but we must request it 4 weeks in advance and we DO NOT have to make up those days so every 8th week we can have 11 days off if we choose. THE CATCH: LPN's receive a $300 biweekley bonus and RN's receive a $500 biweekley bonus. ANY call out any you loose that biweekly bonus. Holidays are still divided up between everybody including the weekend staff and we pretty much do self scheduling which is pretty nice. I love the weekends, that way i am home during the week with my children for school events.....Good Luck to you.

dld, ASN, RN · Apr 20, 2006

Is it hard to adjust to 12s? I've only done 8 hr nights. Now I sleep 4 hrs in the morning, and get my son from school, cook, and go back to sleep 3 more hours for the night shift. I have to immagine the 5x8hrs shifts are way harder on my body than 2 x12's. Now when I have a night off I want to be up all night and sleep all day. After 10 years. I got a pattern, just not a good one. Thanks everyone for your input, I am going to apply for it- and it is only 5 min. from my house:cheers: :cheers: : :cheers: I hate though to leave the place I worked for so long. I'll just go to the interview and see what happens.If I like it I'll have no problem kissing that paper charting goodbye:lol2: :lol2: Thanks to everyone for the great ideas.