Is Being Loyal Worth It?

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Specializes in ER, Med Surg,Drug Etoh, Psych.

Hello Everyone,

Our hospital has recently started this new thing of nurses being ranked as top, middle or low performers,with the understanding/expectation that the middle and low move up or out. No info was provided on how these nurses were supposed to acheive this and when asked,the nsg manager said not to worry about it ! :(I am in the top ranking{whoopee for me} and only got a $00.50/hr raise last year.Some very good nurses that work with me only got a penny an hr raise.:scrying: In the monthly nsg meeting yesterday , we were informed the standard 3% raise was not going to be given next eval unless you contributed extra to the unit by doing PI projects etc.I think that is crazy and unfair for many reasons.What about young mom nurses who are working to raise their family and its all they can do just to come work 12 hrs shifts, or nurses like me who have elderly parents and or sick children living with them?I've been a nurse a long time and have been where I work now for 11 years and the new hires are started out at what it took me years to earn. It seems to me that a nurse is better off leaving an employer and then coming back after a while just to make what new hires are making . The only problem with that is my friends are telling me its hard to get hired with a lot of years of experience because hospitals don't want to pay for the years of experience.Is this a catch 22 or what?:banghead:

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You can't take care of anyone if you don't take care of yourself first. Do what ever you think is best for you and your career. Then doing your job well will be much easier.

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

I worked for a multi-national telephone company when I was still a "nerd." I worked Christmas and New years without OT because I was "management." I didn't go to birthday parties and family gatherings because of deadlines. I worked for the company 12 years, and was 100% a "bell shaped head" (read: company girl). You know what it got me?

Outsourced.

Think about it this way. If it fit their objectives to toss you out into the street with nothing but the scrubs on your back, they'd do it (like the nurses getting a 1 cent raise). Be loyal to yourself, be an advocate for your patients, but remember to your employeer, you are a "cost" in the Payroll column. I wish it wasn't that way, but it is. Our CEO just gave us a big talk about how bad things are, how people may not get raises, how they aren't contributing to our retirement this year, etc. I wanted to ask him, "so...how about all the execs show leadership by taking a 10% cut, instead of taking our measly 3? You could fund the hospital for a solid year."

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I am livid about the way health care business is using this downturn to stick it to nursing. When it turns around and when they find themselves in the middle of even worse shortage they will cry, "we need to increase capacity of new nursing schools, we need to increase importing foreign nurses". What a bunch of greedy idiots.

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What could they use to measure your "performance"? Is it the number of patients that survive your shifts? Popular vote?

More and more I see the worst of the corporate fads infiltrating healthcare.

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

I am loyal to ME. I chose to work the ]baylor hours because I get paid more for the time I am there. I chose to work a PRN job because I get almost 15.00 more an hour than I do working my benefited baylor job. I will be the 1st one to come in if I can, but will only do it for time and a half. I am never late, I stay till my job is done. My patients love me because I am very good to them, my team mates love me because I do my work and dont sit around griping. My mgr loves me because she can count on me. The day the mess with my pay--or do not compensate me for my time is the day I look for another job.

]

]It can be a win/win. You treat me good and I will work for you and do a good job---treat me poor and I will work for someone else and do a good job for them.

]

]I am loyal to me and my family 1st.

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nerdtonurse I couldn't have said it better! I once suggested to a CEO during a (public meeting) about management and administration taking a decrease in their pay just as the employees of the hospital we're being asked to use PTO and convenience time for the benefit of the hospital. Of course the CEO looked at me like I had 3 heads and ignored my suggestion. There is NO LOYALTY from hospital employers and you are right on about being loyal to yourself and advocate to your patient.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

In my experience, this type of evaluation system (top 1/3, middle 1/3, bottom 1/3) is a precursor to staffing cuts.

They are obviously invalid, as it is possible to have an entire staff of high-performing nurses, or an entire staff of poorly-performing nurses. Yet this system forces employees into one of 3 categories. I'll be the next step is cutting personnel.

I've seen this happen in companies where excellent departments were forced to terminate excellent employees, and lousy departments were forced to keep lousy employees because of where they fell in the ranking.

It's simplistic, short-sighted and it sucks for good employees.

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Specializes in MSP, Informatics.
In my experience, this type of evaluation system (top 1/3, middle 1/3, bottom 1/3) is a precursor to staffing cuts.

I was thinking the same thing. Especially if they need a doccumented reason to cut someone, and they are probably by the sounds of it, singling out those on the higher end of the pay scale. Lots of hospitals complain about what the most senior nurses make.... yea they don't want to train new nurses, but they like paying them more than they like paying those at higher steps.

your right. catch 22

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nasty situation as noted above

you have to fall into a certain catagory, whether or not you are 'good' or not

if tbtb are deciding who falls where in this ladder thenyou are at the mercy of someone who doesnt know what is going on in many cases

i know you have a lot of time invested in this place but it might be time to at least look around and see what the other facilities offer

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Specializes in School Nursing, Pedi., Critical Care.

Of course the managers are not worried about it! They probably are not affected! If they are giving a requirement that should at least tell you how to achieve it! It sounds like they don't want you to achieve!

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yes my old hospital started this. notice i said old hospital. i no longer work there. but i am so glad. think of your self first

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