Is being greedy by taking lots of shifts bad?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in ACE.

Basically I work 10 shifts in 14 days all 8 hours. Sometimes I will work 12+ days in a row because there is no one to work when I am away as we can only work at 1 facility at a time for IPAC.

 

Whenever they ask me to work on my days off I always say yes, making extra money and stuff. Now that they hired more staff I am not getting more than 10 shifts and I feel bad, but do not want to be greedy and keep taking all the shifts and complain.

 

 

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

I"m not real clear about what you're saying.  What is your prime motivation for picking up extra shifts?  To help out your employer or for the money?  Do you ace other people out of shifts they want to work?

I'm a strong advocate of taking time to rest and recharge and to live within your means.

 

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Take time for rest and spread the wealth of extra shifts, but if no one else wants those shifts, well. I would discreetly ask the supervisor if others complain that they can’t get extra shifts. Then if you give up one here and there, you can claim being a team player when performance evaluation time rolls around. 

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Specializes in ACE.
9 hours ago, TriciaJ said:

I"m not real clear about what you're saying.  What is your prime motivation for picking up extra shifts?  To help out your employer or for the money?  Do you ace other people out of shifts they want to work?

I'm a strong advocate of taking time to rest and recharge and to live within your means.

 

a bit of both!

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

If the shifts are open to everyone then you're not taking away from other people by working them. In our unit the open shifts are posted with a few weeks notice and if things are unfair there's time to work it out. I've done similar stretches to yours and it works when I have a need for the money and they need staff. Other times, I prioritize time out of work and that's good, too. 

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Specializes in ER.

Don't fall into the trap of work work work, then spend spend spend. I know a great gal who does that, then will mention how she and her husband have debt. What they have is spending addiction. 

Otherwise, don't feel guilty. I'm sure your coworkers appreciate you.

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Specializes in Oncology, ID, Hepatology, Occy Health.

There's a great old saying: "Make hay while the sun shines."

That's what you've done. No harm in that. You've earned extra money honestly and helped out your employer and more importantly, your colleagues.

If those shifts are drying up now, make the most of your free time. These things are always cyclical and the facility will one day be be short staffed again.

Like you I've always been one to grab overtime. Extra money is always welcome, however I try to either put in into savings or use it for extra special treats. If you rely on overtime for your bread and butter everyday spending then there's a problem and you need to re-think your finances. If you can't live within your regular salary, scale down.  We are not fantastically paid but we are also not the poorest paid workers and we should be able to live on a full time wage. 

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I would say rest. Don't get so caught up in making money that you burn yourself out. In the past, I would work like that when it's something I wanted to buy like new furniture, a new car, or vacation. Otherwise, only sparingly. If my base pay can't get me through then I'm living above my means. But if you're alright with it and no one else wants to work, fine. Just rest sometime.

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Come work on my unit.  Nobody wants the extra shifts.  We are all burned out at this point.  I feel like death after picking up one shift so I limit it to one every 6 weeks.  

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Specializes in Community health.
On 5/13/2021 at 5:35 PM, DavidFR said:

There's a great old saying: "Make hay while the sun shines."

That's what you've done. No harm in that. You've earned extra money honestly and helped out your employer and more importantly, your colleagues.

If those shifts are drying up now, make the most of your free time. These things are always cyclical and the facility will one day be be short staffed again.

Like you I've always been one to grab overtime. Extra money is always welcome, however I try to either put in into savings or use it for extra special treats. If you rely on overtime for your bread and butter everyday spending then there's a problem and you need to re-think your finances. If you can't live within your regular salary, scale down.  We are not fantastically paid but we are also not the poorest paid workers and we should be able to live on a full time wage. 

Everything you wrote is wise.  

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Specializes in ER, Pre-Op, PACU.

I don’t think it’s greedy because likely no one wants the extra shifts. I know I do not pick up shifts at all at this point because I simply I am still fried from my last job and have learned that overtime really does not make as much money as I think it does. I can live on my base pay. I do encourage you  to be careful of picking up too much overtime. It’s easy to get caught up in the money but you may regret it not enjoying time off and life in general several years later.

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I wasn't interested in picking up extra shifts, so I just sat back and watched the drama unfold. I heard complaints from coworkers claiming "so and so is taking the extra hours". The same coworkers would then complain about having to work too much or on holidays. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't, so don't worry about others' opinions!

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