Merit Raises? What is your annual raise?

[geekgolightly, BSN, RN]

Some of the nurses on my floor asked management for a cost of living raise as we havent had one at our hospital in fifteen years or so, and the answer we received was that cost of living was included in our annual merit raise.

Most merit raises are 3%

Last years cost of living went up by 2.97%

that leaves a 0.03% merit raise. for all of our dedication and flexibility with taking on new responsibilities .

0.03 percent is 0.0006 of a cent if we make 20 bucks an hour.20 * (0.03%) = 0.006

I was wondering just how outraged we should be. I want to compare it with what the rest of the hospitals grant their nurses. Please list what your hospital gives you in annual raises and if your hospital is a magnet or for profit or not for profit. Could be interesting.

Thanks

Kathy

P.S. Our hospital is a magnet hospital and is a teaching not-for-profit hospital as well.

[irshnrse]

At our not-for-profit, teaching hospital the highest merit raise is 3%. Sucks.

[New CCU RN]

Our merit raises go up to 6%.

We usually get a cost of living raise every year around 2-3%.

We also do the clinical ladder where you can get 6% for Clin 2, 5% for Clin 3 and 6% Clin 4

Since I started three and a half years ago, my pay rate has increased by 5.50 an hour. I can't really complain.

[Darlene K.]

our merit raises average about 3.5 %

[tlhubbard]

I just started my current job in May of this year. I am 1 of only 2 nurses in the building (mostly business people here). "normal" merit raise is 2%, but your supervisor may request, based on exceptional work habits, up to 4%.

Not much, but I also work for a corporation that is much more generous with their contributions to retirement. Which is WAY more than I can say for the local hospitals. You put it in the account and it's yours, they contribute ZIP.

I find that if my current salary is satisfactory, I am way more concerned about my retirement plan.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

My last "merit" raise was 2%, which is average. There is no such creature as a cost of living raise here. We do occasionally get raises all around when they compare our wages to all the other local hospitals (I live in a metroplex with probabably 20 hospitals or more in a 50 mile radius). The only way to get a decent raise is to quit and go to another hospital, but I'm trying to stay with this position for a while now.

[palesarah]

The hospital I worked at (left my job about 3 weeks ago), was not amgnet hospital, non-profit, not a teaching hospital- merit raises were 0-5% annually based on performance, they also did salary corrections (cost of living & market based) 2 or 3 times in the 2+ years I worked there to stay competetive. My hourly wage increased by $5.44 total, from June 2003 to October 2005.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Our budget is everyone gets 3%. If the manager gives someone a 4% then someone has to get a 2% to balance the budget. I got 4%, but you're right barely covered the rise in the cost of living, especially when gas prices jumped.

[geekgolightly, BSN, RN]

so essentially, our reward for staying with a company/hospital is that they allow us to keep up with the cost of living.

thats a pretty rotten deal.

for those who get cost of living adjustments and merit raises, keep those jobs! they respect you enough to pay you well.

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

Ours arent merit raises perse,, it basically is a whatever they can budget raise. Some years its better other years its not much at all. We have scale raises, and after you hit a certain point the only raise you see is the percentage that everyone else gets. Would be nice if there were a merit raise.

[suebird3]

raise? what's that? the difference in pay between lpn's and rn's where i work was $2. rn's got $2 extra about a year ago. weeellll...except one lpn who gets "a bit" more cuz he is "pool". he gets $8 more than the rn's.

quit? i doubt it. for the most part, i enjoy working for the place .

[LoriAlabamaRN]

At my long term care facility, the merit raise is 1-3%, the CNAs just got an additional cost of living raise from 1-5% depending on your length of service. Right now they are "negotiating" an across-the-board raise for the nurses, but we are owned by a private company so this is like pulling teeth. With the huge cost-of-living increase lately due to the gas prices and subsequent increase in product cost, we have lost several staff members who were commuting up to an hour each way. Our parent company needs to realize that they are sacrificing adequate staffing for the sake of higher profits...

Lori