Millennial Nurses Have Issues

[Nurse Yoni]

Millennial nurses have the following problems that might be true

There have been so many complaints across the globe about millennial nurses and their attitudes towards their jobs. Millennials are individuals who were born between 1981 and 1996-which means they are between ages, 23 to 38, in 2019. 1982 In this write-up, I will talk about some of these concerns and give you my take.

Millennial nurses are lazy

Millennial nurses (MN) are not so happy when the older generation of nurses’ label them as lazy, and always on their phones at work. Could this be further from the truth? We now live in a world of technology where people spend more time on their phones than with the people that matter in their lives. The average individual spends about 30-6 hours a day on their phone every day. The older generation nurses report that MNs love to sit at the desk and only see their patients during medication administration. Such nurses have been dubbed “Desktop Nurses.” We’re all aware that a lot of people spend more time on their phones, but there have not been any findings that show a decline in productivity of MNs in clinical areas. While I do not advocate that nurses use their phones on the unit, I do think that millennials are getting a bad rep for having been born in a generation that is highly influenced by technology.

MNs are always looking for new jobs and they’re not interested in growing in their careers.

True or false? MNs are the most adventurous in the workplace. They are always looking for more. They don’t seem to be satisfied with what they have. According to a 2017 survey on MNs, more than 36% MNs stated their intentions to move into leadership roles. Maybe the scarcity of MNs in leadership positions might be because these positions have already been occupied by baby boomers or their employers are not encouraging them to take on leadership responsibilities. MNs should be given the chance to grow in their careers. They should be given the green light that there are possibilities for growth in their respective settings. This, to me, would increase the retention rates of MNs, especially in clinical nursing.

Most millennials are not interested in furthering their careers; they might be switching careers any time soon.

MNs do not seem to be focused on getting more education. A lot of them just want to get into careers that would allow them to travel places and do less work. They are not interested in pursuing a master’s degree or even a doctorate or Phd. A 2017 survey of nurses showed that 39% of millennials stated that they intend to go for a Master of Science in Nursing degree and 11% stated that they might pursue a PhD in nursing. Baby boomers are less likely to switch careers, unlike millennials. The advent of technology has opened so many opportunities and career options for everyone. MNs are just responding to the current world we live in-a place of greater opportunities for everyone.

Resource

https://www.amnhealthcare.com/uploadedFiles/MainSite/Content/Campaigns/Millennial-Nurse-Survey-2017.pdf

[KCLSEA]

On 11/15/2019 at 8:31 PM, chloeluvsutoo said:

There are no longer incentives to stay at one job for long and often times we need to move jobs to get raises and grow our career. Plus I would say most millennial nurses have plans for higher education, we just don't have money for it.

I agree completely.

[FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN]

Nevermind.

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

Im a millennial. I can tell you some are true. Yeah, most of us are not pursuing a master's degree because of the outrageous cost of college. Unless they are trying to become an advanced practice nurse or into management what is the point? Most places will not give you a raise for getting your master's while working bedside.

As for being lazy I work with several nurses who have 30 years at the bedside. They can be just as lazy if not more lazy than a millennial.

I appreciate the OP defending us millennial's but anyone with a brain can see it's just one generation doing what generations have been doing for decades.

[Wuzzie]

On 11/17/2019 at 7:53 AM, 0.5GPA said:

As a Millennial I feel that most people in my age and younger don’t stay at a job forever because there is no reason too.

While staying at a job "forever" on principle is ludicrous I disagree that there is nothing to gain and it's something I hear job hoppers complain about all the time. When you stay at one place longer than a minute you gain seniority. There are often benefits of having seniority like being moved to day shift when a spot opens, first dibs on time off, not having to work as many weekends. These are rewards for service. Now I do not agree that the concept of seniority means it's okay to treat newer employees unfairly but there's nothing wrong with a few perks being thrown a long-time employee's way as a reward for sticking it out. We've had quite a few heated discussions here regarding this issue and it seems that the "everybody gets a trophy" crowd is just horrified when they don't get the extra perks too just for being them. If you aren't part of that crowd please don't get your undies in a bunch over this post.

I work in a unionized hospital. Everything is based on seniority. Sometimes is sucks but overall I find it pretty fair. We all start the same and have the same opportunity to achieve seniority if we choose to do so.

[Nurse Yoni, BSN]

20 hours ago, KalipsoRed21 said:

This piece is a bit vague on what it intends to accomplish. I am technically a Millennial, on the cusp of being a Gen X. My husband is Boomer. The work ethic between is is not very different, but the expectations of the work environment are.
A reason I do not feel we are to far apart on what we want out of work is the fact that he works in a union. He is well compensated for his time with reasonable benefits, time off, has a strictly enforced job description. This is nothing more than what I wished out of my own employer, but have found that this ‘bare minimum’ expectation is rarely met by employers. I am not union, I have often been asked to do more than what I agreed to do when I hired on. For reasons ranging from short staffing to ‘restructuring’, I have often been required to take on more work than is reasonable, missed promised brakes, had my on call day abused as a mandatory over time that I am frequently not entirely compensated for appropriately due to the law requiring compensation to only be provided after I hit the 40+ hour mark. I am used at the discretion of the company by them being able to low census me and therefore cut my pay. Even at my current job, which has been the fairest place I have ever worked, they are constantly screwing with my time. Example: We use to have a call day once a month. We are on call to our patients for questions but also if a patient with very time specific needs was coming out of the hospital we would also have to admit. An admit is easily a quarter or half a day of work...and this would be in addition to the fact that we would have already worked our 8 hour day. But we would get time and a half pay for this and we really only did these admissions if it was absolutely necessary, as our employer had incentive to NOT want us to do an after hour admit due to having to pay us time and a half. I am suppose to work 8am-4:30pm. Anything done on call after 4:30 was time and a half. Now, under the guise of lessening our work load, we only work half a day when we are on call. But instead of our day starting at 8am we are suppose to start at 12pm and thus we get paid regular pay until 8:30pm. So now we are getting less compensation and being required to work evenings (which was not the agreement I signed on for) and the employer has less incentive to make sure that these after hour admits have timed after hours needs that REQUIRE a nurse to see them in the evening. Now management feels because they “gave us” only half a day of work we should be willing to admit any patient coming home no matter if it is truly needed to be done in the evening or not.

What does my employer get out of this new arrangement? They don’t have to pay me overtime and get to admit more patients to increase their bottom line because they no longer have incentive to be concerned if the person coming out of the hospital has time specific needs or not. I will be available for the admit because I “only” had half a day scheduled. What do I get? Less compensation and an increased guarantee that I will be working very late into the evening at least once a month because my employer no longer has incentive to ensure that admits that could wait to regular operating hours are done during regular operating hours. I have no recourse as I do not work for a union. I only have a choice to leave or be agreeable to getting screwed. This is the biggest difference to me between Boomers and Millennials. Boomers had such a competitive workforce that they were willing to bend over to every employer need, and they had to if they wanted to support their family. Unions decreased and the power of the employee dwindled and Boomers still needed to bring home a paycheck no matter how bad they got screwed, and they got screwed. Most of them have no retirement, were let go a few years shy of their full retirement benefits, and were basically used up and spat out for the benefit of the top earners in the company.

So thank you Boomers for supporting us as children even though you got utterly screwed. But what Millinnals know is that the workforce is smaller. We have more power than you did, and our time is just as precious as yours was back in your prime, but we have the leverage to get what we want (what you wanted back in the day) and we will get it or we will leave.

Businesses have abused/enslaved the workforce long enough. I, just as much as a Boomer did 20 years ago, deserve to have a decent paying job with benefits and employers who do not abuse my time, the only difference between Boomers and Millinnials is that the workforce is shrinking and thus we have more power to get what we deserve than Boomers did. If I were a Boomer that would kind of irritate me too, but get over it and come over to outside. You will get paid better and have more time to be with your family if you do.

I could not agree more with you that Millenials are in a much better place to get what they desire. Thanks

On 11/15/2019 at 7:00 PM, hherrn said:

I completely agree.

Thanks for you affirmation

[Nurse Yoni, BSN]

On 11/15/2019 at 10:10 PM, hherrn said:

If you are only a bit confused about that post, you are doing well.

I could have made it clearer. Thanks for your comment

[Asystole RN]

I wonder, since the innovation and spread of the spoken language...has the previous generation ever not complained about the succeeding generation and visa versa?

No one complained about the Boomers more than The Greatest Generation. Imagine surviving the Great Depression and killing Nazis only to find your kids turned into a bunch cry-baby entitled hippies.

Honestly, with the poor economy, stifling debt, inability to obtain affordable housing, and fighting in a global conflict the millennials have a lot more in common with The Greatest Generation than they do the Boomers.

[ArmyRntoMD, BSN, RN]

14 minutes ago, Asystole RN said:

I wonder, since the innovation and spread of the spoken language...has the previous generation ever not complained about the succeeding generation and visa versa?

No one complained about the Boomers more than The Greatest Generation. Imagine surviving the Great Depression and killing Nazis only to find your kids turned into a bunch cry-baby entitled hippies.

Honestly, with the poor economy, stifling debt, inability to obtain affordable housing, and fighting in a global conflict the millennials have a lot more in common with The Greatest Generation than they do the Boomers.

I don’t like to sum up people based on generation but I would like to point out how annoying it is, when I (a 32 year old soon to apply to medschool, disabled combat vet with a background in law enforcement, 5 years of nursing experience, and lived on a farm my entire non adult life) have some 40-60 something year old woman act like I’m someone who hasn’t experienced anything. When in many cases they worked on a certain floor for 20+ years and are “sheltered” outside of work.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

Eh....it is much more complicated than that. The world has changed and my generation knows that we cannot play by the same rules as our parents if we want to succeed. We cannot stay at the same employer and expect to get decent raises, promotions or be treated well. We cannot drop out of school and work at a factory and expect to make enough to support a family. We cannot not save for retirement and expect a pension or social security to take care of us.

We also seem to have different values from our parents. Millennials, as a generation, are not loyal to companies. We typically value work-life balance and taking the opportunity to reinvent ourselves and explore. We aren't rushing out and getting married and having kids young and working at the same job in a bubble for 40+ years like our parents. Many of is want to experiment either by job hopping or traveling the world.

As a generation, we are also somewhat more cautious than our parents and a little wary, thanks to 2008 and the recession. So while it may seem like we take risks with our job hopping, we actually oftentimes switch jobs to gain more skills and make more money for stability. We work for ourselves, not "the man."

[Megan1977, MSN, EdD, RN]

This “article” is somewhat confusing. I am not sure if it is it is poorly written or poorly edited. Too bad because I think the author has some interesting points to make.

[Jjd]

It’s funny that they complain about this yet I feel like they have caused this. I am 33 and have worked at my hospital almost 10 years as an RN. When i started there were so many less rules on where and how you had to spend your time. Now we are told to take a computer and go stand in your “zone”, don’t sit and socialized with coworkers. Some days there is only so much your patients (who are sick and most often want to rest and be left alone) want to talk to you. So maybe they should look at how they discourage employee interaction before saying “millennial nurses have problems”

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

6 hours ago, Jjd said:

It’s funny that they complain about this yet I feel like they have caused this. I am 33 and have worked at my hospital almost 10 years as an RN. When i started there were so many less rules on where and how you had to spend your time. Now we are told to take a computer and go stand in your “zone”, don’t sit and socialized with coworkers. Some days there is only so much your patients (who are sick and most often want to rest and be left alone) want to talk to you. So maybe they should look at how they discourage employee interaction before saying “millennial nurses have problems”

Im 33 and it is a bit funny and hypocritical.