Night nurse moving to day shift: Salary question

[CraftyKitten]

I was wondering if anyone had experience switching from nights to day with regards to salary. Now I know you cannot retain the nighttime differential however I was wondering if anyone ever asked to have their base pay compensated by HR when switching to days from nights.

edit: I am not interviewing, I'm staying on the same unit and simply taking an open day position. All I have to do is accept the day position

[caliotter3]

Not a night to day situation, but any time I made a similar change, the employer had no misgivings about adjusting my pay downwards if they thought appropriate. Then, if I said anything, they would say it was my fault for wanting to make the change.

[CraftyKitten]

Well my specific question to the HR rep would be to have the base pay increased.. I'm wondering how you approached the question of salary. Also I don't need an interview it's just from the night position to days

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

My facility looks at changes of shift as a scheduling change and not a position change. There is no hourly rate change; the only difference is the shift differential. Could you ask for a raise? Sure. Are you likely to get one? Most likely not. Raises tend to be granted at eval time and with true position changes.

[caliotter3]

My approach was not the standard, "what I bring to the table, what I should be getting", but a query as to why others were being paid more than me when there were factors involved that clearly made for the opposite to be occurring. The employers always banked on me being a pushover or something.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I have never seen a base pay adjustment made to make you earn the same on day shift as you did on nights. Generally nights pay more because they are a less desirable position for much of the world, therefore adding enticement to potentially taking those shifts. That is where the shift diff comes in. Going to day shift 99% of the time means a pay cut when you take shift diff out and generally isn't compensated by a change in base pay to mitigate the difference. If you succeed I am sure most here will want to know how. You aren't offering anything more on days in terms of skills, training, experience, etc that would warrant an adjustment in pay.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

Hey it never hurts to ask for more money!!!! More nurses should do the same. However, I doubt the gambit will work unless they are specifically asking you to come to days. It worked for me some years ago when I was asked to come to days for staffing / charge nurse deficiencies and even then the raise didn't add up to all the differentials I missed on nights.

Good Luck!!!

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

As a long-term night shifter, this post kind of rubbed me the wrong way. The whole point of a shift differential is that you are paid more to take the less desirable shift; if your differential were simply added to your day shift base when you switch, then there wouldn't actually be a differential for the night shifters since everybody would be making the same amount. Part of the trade-off of going to days is that you make less money than if you stayed on nights. To me, it comes across as a bit entitled to think that you should continue to receive more money without actually earning it (by working the night shift to get the differential). Unless you are pushing for a merit-based increase, it doesn't make sense to me.

As others have said, it doesn't hurt to ask. However, even if you are granted a small raise, I highly doubt that it would be comparable to your differential (unless your differential is terrible). I make $6 as a differential; if I asked my manager for a $6 raise for any reason, she'd probably laugh out loud.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

What would be your reasoning as to why the employer should offer you increased salary? There are probably plenty of people willing to take a day shift position.

[Sour Lemon]

I think it doesn't hurt to ask, but you're not likely to succeed unless they need positions filled on days.

My employer has asked me if I'd be willing to work days and it was a solid no. If I'd been interested, I wouldn't have agreed without a raise. I prefer nights and get paid more to work them, so why would I agree to days for less?

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

CraftyKitten said:

I was wondering if anyone had experience switching from nights to day with regards to salary. Now I know you cannot retain the nighttime differential however I was wondering if anyone ever asked to have their base pay compensated by HR when switching to days from nights.

edit: I am not interviewing, I'm staying on the same unit and simply taking an open day position. All I have to do is accept the day position

All I can say your post is very sweet and very funny!!

[BlueShoes12, BSN, RN]

As someone switching to day shift from night shift in four weeks, it's a nice thought, but not realistic unfortunately. My facility only has a $2 night shift differential and no night shift differential, so it's not worth having a backwards schedule for me.