barefootlady, ADN, RN 2,174 Posts Oct 29, 2008 Have been at 2 facilities when lay offs came around. There were rumors, but administration denied the lay off until the day it was planned. Pay day. The facilities even fought the nurses getting unemployment benefits. The economy is going to effect everyone but the very rich before we get back on our feet.
THAT Nurse., MSN, RN, APRN 163 Posts Specializes in Family Practice/Primary Care. Has 16 years experience. Nov 12, 2008 I have been laid off before, so I can say I understand how you feel. Don't let it get you down, make a plan, and run with it. As long as you don't let your mind be consumed by fear you are fine. A safe future comes from controlling it, and you can best control it with a plan. Make the plan. Stick to it. Control your future.Good luck.
JessicRN 470 Posts Nov 12, 2008 I know how you feel I have been a victim of several layoffs several years ago. The last lay off was the final straw,we were part of a union and the negotiations were that the nurses would get a 3% raise now and then 15% in 1 year. When the time came for the raise the hospital said they did not have the money and the only way they could do it was to lay off 50 RN's the union chose 50 RNS so out I went. I did not want to go back to a bunch of nurses who chose money over their friends and a strike (we were not aloud to strike unless there was a breech in contract which this was). I know lay offs are hard and depressing and an extreme blow to the psyche the best thing to remember is it is not personal. Sometimes they are exactly what you needed but were afraid to try. If I did not get laid off the last time it would not have given me the impetus to go to a job fair and get a job in an ED in Texas which I never would have gotten if I had stayed in Canada.
TurismoDreamin 40 Posts Nov 12, 2008 p.s i felt so bad for these nurses... how scary to have a job one day and no job the next.... Under that same token, how convenient must it be that you can be laid off from a field in such high demand that it doesn't take any time at all to find another job. Certainly the times now are rough, but I always keep in mind that it could be worse. Plus, they're new grads; they'll get over it.
mama_d, BSN, RN 1,187 Posts Specializes in tele, oncology. Has 10 years experience. Nov 12, 2008 under that same token, how convenient must it be that you can be laid off from a field in such high demand that it doesn't take any time at all to find another job. certainly the times now are rough, but i always keep in mind that it could be worse. plus, they're new grads; they'll get over it.nursing is not high demand everywhere anymore, thanks to the downturn in the economy. and just b/c someone is a "new grad" doesn't mean that they'll get over it any easier. it could actually make it harder to find another job b/c of the lack of experience. that new grad who will "get over it" may be a single mom of three, or sole support who has a wife with cancer at home and now has no insurance benefits for her treatments, etc. to say that anyone will "get over" a layoff, regardless of new grad or not, is in poor taste at best.one of the facilities in my hospital system laid off over 100 nurses on the same day that they announced "restructing" and laid off tons of people system-wide. this was followed by a swath of firings over ridiculous supposed policy deviations in the upper management that remained. some of those nurses and managers had been with the system over twenty years. they couched it in language that made it sound like it was for the benefit of better system organization, but everyone knows it was to get rid of those making too much money so they could bring in younger, more maleable people that would accept much less in wages while avoiding making waves b/c of what had happened to their predecessors.the longer i'm in nursing the more disillusioned i am by the politics of it all.
truern 2,016 Posts Specializes in Telemetry & Obs. Nov 12, 2008 under that same token, how convenient must it be that you can be laid off from a field in such high demand that it doesn't take any time at all to find another job. certainly the times now are rough, but i always keep in mind that it could be worse. plus, they're new grads; they'll get over it.i'm sorry, but that has to be the most unfeeling callous remark i've read here in a long time. lay offs hurt no matter how "new" you are.
TurismoDreamin 40 Posts Nov 12, 2008 Firstly, I highly doubt that there will ever be a health care crisis that results in lay offs because of the imbalance between supply and demand. Sure there are plenty of fluctuations, but you can rest assured that it's consistent. Secondly, I never said it was going to be an easy road. Better a new grad than one that has 20 years experience. Everyone started with no experience at one point. New grads from the multitude of colleges around the nation find jobs straight out of school. Might not be the area they wanted, but if you have your priorities straight, you'll realize that at least it's a job and take it instead of being picky. If demand isn't high in her area for her field, relocate. All the hospitals in my area always have pages of positions open for nurses. It's best to just jump back in instead of sitting there feeling sorry for yourself. Maybe I'm not as sympathetic as everyone here expects me to be, but it's not the end of the world.
jschut, BSN, RN 2,743 Posts Has 20 years experience. Nov 12, 2008 Wow. Our DON has said that she needs to cut nursing hours, but of course she says it's because census is low....But we have as many people as we did before!
iamablonde, BSN, RN 1 Article; 52 Posts Specializes in Case management, UM, AL, psych, CD. Has 20 years experience. Nov 12, 2008 I am an RN working at an insurance company. I do Utilization Review and Case Management. It was announced 3 weeks ago that there WOULD be lay offs here and I about had a heart attack. We waited for 3 long weeks while they figured out who and what they would cut. One nurse voluntered to be laid off first because she doesn't depend on her income to live (GOD I WISH I COULD SAY THAT), and another nurse transferred to another position in the company, and I am convinced that Is why I am still employed here. So, we found out Monday that one nurse and 4 care specialists got laid off. The nurse was the one who had voluntered to go first. It was the WORST 3 weeks of my LIFE! I feel that I aged ten years over the past three weeks. I was immediately out there interviewing and do have other offers, but I am thankful, that for now, I am safe here because I LOVE What I am doing. I was laid off 3 years ago in October from a Community Mental Health office when we had Federal Funding cuts. It was a Horrible experience and our company was nice and explained it way before it actually happened. Still a VERY traumatic experience.The one thing about nursing though, there were LOTS of jobs in the paper and lots of good prospects, so no matter what happens, I still Believe whole heartedly that NURSING is a GREAT profession.And THANK goodness for all the fabulous Nursing friends I have made over the years! It is ALWAYS good to have CONNECTIONS!
