Compensation is an extremely important aspect for the overwhelming majority of people who must work for a living, including the nurses who claim to do their jobs for purely altruistic reasons. Salary surveys can empower nurses because they unearth valuable information.
As we welcome the dawn of a propitious new year that is brimming with plenty of promise and new beginnings, I wanted to bring up a topic that is influential to most people. Of course, the topic at hand is compensation.
While job satisfaction, personal gratification, altruism, achievement of individual goals, a love of science or a fondness for helping patients heal are all deeper reasons why many people might enter and/or stay in the nursing profession in the face of an increasingly challenging era in healthcare provision, it would be disingenuous to deny the significance of pay.
Salary is an important component for the vast majority of people who must work for a living, including those who claim to do their jobs for purely altruistic reasons. As much as we may love the work that we do, most of us would not continue to show up to work each day if our employers suddenly declared, "You will no longer receive a pay check every two weeks. Instead, we will repay you with compassion, compliments, gratitude and appreciation for a job well done."
To be perfectly frank, compassion does not pay the rent, gratitude will not fill the fridge with food, and caring will not prevent the utilities from being disconnected for lack of timely payment. The truth is that we all need appropriate compensation for the vital services that we render, so I wonder about the occasional person who states, "I love nursing so much that I'd do it for free!" I challenge these people to resign from their paying jobs and volunteer their nursing services for free for the remainder of their working years. Only the well-off can pull it off for an extended time.
With that having been said, informal salary surveys can be worth their weight in gold. The salary survey is a tool that benefits nurses because it gleans valuable information:
It makes us more aware of the average rates of pay for others in our profession.
It enables us to be reasonable when pursuing a fair pay rate from a potential employer.
It takes other factors into account, such as geographic variances and differences in specialties.
It regards the fact that salaries can be a tricky topic - some employees would never even dream of disclosing their pay to colleagues, and many organizations have policies in place that prohibit open discussion of wages. In other words, salary can be a very touchy subject.
If you wish to participate in the informal salary survey for 2014, please list the information in the following order:
Geographic location
Pay rate
In which area / specialty do you work?
What type of license do you have (RN or LPN)?
What type of degree and/or certification do you have?
How many years of experience do you have?
Are you full-time, part-time, or casual / per diem / PRN status?
What shift do you work?
Do you receive any shift differential?
Are you a manager or supervisor?
And if you do not want to provide any salary information, that's perfectly fine, too. Thanks!
[*]In which area / specialty do you work? Med/surg, ICU & ER
[*]What type of license do you have (RN or LPN)? RN
[*]What type of degree and/or certification do you have? ADN, BLS, PALS, ACLS, TNCC & ENPC
[*]How many years of experience do you have? 4 when I left
[*]Are you full-time, part-time, or casual / per diem / PRN status? Full time 7 nights per pay period
[*]What shift do you work? 7p-7a
[*]Do you receive any shift differential? 5% until 11 then 20% until 7a
[*]Are you a manager or supervisor? No
Current Job
[*]Geographic location - Michigan (lower cost of living)
[*]Pay rate $30.44
[*]In which area / specialty do you work? Peds ER level 1
[*]What type of license do you have (RN or LPN)? RN
[*]What type of degree and/or certification do you have? ADN, BLS, PALS, ACLS, TNCC & ENPC
[*]How many years of experience do you have? 6
[*]Are you full-time, part-time, or casual / per diem / PRN status? Full time - 40 hrs 2 12hr shifts and 2 8 hr shifts a week, makes OT attainable now lol
[*]What shift do you work? 7p-7a the first year now 11a-11p & 11a-7p
[*]Do you receive any shift differential? 1$ per hour nights was 1.50 and we also get quarterly and yearly bonuses
[*]Are you a manager or supervisor? No
And if you do not want to provide any salary information, thats perfectly fine, too. Thanks!
I work for one of the two hospitals in Joplin, MO. I have worked at both, so I am familiar with pay at both facilities. The Joplin area is terrible when it comes to nursing wages. We have so many nursing schools nearby that we don't have any real shortage, but because of this, both hospitals pay very low wages. I know nurses that are making less than 19.00/hour at Freeman Hospital (which has the lower wages of the two hospitals in Joplin). I have lived in several states prior to coming here after my marriage and this area has some of the lowest wages I have made in my nursing career. I have been an RN for 13 years, and a tech for 16 years before that. I am now making what I made 10 YEARS AGO in another mid western state. It is so bad, and not bound to get much better, that I am considering changing careers. My husband works at a factory job and makes a couple $ an hour more than I do! Plus he has only been there a few years! I have a kid in college and more graduating in the next few years and can't afford to help them with school on these low wages.
Pay rate: $43.69 + $2.76 evening differential + $1200/yr for certification + nursing experience (don't know what it is yet)
In which area / specialty do you work? Operating Room
What type of license do you have (RN or LPN)? RN
What type of degree and/or certification do you have? MSN, CNOR
How many years of experience do you have? 7.5 nursing 4.5 surgical tech
Are you full-time, part-time, or casual / per diem / PRN status? Full Time
What shift do you work? off shift 12p-8p
Do you receive any shift differential? see above
Are you a manager or supervisor? No.
I haven't started working yet as I was just offered the job. When in NC, I was making $32.50/hr including shift dif. NY's work week is 37.5 hrs and NC is 40 hours...
ZooMommyRN, ADN, RN
913 Posts
First Job
[*]Geographic location - Florida
[*]Pay rate 20.80$
[*]In which area / specialty do you work? Med/surg, ICU & ER
[*]What type of license do you have (RN or LPN)? RN
[*]What type of degree and/or certification do you have? ADN, BLS, PALS, ACLS, TNCC & ENPC
[*]How many years of experience do you have? 4 when I left
[*]Are you full-time, part-time, or casual / per diem / PRN status? Full time 7 nights per pay period
[*]What shift do you work? 7p-7a
[*]Do you receive any shift differential? 5% until 11 then 20% until 7a
[*]Are you a manager or supervisor? No
Current Job
[*]Geographic location - Michigan (lower cost of living)
[*]Pay rate $30.44
[*]In which area / specialty do you work? Peds ER level 1
[*]What type of license do you have (RN or LPN)? RN
[*]What type of degree and/or certification do you have? ADN, BLS, PALS, ACLS, TNCC & ENPC
[*]How many years of experience do you have? 6
[*]Are you full-time, part-time, or casual / per diem / PRN status? Full time - 40 hrs 2 12hr shifts and 2 8 hr shifts a week, makes OT attainable now lol
[*]What shift do you work? 7p-7a the first year now 11a-11p & 11a-7p
[*]Do you receive any shift differential? 1$ per hour nights was 1.50 and we also get quarterly and yearly bonuses
[*]Are you a manager or supervisor? No
And if you do not want to provide any salary information, thats perfectly fine, too. Thanks!