I know we are "not supposed to talk about pay"... but we all do. That being said, my hospital recently did a market analysis and raised base pay for all hospital employees. I got a small increase (50 cents I think)... However- the base pay for new grads (BSN) was also raised.
I have been at the hospital for 6 years, 3 of those an a BSN prepared nurse. I have med surg and peds experience, and currently work in ICU as charge nurse/preceptor (and have done extensive training since I started there 2 years ago). I am also pursuing my master's degree. I've always rated the highest level on my yearly evals, have never been wrote up and have called off 4 times in six years.
I recently found out that new grads are now starting out making a wage that is only 50 cents less than what I make per hour.
The big question: Am I wrong for being slightly upset about this?
I realize I will be done with school in a few years and be making double what I make now anyways.. But I cannot help but to feel like I'm getting jipped. Don't get me wrong- I do not think the new grads should be making less.. but I also have a hard time justifying that I have all this experience and am basically getting the same wage as someone who doesn't even know how to start an IV or complete an admission history assessment.
Thoughts on this? Am I just being a negative Nancy? Should I just suck it up? Or do I have a valid point here?
It's the same at my facility - we have "Clin Nurse I/II/III", which determines your pay scale (new grads are I, RNs with 2-5 years experience are II, and over 5 yrs experience is clin nurse 3), and then various raises after that also based on your experience (5-7 years, 8-10 years, 11-15, etc). But this is for new hires only. For existing employees, you do get raises when you go from I to a II, or II to a III. But once you hit Clin nurse III, you get yearly raises after that and nothing more. So once you, for example, go from 7 years experience to 8 years, you will only get your annual 1% raise. But if someone from outside the company with the exact same experience level comes in with 8 years experience, they will make more than you. And that sucks.
Edit: Just realized the last post in this topic was September of last year. Sorry for bringing an old thread back to life; it showed up in my news feed on Facebook via a nursing page that linked to it.
Then you get told you aren't supposed to talk pay and can be reprimanded either verbally or on paper, I've seen it happen more than once and they never got the raise they were asking for either.
I left my first job (which I took as a new grad) after about two years. I was in a "Registered Nurse I" position and was therefore paid on that level. Before I gave my two weeks notice they asked me if I wanted to train as Charge RN. There was no talk of me advancing to "Registered Nurse II" which would increase my pay. I started at my current position and was put on the "RN II" level right away and given the RN II base pay which was about $1.50/hr more and is now $2 more an hour since I got a raise. I am a strong believer in moving on when you outgrow your position. Loyalty is 2 years and not more. Remember: you are replaceable.
Where I work there be about a 5 to 7$ an hour difference. That's unions for you. I'd hope you'd make at least a few $ more an hour. For example, a 2% raise yearly compared to them. However many places do this. It's not uncommon for there to not be a significant difference sadly. I was told by an instructor in school that switch your job every 5 years or else your wages stagnate.
I feel your pain. I have been with my current hospital for 19 years (I hate change:-). I have been in the ER for the past 11 years, I am a clin III and serve as relief charge every Monday (ever worked in the ER on a Monday...ugh). I am a rule follower and do exactly what is expected of me by administration. I promote my hospital to friends and family. The hospital is an important part of me and my community. We are top notch and I let people know that. I am devoted to the changes we make to better our customers.
There are many nurses with less experience and less work ethic than me, many hired within the past 7 years (some within the last year), who make a significant amount more than I do. Longevity and commitment does not seem to be something hospitals care about any longer, if they did they would revamp their yearly evaluations and the way in which they give raises. Pretty much everyone in our department gets a 1% pay raise each year, whether they deserve it or not (lets face it, some people do not deserve raises). Everyone gets a raise, even those who call out monthly, come in late on a regular basis, do not round on their patients, have multiple patient complaints etc...why do they get raises? For the same reason every child on every baseball team gets a trophy..."We are all winners." Sorry folks, we are not all winners and treating everyone like they are a winner with no expectations of effort only creates poor performers.
The problem is, we seem to be at the mercy of the hospitals and I honestly do not think there are many out there that really care about their employees.
I don't know where everyone gets the idea that hospitals are some kind of altruistic organizations. They are a business selling health care. Their function is minimize costs increase returns. The Boardroom works on reaching performance initiatives for remuneration. Human Resources functions as to knowing exact cost of attracting new employees and comparing it to giving raises for retention. What adds rationality to our socioeconomic system is employees always attempting to earn the most income for themselves other wise they are volunteering for free some of their time. If you are working for less than you believe you are worth you only need to look in the mirror to lay blame, its not society's fault. Mother Theresa has left the building.
This has been a problem for every hospital or company I've ever worked for. There is no reward for loyalty. No incentive to stay with a company long term. Companies don't value their current employees as much as they should.
A nurse within the company may receive an annual 2% raise. This is just enough to keep up with the rate of inflation. An external candidate may be offered upwards of 10% more to join the company. The company feels it must be competitive when dealing with external candidates, as opposed to the employees they already have.
This type of thinking is backwards. Employee retention should be the primary focus of any forward thinking company. It is way less expensive to retain an employee, than it is to recruit, hire, and train a brand new one. Successful companies usually see things this way. Unfortunately, most hospitals don't.
I know there were several nurses who left the hospital I worked at. Only to come back a few years later, with the only goal of increasing their starting salary. This is a crazy world we live in, and hospitals need to wise up. Healthcare profit margins are getting smaller by the minute. It's time to retain experienced and well trained nurses.
Precisely why I left my last job. I have been a nurse for 19 years, 15 of those in critical care. They had the nerve to give nurses with less than 1 year experience almost the same salary I make, and almost as much as my charge nurse was making. I'm now at a union facility, that rewards years of experience.
to jvita - can you remember back some 19 years ago when you were newly hired? What was your salary THEN when compared with other more highly experienced nurses? I doubt you knew way back when.
My curiosity can go 2 ways - your wages may have been at base level for a newly graduated nurse with no experience. Or perhaps it was much closer to those senior, experienced nurses ahead of you. If it was the latter possibility, you benefitted from a system much as you described as your earlier facility.
In all my years, I've NEVER heard of any employee giving back money to the employer and explaining that s/he felt they were being OVER-compensated for being such a novice employee. Would you have done so?
There's real reasons why employers frown upon employees discussing wages ...
This happened to me about a year ago. I was 3 years in and precepting ICU at that and they were paying the girls I was orienting almost more than me! Luckily we got 2 "market" adjustments in the past 2 years so I now get paid properly (maybe a little low) but competively. I considered leaving at one point bc other hospitals were paying more, but my company I guess saw that and lost many people to other hospitals. Tough it out a little longer maybe you will get an adjustment based on your experience like I did! If not maybe go somewhere else
Yeah, unions are good for at least getting salary increases (hard to say "pay raises", since generally it is just cost of living increases, and "step increases" for years of experience). I do think there should be a bigger jump between 0 years of experience and after the 1st year.
Emagehtmai
4 Posts
It's the same at my facility - we have "Clin Nurse I/II/III", which determines your pay scale (new grads are I, RNs with 2-5 years experience are II, and over 5 yrs experience is clin nurse 3), and then various raises after that also based on your experience (5-7 years, 8-10 years, 11-15, etc). But this is for new hires only. For existing employees, you do get raises when you go from I to a II, or II to a III. But once you hit Clin nurse III, you get yearly raises after that and nothing more. So once you, for example, go from 7 years experience to 8 years, you will only get your annual 1% raise. But if someone from outside the company with the exact same experience level comes in with 8 years experience, they will make more than you. And that sucks.
Edit: Just realized the last post in this topic was September of last year. Sorry for bringing an old thread back to life; it showed up in my news feed on Facebook via a nursing page that linked to it.