Per Dium Employees

Tweety, BSN, RN · Nov 21, 2003

One place I worked at a lot of weekend-option workers and we only had t work one weekend a month.

My current job did away with weekend workers, but are brining them back.

My manager tends to agree with you, if there are enough people who want to work weekends, let the fulltime staff have the weekends off.

I am going to get a schedule starting soon that gives me every weekend off, because one of the charge nurses wants to work weekends for childcare issues.

How do you decide though which FT worker gets weekends off? Could get ugly.

I see your point, if the weekends are covered, let people have the weekend off. That's the point, to hire people and pay them a premium to work undesirable shifts. Why is your institution paying that premium to have shortages during the week?

Good luck trying to get them to "see the light".

SmilingBluEyes · Nov 21, 2003

well if perdiem have it so good (and I DOUBT they make TWICE as much) why not go perdiem yourself?

I did. And we EARN that differential, hon. And it is NOT 50% but 15% where I am. Tell me where YOU are so I can make "twice as much" as regular staff do.....

or get the facts maybe. I hate seeing perdiem people maligned ...and it happens a lot. WE CHOOSE this for a REASON...its like Travelers or Agency nurses, instead of complaining how much they make ...thinking their grass is greener, try THEIR pastures and see for yourself. But check first, cause they EARN it, too.:)

Katnip, RN · Nov 21, 2003

Our hospital has staff that choose weekend options. They are paid for a full 36-hour work week. They have 3 weekends off a year. It may be more since we're fiddling with benefits.

Weekenders either have a set schedule or they do their schedules per scheduling periods, depending on their unit.

When there are holes to fill in either the weekday or weekend schedules, the fulltimers get first choice. I believe this includes weekenders. Then the per diems or in-house agency workers, then anything left is outside agency.

When census is too low or staffing too high, it goes in reverse order...outside agencies sent home first, then internal agency and per diems, then fulltimers. There's also a protocol for the fulltimers...those who are doing overtime go home first, etc.

Per diem employees in most hospitals are used on a PRN basis, therefore, they're usually the ones who are sent home before fulltimers.

USA987, MSN, RN, NP · Nov 21, 2003

Where I use to work we had people who were considered "weekenders"...worked Fri, Sat, Sun...received an extra $8.00/hr. for commiting to 11 out of 12 weekends. They were NOT classified as per diem at our facility. Regular weekday people were required to do one weekend per 6 week schedule and received absolutely NO weekend differential. Our facility called off weekday staff 1st on the weekend because they felt it would make us "happier" because we weren't getting paid extra to be there....

Tweety, BSN, RN · Nov 21, 2003

Deb, our weekender and per diem make about 8 to 10 more than staff. The weekends I believe do get benefits, but per diems don't. I certainly don't complain because, I wouldn't work every weekend, and I need my benefits. But if I did complain, then I would certainly have the option of doing it myself. :)

Pamela_g_c, one more thing. Our management does the same thing when it comes to cancelling and sending people home. The per diems go home first because the not only cost more, but they don't get paid when they don't work. One of the risks of per diem at our hospital, no work-no pay. Staff can be sent home and take personal time to make up for it.

jemb · Nov 21, 2003

Per diem employee contracts vary from facility to facility. Some have to commit to some or all weekends, some don't, but most are paid 20-25 % above comparable benefitted employees' wages. Per diems have no benefits and no guaranteed hours even though they may be required to make themselves available on certain days.

Per diems are almost always the first to be cancelled in cases of low census or overstaffing (like that one happens a lot!) for several reasons, not just the hourly wage. If a ft or pt employee is called off, that person is likely to take a sick day or vacation day to make up for the loss in hours, so extra money is spent instead of saved. Also, benefits are still being accrued and paid for the regular employees whether or not they work that day.

Holidays are generally the only exception to the above. Most facilties will keep per diem staff on a holiday if the regular staff wants the day off. The time and a half or double pay allotted regular staff plus the alternate day off granted in most places is more expensive than the straight pay, or even time and a half, paid to a per diem on a holiday.

Your facility, by having weekend only per diems has even managed to eliminate the alternative of your taking a weekend day off by having a per diem agree to work the day for you, unless there are other per diems that are not already committed to the weekend shifts.

Once again, it all comes down to money...

SmilingBluEyes · Nov 21, 2003

Originally posted by 3rdShiftGuy
Deb, our weekender and per diem make about 8 to 10 more than staff. The weekends I believe do get benefits, but per diems don't. I certainly don't complain because, I wouldn't work every weekend, and I need my benefits. But if I did complain, then I would certainly have the option of doing it myself. :)

Pamela_g_c, one more thing. Our management does the same thing when it comes to cancelling and sending people home. The per diems go home first because the not only cost more, but they don't get paid when they don't work. One of the risks of per diem at our hospital, no work-no pay. Staff can be sent home and take personal time to make up for it.

well sounds like here......perdiem make a straight 15% differential in pay but NO bennies except 401k. They fill holes regulars dont' want or can't do..but one thing I love is they don't necessarily cancel ME first when low census comes to play. We all take turns....which is why they can keep me. If I were first-cancelled ALL the time, I would be gone.:)

Speculating · Nov 21, 2003

It's a great idea. You're talking about a Baylor plan, but for some reason they never seem to work out. Apparently you're short staffed. As I said your idea is good, but when things slow down and you no longer need the per diem nurses you'll have to go back to the way things were - every other weekend. Knowing a little bit about how people think, the staff would likely go ape @#$& when now all of the sudden they have to work every other weekend again. You can't give people something that valuable and then snatch it away. The staff is going to feel cheated, ripped off, and screwed... All will then march to the front office carrying torches and someone in upper management will be hung, beheaded, and burned at the stake. Even if you warn people that it will eventually go back to the way it was - it won't click. Plus, management would never commit to being forced to pay double time to staff the weekend shifts.