Proud of hubby...but why don't nurses get this???

[jkaee]

My husband works for a large insurance company in Philadelphia. He had his annual review recently, and his boss told him that he was the best hire they had all year....gave him "exceeds achievments" in all areas of the review.....so he got a 7% raise plus a $1,000 bonus. All for being an excellent employee. Plus, he's studying to begin taking his Actuary exams in May, so his boss is going to start training him in the dept. he would like to get into eventually.

My point is not to brag (although I am very proud of him) but it's to question why nurses aren't treated this well. Why don't we get bonuses when we do a great job? Heck, we aren't even told half the time that we're appreciated, much less get compensated monetarily for it! It seems were never doing enough, always have to improve, give more time....and for what? Do more that your job requires, stay late, let us cut your overtime pay, etc etc.

I'm happy where I'm at right now, and admin does try to thank people when they do a good job, but after hearing about what my husband got, I'm wondering if it's enough.

Any thoughts? What does your facility do to compensate you for being a good employee?

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

Most places I've worked one's performance review determines what percentage raise one gets. With the lowest raises being like 2% (if one's ratings too low for this raise one was on probation) and the highest being something like 5%. I thought it wasn't too bad compared to the way some teachers got raises (only after debating with city counsel for a ocuple of years). As far as bonuses the closest I've ever seen is something like profit sharing where a check was given if the department met financial goals. But that's usually something like $200-400, not a grand.

Of course if one is willing to change jobs every year or two and shop around one can pick up some nice sign-on bonuses in this area. Just remember, there's a reason those positions they are trying to fill so desperately are empty!!