PTO granted

[heatherrn1234]

I've been at my hospital for a few years now, but have recently changed units. My new unit is wonderful except when it comes to having PTO granted. I earn 5 weeks a year, but I can't use it because requests have to be submited a year in advance. There is only 1 nurse allowed off per shift per day. There are longtime employees that take entire months off leaving the others out of luck. I've been told that you must request at midnight one year in advance to get it. The rest of the nurses scramble to have per diems cover their shifts. We are a union facility. Does this seem standard or like an unfair policy to anyone else?

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

This is ridiculous.

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

Completely unfair. Now, I have seen many PTO requests denied but exchanged for requested day off (as in still have to work three 12s that week). Got burnt out. Went per diem for several reasons. 115 hours of PTO cashed out with conversion of employment status. I then took a vacation.

[klone, MSN, RN]

A YEAR in advance? That's positively ludicrous.

Our facility (also union) requires that PTO requests must be made on the 5th of the month of the prior month, because they require that the schedules for the entire month be posted by the 10th of the prior month. The exception to that is summer vacation requests (defined as June-September), which must be submitted by mid-April.

[Sour Lemon]

I could see one year in advance for guaranteed acceptance, but in every case?...like they'll just refuse you if there's no problem and you requested eleven months in advance?

I rarely see PTO requests handled well, but that's extreme. And from what I've observed, people who don't get their vacations approved just go anyway and start a new job when they come back. It's easy enough to do in most cases.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I could see one year in advance for guaranteed acceptance, but in every case?...like they'll just refuse you if there's no problem and you requested eleven months in advance?

I rarely see PTO requests handled well, but that's extreme. And from what I've observed, people who don't get their vacations approved just go anyway and start a new job when they come back. It's easy enough to do in most cases.

This (bolded) has been my plan more than once. A few years back, I booked a 2 week trip to Africa months in advance and it cost a few thousand dollars. My boss at the time knew about it but this particular company didn't have much of a process for handling PTO requests. Mostly I just put my vacation on the calendar and sent out invites. Anyway, original boss left and then before new boss started, I put my vacation on the calendar and my clinical director responded "since this will greatly affect new boss, we need to talk about it." I knew right then and there that I would immediately give notice that the day before my vacation would be my last day if she tried to tell me I couldn't go. After I told my clinical director that I'd already paid for everything, she said "we'll work it out." Months later when I told new boss about this, she didn't understand why it was ever suggested that it would "greatly affect her" since another of my colleagues covered for me.

A few months later, one of my colleagues had a trip to Colombia planned. Again, it had been planned for a while but because there was no real standard for PTO amongst us clinical managers, she had arranged coverage for herself but when she put it on the calender, clinical director told her that she couldn't go because we were getting a new computer system. When she told me, I told her I'd quit over that. She didn't and rearranged her plans but ended up leaving a few months later anyway. This situation was a major factor in my decision to leave this company as well. Work-life balance is of vital importance to me and, if I don't have that, I decide to cut my losses.

[Sour Lemon]

This (bolded) has been my plan more than once. A few years back, I booked a 2 week trip to Africa months in advance and it cost a few thousand dollars. My boss at the time knew about it but this particular company didn't have much of a process for handling PTO requests. Mostly I just put my vacation on the calendar and sent out invites. Anyway, original boss left and then before new boss started, I put my vacation on the calendar and my clinical director responded "since this will greatly affect new boss, we need to talk about it." I knew right then and there that I would immediately give notice that the day before my vacation would be my last day if she tried to tell me I couldn't go. After I told my clinical director that I'd already paid for everything, she said "we'll work it out." Months later when I told new boss about this, she didn't understand why it was ever suggested that it would "greatly affect her" since another of my colleagues covered for me.

A few months later, one of my colleagues had a trip to Colombia planned. Again, it had been planned for a while but because there was no real standard for PTO amongst us clinical managers, she had arranged coverage for herself but when she put it on the calender, clinical director told her that she couldn't go because we were getting a new computer system. When she told me, I told her I'd quit over that. She didn't and rearranged her plans but ended up leaving a few months later anyway. This situation was a major factor in my decision to leave this company as well. Work-life balance is of vital importance to me and, if I don't have that, I decide to cut my losses.

Sounds about right. Employers are so worried about a nurse being gone for a few weeks that they'll drive them away forever. I don't know what makes employers think it's OK to wait to deal with PTO requests until a week before the fact.

[Irish_Mist, BSN, RN]

That's ridiculous. How do they even retain staff if they expect a year's notice for PTO? Unbelievable.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

Dang... I've gone on 6 international trips and 8 in-the-USA trips since working in healthcare. Exactly zero were planned more than a year in advance. Heck I didn't even plan my WEDDING more than a year in advance!

Do the managers deny THEMSELVES any PTO plans not made a year in advance? Do they Ernest Shackleton up and put themselves at the same AND GREATER hardships for the good of their team, as they require of that team? That's a rhetorical question...pretty sure I know the answer.

PTO is an earned benefit. It is yours. I can see like on my unit -- 2 weeks is the limit for PTO during summer, as we're a level 1 trauma center ICU and summers are typically busier; and there is a limit to how many may take off at any given time. But this policy of non-approval borders on withholding YOUR bennies.

No way in hades would I work for a company like that.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Why has your union not addressed this in their contract?

[heatherrn1234]

I think it is time to have a confidential chat with the union. I don't want to lose my new position due to the fact that I NEED vacation time that I've earned.

[Irish_Mist, BSN, RN]

But this policy of non-approval borders on withholding YOUR bennies.

I am cracking up over here! I love that you refer to benefits as bennies. I'm stealing that.