PTO use

Davey Do · Dec 1, 2017

Hi sadpandaRN! Welcome to AN.com!

I work weekends only, 12 hour shifts Fri-Sat-Sun, and I don't make enough PTO in a year to be able to take more than two weekends off.

It doesn't seem like much, but I get paid time and a half over my base pay rate, so I'm okay with it.

sadpandaRN · Dec 1, 2017

Hi Davey Do,

Thanks for your input! We have a few working moms that offered to work weekends only (thurs-sun) and our hospital declined. I think this would have helped staff weekends tremendously. Are you on a baylor plan?

cleback · Dec 1, 2017

My workplace limits 8 hr staff to one weekend per year. And 12 hr staff get no weekends per year.

Your policy sounds pretty generous.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Dec 1, 2017

Agree- the policy you describe is generous.

BeckyESRN · Dec 1, 2017

When I worked at the hospital, you were able to take the weekend before and after your vacation off, but you had to make it up within 1 month. You were not able to request off any additional weekends and if you called off on a weekend, you had to make it up within 1 month- regardless of schedule, for every week beyond 1 month that you did not make-up that day, they added an additional weekend day to your make-up list

klone, MSN, RN · Dec 1, 2017

Hi all,
New to this forum and I wanted to get a general consensus. I worked at a busy city hospital for the last two years and now I work at a smaller, community hospital. My new workplace dictates that we are only allowed to request off up to 4 weekends a year (and we work every other weekend). I think this is a little restrictive. Does your workplace have policies about how and when to use pto?

So basically, you have every other weekend off, plus you can have up to FOUR of your scheduled weekends off each year as well, in order to accommodate longer vacations, the occasional event that gets scheduled on your working weekend, etc. I think that's entirely reasonable.

Editorial Team / Admin · Dec 2, 2017

So basically, you have every other weekend off, plus you can have up to FOUR of your scheduled weekends off each year as well, in order to accommodate longer vacations, the occasional event that gets scheduled on your working weekend, etc. I think that's entirely reasonable.

Very generous, not just reasonable. In my experience (healthcare employer or not), if it was your weekend to work, you were scheduled. If you had plans, it was your responsibility to work out a trade with coworkers that wouldn't lead to someone getting overtime.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Dec 2, 2017

When I worked in the hospital, we weren't allowed to "request" any weekends off per year. We worked every 3rd weekend and, if you needed one of your scheduled weekends off, it was your responsibility to find someone to switch weekends with you. If you were getting married and your wedding was on your weekend, you had to find someone to switch with you.

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Dec 2, 2017

If you need another weekend off, I suggest you look to switch with your coworkers.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Dec 2, 2017

Wow, 4 scheduled weekends a year off? That's an extremely generous policy. We get one if employed less than 3 years and 2 if employed longer than 3 years. If we want/need more than that we are expected to find our own replacement for the time off.

brillohead, ADN, RN · Dec 2, 2017

The hospital I work at requires you to work every other weekend, plus you can use PTO for up to five additional weekends. However, the PTO has to be for the whole weekend -- it can't be split up into ten half-weekends.

In my case, I work nights so Friday night and Saturday night count as my weekend. If I had a concert or some kind of event to attend on a Saturday night, and I requested PTO for that night, I would only have four more weekend requests available, even if I worked my Friday night that weekend.

So I end up with 26 weekends off per year, plus I can use PTO for five additional weekends if I need to. If it's something that I'm doing myself, I just plan it for the weekend that I'll be off. But sometimes things come up that I can't determine the timing of.... weddings, birthdays, concerts, etc.

Most of the time, though, people are able to just work it out by switching with a coworker, which doesn't count against your PTO balance or against your number of weekends requested off for the year. Most people on my unit have a couple of "switch buddies" on the alternate week -- people who are willing to switch when you need it in exchange for you switching with them when they need it. It's very rare that there isn't someone willing to switch in exchange for you doing the same for them down the road.