PTO use

[sadpandaRN]

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?

[mushyrn, BSN, RN]

Wow, your workplaces suck - it's amazing you let them do that to you. If I have PTO I'm taking off whatever day I want to for vacation. Haha. Find someone. Bye.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

It does not matter how other facilities restrict weekend time off. It is your facility's policy. You will not be able to change that.

[sadpandaRN]

Even a trade counts against your four weekends off. I'm just wondering what the industry "norm" is. Thanks for your input.

[sadpandaRN]

This is how I feel. I came from a facility where no one dictated how my pto was used as long as there was coverage available.

[Meowzers]

I think the hospital I work for has a pretty fair way of doing it. For full time employees, you have to sign up for 6 weekend shifts (meaning a Saturday or Sunday shift) per 6 week schedule. Part time employees have to sign up for 3. You sign up for the days you wish to work, first come first served, and they black out once the RN/CNA staffing limits have been met. So you could ostensibly work Saturday and Sunday three weekends in a row, then take the next 3 for vacation or request them off or simply not schedule yourself on those days. Of course, they also give you a nice shift differential to account for having to work weekends as well.

[choughlesRN]

We can only request 1 weekend/year. But we don't have a ton of other restrictions on PTO use

[AutumnApple]

My hospital requires rotating weekends but outside of that, no restrictions. The policies don't limit weekends off per se. The policies here focus more on whose responsibility it is to find coverage if you want a weekend day off that is yours to work.

So, if it's your weekend to work and you want it off, having PTO/vacation time is of no use. You must find someone willing to cover the shift. This of course is assuming we're not talking about the vacation time you sign up to use at the start of the year.

The jest of the policies is: If you didn't request the time off as your "vacation time" at the start of the year and it's your weekend, you either find coverage or work it. But, there are no limits on how many weekends you take, provided you have someone covering.

In theory, you could work no weekends, if you had someone willing to cover all the time lol

The second part of the policies on all this goes into what happens to those who habitually call off on weekends. That's when they get rough.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Even a trade counts against your four weekends off. I'm just wondering what the industry "norm" is. Thanks for your input.

Well, that's just plain wrong. If you trade, you are still fulfilling your weekend requirement. I would have a little chat with the state labor relations board about THAT.

[sadpandaRN]

I wish we self scheduled! At my last facility we did that and it worked out quite well :)

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

I have worked under a couple different "systems":

1. You work every other weekend. There may be some "random" weekend shifts off here and there, but if you want to guarantee your weekend off, you must trade the weekend with someone on the opposite weekends.

2. The above, but with one "choice" weekend a year--in other words, you take your weekend off once per year--that way you could make a week-long vacation with the weekends off on both end.

3. I worked on a unit with a very popular weekend program, so most non weekend staff got to get most weekends off. I don't remember if we had a weekend rotation, but, since unit staffing always came first, you could end up on a random weekend day here and there. Since "regular" staff got most weekends off, most did not mind a weekend shift here and there, and we never had a problem.

Having your trades count against your weekend requests seems pretty silly--why should it matter if you get your weekend covered?

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

My place of employment doesn't grant PTO on the weekends. You have to switch weekends with someone if your vacation falls on your weekend.

I only work every third, though.

[sadpandaRN]

I wish our hospital had a "weekend program." I know a lot of people would love this. It doesn't seem to be a popular option in my neck of the woods. Thanks for your input!