Question regarding overtime

Nurses General Nursing

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So, I have a question regarding picking up overtime and the whole shift differentials thing. Is it actually true that you can potentially double your starting salary by doing that?

I ask because I’m a little bit suspicious with the whole taxes thing. I’ve never had a job that allowed for overtime so am a little bit naive.

Can you basically double your salary by picking up 20 extra hours each week?

And does this explain the huge discrepancy you see when people in the same city post their take home salary?

Any information much appreciated.

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Specializes in Adult and pediatric emergency and critical care.

Depending on the shift incentives I've earned three times by base pay before on extra shifts. It just depends on what your employer is willing to pay.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatrics, Wound Care.

Salary variations happen for many reasons. Overtime is one of them. Shift choice is another (night shift often has differentials, as do many weekends). Full-time benefited employee vs Per-Diem/Float Pool (pays more $, no bennies). New Grads vs multiple Years of experience. Some places pay more for certifications. And, yeah, picking up an extra shift is already 1/3 more plus overtime and bonuses.

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But don’t pick up THAT much, you’ll burn yourself out, especially as a new grad.

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Specializes in Mental Health.
23 hours ago, Hopefulnurse1823 said:

I ask because I’m a little bit suspicious with the whole taxes thing.

First time you get an adult paycheck and see the tax line makes a lot of people rethink their political beliefs pretty quickly ?

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Depends on several factors. When I worked the ED, I got bonus ($150/12 hour shift) in additional to double time - that was worth it while I needed to earn the extra money. However, not doable (at least for me) in the long term.
I would do it for a month or so then slide back to my 3 12's.

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Specializes in Hospice Home Care and Inpatient.

When I use to pick up overtime, I learned pretty quickly that a lot of it gets gobbled up in taxes if you are picking up entire shifts. However 8 hrs here, 4 hours there seemed to be well worth it.

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Specializes in Burn ICU.

If you pick up one overtime shift per pay period where I work, it's worth it financially. Anything more than that and it gets eaten up in taxes. If you pick up extra hours somewhere else, you don't get it taken out in taxes then but it may put you in a different tax bracket come Tax season and you may end up owing money, depending on how much more you make.

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2 hours ago, poopylala said:

If you pick up one overtime shift per pay period where I work, it's worth it financially. Anything more than that and it gets eaten up in taxes. If you pick up extra hours somewhere else, you don't get it taken out in taxes then but it may put you in a different tax bracket come Tax season and you may end up owing money, depending on how much more you make.

Yeah, I did this one year. Worked my tail off, didn’t see a huge difference in my take home check for how I felt after all the work-and got the extra kick in the *** when I found out that we OWED another $1000 to IRS and had originally not claimed our child or married on Our w2s! It just wasn’t worth the decreased quality of life.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Keep in mind that you may not pocket as much extra money from OT as you'd hope thanks to taxes. Either you'll get less than you planned in that next paycheck, or you'll find yourself in a new tax bracket in April.

So while an OT shift now and then isn't a bad idea, I wouldn't try to pick up 20 hours of OT a week as while you could potentially double your gross salary, you're not really going to double your net salary.

Also, please do not fall into the trap of relying on OT to make ends meet. Too often, I see people both here and IRL who are upset when the OT has dried up because that's what they were counting on to pay their bills. OT should be an extra addition to your budget, not the basis of it.

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Thanks for all the replies. It seems like it’s one of those things that will depend on a lot of internal situations within the hospital. Good call on the tax bracket thing.

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One's entire income does not go into a new tax bracket. Never did. The marginal income does.

The increments are quite gradual. It isn't like making 100k is great, but the person making 120k is a fool for paying all those taxes. It doesn't work like that.

Whether or not that is worth it to you is a very fine line.

There is not any magic point in the income bracket where working extra isn't worth it.

All that being said, I will compare working extra to earn more money to exercising more to be able to eat more calories.

At some point, exercising makes you hungrier. And working makes you want more stuff.

That is my experience and opinion only. Food for thought.

Also please look closely at your check, and see how much of the deductions are federal income tax. You might be surprised.

I do quite well, I am in the top 5% of NPs income wise, have no deductions of any kind, don't have any special secrets or the services of a CPA, yet I only paid about 17% of my income in federal taxes last year.

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