RN SALARY

[futurenursefl]

Hi, 

Would any be able to explain how pay works for most RNs? I've heard base pay is standard but adding extra shifts (or changing your shift time) can change your hourly rate. Would anyone be able to explain how it works? Is there a cap on this? You don't have to share exactly how much but could you include an example as well? Thanks, everyone! 

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

This is very facility dependent.

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adding extra shifts

Once you hit 40 hours for the week, it's standard to pay time and a half. Some facilities in time of dire need may pay a bonus for picking up shifts. For example, mine pays a $50 bonus for picking up a 4 hour block. That bonus, however, has been a quadruple bonus ($200 to pick up a shift) ever since COVID because of the need for staff. This is on top of regular pay or time and a half OT pay if over 40 hours for the week.

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changing your shift time

Many facilities also offer a "shift differential" as compensation for working less desirable shifts. It could be a flat amount or a percentage of your base pay. I don't know what my current employer pays because I'm salary and not hourly, but my previous employer paid a 10% evening (3p-11p) differential and a 15% night (11p-7a) differential.

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So let's look at the math for my experiences:

Nurse X, who makes $30/hour, works a 1.0 FTE, meaning 40 hours per week on day shift. She decides to pick up an extra 4 hour block at quadruple bonus. This will put her at 44 hours for the week. Because the 4 hour block is 3pm to 7pm, she'll also make the 10% shift differential for those 4 hours. 

So just on top of her regular pay check, she will get:

$120 base pay
$200 bonus for picking up extra time
$60 in overtime (0.5x4x30)
$12 in evening shift differential (10%x4x30)

So just from an extra 4 hours of work, she made an extra $392 on top of her normal paycheck. Imagine what someone who works 12s and picks up an entire 12 hour shift would get- 8 hours OT (because 12 hours x3 is only 36, so need 4 more before OT kicks in), $600 in bonus ($200 at quad bonus per 4 hour block for 3 blocks), plus any shift differential. So yeah, in times of staffing crisis like this, nurses can make bank. 

[Googlenurse, ASN, BSN, RN]

Many of my jobs in nursing did not offer stacked pay.

An example: I make $40/hour. 

Say for instance I worked on a holiday, which is already double time($80/hour) . It just so happens that it also overtime for me. You would think I would make $120/ hour. But no, it wasn’t allowed at any of the facilities  I worked at. 

[FiremedicMike, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

So my hospital has a pay sheet with various incentive amounts spelled out (nights, weekends, holidays) and also lists the flat incentive they use to bribe us to pick up shifts.  Currently this is $20 per hour for LPN and $25 for RN, so they'll send out a page "need RN coverage tomorrow, incentive eligible" meaning if I pick up, I'll make $25/hr on top of my base rate.  Sometimes they offer double incentive.

The latest thing they did was an incentive program to get nurses to work more.  The deal is, if you work 4 12's per week instead of 3, they pay you your incentive rate for ALL hours worked in that pay period, and you're obviously in OT ever week, plus night shift, weekend, holiday pay, etc.  The nurses doing this are raking in the bucks, but are also incredibly burnt out.

 

Ironically, they literally just sent out for double stack tomorrow night and single incentive for tomorrow day, LOL

 

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

No matter where you work, you'll start out with an hourly base pay and then make an hourly bonus (called a shift differential or shift diff) on top for working nights, weekends or both. This is almost always the case no matter what is going on with staffing. Usually night diff and weekend diff fall in the $3-6 per hour range each, but I've seen as high as $12-15. At most places if you work a weekend night, you get both the night and the weekend diff.

In addition, if your unit is short-staffed, you might get some kind of an incentive for coming in--maybe it's a lump sum bonus per shift, or maybe it's an extra amount per hour. These incentives are insanely high right now with the crazy turnover and travel nurse rates, but they're not guaranteed to stay. It is also important to note that these incentives don't count toward your regular hours; it's only hours that you work in addition to your regular schedule. Therefore, you're going to make your regular pay for 36 hours per week (or whatever you're contracted to do), and will only make extra incentive pay after you've already surpassed that limit. It can be hard to work extra days when you're already working full time.

The actual rates vary drastically from state to state and hospital. I just left one job earning $31/hr base (benefited) with $4/hr night and $9/hr weekend diff that was offering $18/hr incentive pay for extra shifts. Therefore, if I picked up an extra shift on a weekend night, I would make $62/hr. I moved to a more expensive city and now have a job with a base of $60/hr (non-benefited) with $4/hr for nights, $4/hr for weekends, and $80/hr incentive for picking up extra night weekend shifts, so if I work an extra night weekend I make $148/hr. But like I said, who knows how long that will last...