Salary growth

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In your career as an LPN, how much has your salary grown over the years?

I have been an LPN since February of 2011. I first worked at a nursing home, and now work at a clinic. I make 50 cents more an hour at the clinic than I did at the nursing home, but of course there is no shift diff at the clinic.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

I'm too new to have seen much salary growth. At my hospital they gave EVERYONE a cost of living raise. RNs got 50 cents more an hour and LPNs and Medics got 75 cents more an hour. I'm also expecting a 4% raise from an Performance appraisal which will equal another 50 cent raise - largest raise i'll have ever received in my life. Sadly, I will still make just under $15.00 / hr.

though, we did get an $800 annual bonus this year that was super awesome. My first bonus, ever! and Shift diffs at the hospital are generally better than at a ECF or correctional facility like my last job.

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Cost of living raises....oh how I miss them! I was in the Air Force for 4 years, and every year we got a COL raise. It is very much needed, especially with the rising cost of gas and everything else.

Don't feel bad about the $15/hour though....that is what I make as well. It is not as much as I would like, but I have to take into account the benefits. I get free medical insurance, and we do profit sharing, which brings a bonus twice a year. Plus we get 15 days paid vacation/year and paid government holidays. For the civilian world, I guess that's not too bad.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

When I was an LVN, the only way I ever experienced any significant pay increases was through job-hopping.

I started as a charge nurse at a small nursing home in Texas on the 3-11 shift in February 2006 for $17.75 hourly. I quit to work at a nursing home close to my home for $18.50 hourly, and was earning $19.06 at the same facility approximately two years later.

I quit to work at another nursing home that offered me $23.00 per hour, so this 'job-hop' lead to a nearly $4 increase in my hourly pay. I remained at this particular nursing home for two years, and by the time I left, I was earning $27 hourly.

Many facilities offer stingy annual raises (or none at all). Job-hopping has worked for me. The key is to hang around at one facility for at least a couple of years. Do not hop to new jobs every few months, because your job history will begin to look unstable.

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Oh how I would LOVE a cost of living raise.. Shoot I would love to get a raise at all. At my current job the manager takes FOREVER to do your annual review. It is usually 3-4 months late, so you sit and wait, sit and wait, sit and wait. Salary growth.. Hmm not much around here, unless like TheCommuter you job hop.

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Specializes in hospice, HH, LTC, ER,OR.

I got my first job in May 2009 LTC nights making 14.5 plus 2.00 shift dif. The company changed hands and all new nurses came in making 18-20 hr. I went PRN to make 18 bucks plus 2.00 shift dif on weekends after 2.5 years they gave me a raise of .20 cents I quit. Why? Because it was not worth the headache anymore and I was just keeping the job for experience. I landing a hospice May 2010 making 25 hr and I also work home health at the same rate. I can pay my tuition at the local CC for my LPN-RN bridge program. Most of my LPN classmates or former coworkers still make from 13-18 bucks an hour.

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I am currently in LPN school. Just started my clinicals. YAY!! I look forward to graduating next year in July. Any advice on how to land a job in home health and hospice?

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Specializes in hospice, HH, LTC, ER,OR.

Most hospice and home health jobs in Atlanta and surrounding areas want you to have at least one year of experience. I had one year when I started with hospice(my sister was a hospice cna and I received a call from her former colleague)and I keep my nursing home job on the weekend. So sometimes it depends on who you know. I still get calls weekly because the word spreads like wild fire. With home health I just kept applying and I was hired. I just made my first year with home health.

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I went from LTC to a clinic so my salary went down considerably. You do not get huge raises at a clinic, I get one every year based on performance but I doubt it will ever be over $1 a raise, if that. Most likey, after a couple of years if I want more on the hour I will have to switch to a speciality clinic once I have more experience as a clinic nurse under my belt.

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My first job was $18/hour in a medical office, but that only lasted 5 weeks. My next job after that was a small ENT office and I started at $14/hour but that got bumped up to $14.95/hour when the manager realized she hired a new graduate (I had graduated before this person) making more than me. I left there after 2 1/2 years making $15.40/hour and got another job in a different area for an office (multiple locations of this practice) and I started at $17/hour. I left there after 2 years making $17.51/hour. I've been on interviews and the highest salary mentioned was $14/hour, the lowest was $10/hour. I turned down an interview when she said it was $12/hour with PTO and profit-sharing--no benefits. I've never had free insurance and had a job offer at $14/hour and the doctor acted like it was huge problem because he wanted to pay $11/hour for the job. I turned it down for other reasons (see my post "Was I wrong to turn down the job?") and am beginning to accept that I'll be taking a $3.50/hour pay cut from my last job.

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omg... this sounds horrible... I was making $10.30 Working as a CNA and now I have gone through 1 year of hell to make $15-18?? My friend who's a pharm tech makes more than $15.... and I was expecting at least over $20, what a bummer... this is ridiculous.

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I was on intermittent FMLA during my pregnancy due to repeated hospitalizations and home health care. My office initiated it when I was out for 3 consecutive days as per policy. I missed a total of 3 weeks in one month, all covered by the intermittent FMLA. Three months after I returned to work full-time, without missing any days or even coming in late (I even worked while wearing a subcutaneous medication pump for Zofran administration), I had my annual review. I got a 1% raise because I got low marks for my attendance. That made me so mad. I was covered by FMLA and yet it still counted against me on my review. The job before that, I got at least 3% each time.

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