Scheduling and weekends...what works?

[lizzieB05]

OK. So my unit is attempting to remedy our scheduling problems. We self schedule at the moment and it is all on a grid. The problem is that people pick what they want to work and most of the time several shifts are overstaffed and some are understaffed. We are supposed to schedule ourselves for one weekend day per month but a lot of people dont. So, our supervisor is thinking about having set weekends....dont think it will work. How do other hospitals deal with this and what works for you guys? Any tips on keeping it as painless as possible when the schedule does come out? Thanks for the input.

[nursynursenursenurse]

Our unit is self-scheduled, and we run into this. I no longer worry about it, because at this point, I'm doing a dedicated schedule of the same days each week. However, when I was doing the self-scheduling for full-time, I'd get so frustrated because we'd do it in three rotating groups. So you're assigned group A,B, or C, and it rotated which order the groups signed up in. And when I was in the last group, I'd ALWAYS sign up for whatever days were most short-staffed first, whether that was my first choice or not. Then I thought when I was in the first group to sign up, I should have my choice....didn't happen!!! People just signed up for whatever happened, and if the manager saw that things weren't evenly staffed, they'd ask everyone to pitch on by changing say, one, of the shifts they were signed up for, regardless of their sign-up group, to "share the wealth" rather than making one person change everything.....so basically, no repercussions for signing up for whatever you want, and you got screwed if you followed the rules....SO frustrating (sorry post is so long).

I'd ask the managers to do something like this, so not everyone can sign up at once, and everyone takes their turns getting their choice shifts or the leftovers (you can always switch with others). The catch is mgmt. has to pay attention so no one is abusing the system.

[imanedrn]

My unit requires 3 weekend shifts per month - because no one wants them. To make matters worse, Sundays are the hardest to staff, so if you don't volunteer for one, you risk being assigned to one. (I used to spend every Sunday with my family - the only day of the week with them, actually. Once I started working there and realized I couldn't be guaranteed every Saturday, I just signed myself up for every Sunday and asked for every Saturday off. That way, I'm giving them ALL Sundays - and an extra one to boot!) I think it's lame to require this of adults, but - clearly - there's a need for it.

As for the schedule in general, we write on a grid our requested days on/off or PTO. The charge nurse(s) then review the bid sheet and create a schedule.

If there are any problems after that, we have to take it up with them to make changes.

Seems to work pretty well...

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

I worked on a unit that did self-scheduling and it worked very well. We had certain rules, though, and if you did not abide by the rules, you had to take what you got. For example, one rule was X number of nurses per shift. If you were X+1 to sign up for the shift, you got moved. If there were days you COULD NOT work (or just really needed off), you could make a note for the schedulers in the margin and they would do their best if you had to be moved to not move you to those days. Full-time staff got to sign up the first week that the schedule grid was out and part-time and PRN got the schedule the following week (because their weekend/holiday requirements were less, for part-time, and there was no requirement for PRN). Full timers had to work 4/8 weekend shifts. If FT staff did not sign up for 4 weekend shifts, they would be added to weekend shifts to make their total 4 - again, best to follow the rules if you want some say over when you work. I'm not sure how the holidays worked, since I was PRN and did not work holidays, but I think they alternated the holidays from year to year.

It worked out very well and people usually got what they wanted.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

In my area, many of the facilities solve their weekend staffing woes by way of the Baylor Plan. I actually worked 16-hour weekend Baylor shifts for 2 years, and now I am working 12 hour weekend Baylors at another facility. Facilities in my area that offer this type of set scheduling tend to have very low employee turnover on weekends, because the people who work the Baylor Plan usually remain in that weekend spot for years.

The 12-hour Baylor Plan involves working two 12 hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday. Even though the employees only work 24 hours over the weekend, the facility pays them for 32 hours, considers them full-time status, pays them benefits, and enables them to have 5 days off in a row.

The 16-hour Baylor Plan involves working two 16 hour double shifts on Saturday and Sunday. Although the employees work 32 hours during the weekend, they're paid for a 40 hour week, are made full-time status, are made eligible for benefits, and have 5 days off in a row every week.