Staff RN's earn more than Nurse Manager?!

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Eventually I'd like to get my BSN and become a Nurse manager after working a few years. However, it seems as if Nurse mangers may at times earn less than the staff RN, due to the fact that Staff RN get overtime, etc, whereas Mangers are salaried. It doesn't seem fair and worth all the extra effort. I'd like to know, do staff RN's who work overtime, weekends, etc end up earning more than their Managers? I live in IL, by the way.

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

Are you a manager?

*** I used to be an assistant manager. Currently a charge nurse.

Why would you say it is reasonable to expect a manager to cover a short staffed unit to make up for "their failure to properly staff".

*** Because it is.

You must be kidding !! There are call-offs, FMLA's, that all cause short staffing. These are not the failure of a manager.

*** My current nurse manager has a large pool of casual RNs who can be called on when needed. In addition he took time to train several of the float pool nurses (volunteers) to float to SICU. He also lobbied hard and was a key player in starting the nurse residency program. He also instituted a "high census premium". $20/hour for unit nurses who are willing to come in on overtime when we really need them. As a result we are almost never short staffed. On those rare occasions we are and can't he, or the assistant NM come in and cover. Doesn't happen very often. I can think of maybe once or twice a year, usually just for 4 hours.

The only time our managers would work off hours if it was virtually impossible to bring in some one overtime or pull from other units or keep the census down.

*** That is the only time I would expect a NM to come in. We are the only trauma center and tertiary care hospital for hundreds of miles around. We simply can't close the unit.

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PMFB-RN in my area the hospitals do not have the luxury of a "lg pool of casual RN's " At my facility we do not have "float nurses" I wish we did. Actually, we do not have any of the privileges your manager does. You are very fortunate to have this.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
PMFB-RN in my area the hospitals do not have the luxury of a "lg pool of casual RN's " At my facility we do not have "float nurses" I wish we did. Actually, we do not have any of the privileges your manager does. You are very fortunate to have this.

*** Neither did we until our current manager implemented them.

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Specializes in ICU.

I am reviving this thread a little if I could. I went from staff nurse to manager. Manager at a different facility, it's an LTACH. Different than a hospital. I get paid much more than as a staff nurse (I was under 5 years as a staff nurse and the hospital didn't pay well) However, I am earning my money, let me tell you. I do have off 8 holidays. But during snow, i am expected ot be there. i stay well past my 8 hours with no OT. i have only been a manager 3 weeks and have been called or texted or something EVERY weekend and multiple times. I was thrown into the fire without any sort of proper orientation and we had a big incident at work, and my boss wasn't there that day, no charge, and I was left with 8million issues and situations to control almost on my own.

I was bringing my daughter to see Dinsey on Ice last weekend and right before going out the door I am getting called that staff didn't show up.

So, managers do not have it easy. Staff nurses get to leave their work at work, managers take it home. And for the manager who get paid less than staff nurses, I feel for you.

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You truly do earn your money. I get called at least once/day after I leave work for something. When I take vacation, though, I don't bring my phone, check my email, nothing. I love my job but it is taxing at times. We also have to report for snow but I can come in "when I can" as I live an hour away. It is snowing here and I will leave tomorrow morning around 10 to get to work. There are perks, though the $ isn't one of them. You have to have a balance between work and life and you will find that. My first few months I would go in whenever we were short to try and help out; that only lasted so long. I have 2 kids, am a single mom and am in school. I will make staffing calls, we could cap the admissions, but I'm not driving an hour back to work to help anymore. This is a great forum, keep coming back. I've gotten a lot of support here!

I am reviving this thread a little if I could. I went from staff nurse to manager. Manager at a different facility, it's an LTACH. Different than a hospital. I get paid much more than as a staff nurse (I was under 5 years as a staff nurse and the hospital didn't pay well) However, I am earning my money, let me tell you. I do have off 8 holidays. But during snow, i am expected ot be there. i stay well past my 8 hours with no OT. i have only been a manager 3 weeks and have been called or texted or something EVERY weekend and multiple times. I was thrown into the fire without any sort of proper orientation and we had a big incident at work, and my boss wasn't there that day, no charge, and I was left with 8million issues and situations to control almost on my own.

I was bringing my daughter to see Dinsey on Ice last weekend and right before going out the door I am getting called that staff didn't show up.

So, managers do not have it easy. Staff nurses get to leave their work at work, managers take it home. And for the manager who get paid less than staff nurses, I feel for you.

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If it helps, many (maybe most) MLB players make more than their managers. :)

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This is not exclusive to nursing everyone. I worked in a restaurant in college where the manager made ~$50,000/yr but ended up working 65 hrs/wk to cover people. Most of us were part-time wage, but if we had worked full-time we probably would have made more.

A lot of the problems I hear on this board aren't a nursing specific problem, rather a microcosm of the working world.

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EXPERIENCED STAFF NURSES MAKE MORE $$$ THAN NURSE MANAGERS!!!

If you're looking

to make the big bucks

Go for top level management positions

(Associate/Assistant Director of Nursing/Dept Head, Director of Nursing). :nurse:

Or else you will burn out

like so many

Nurse Managers do. :banghead:

Top level management? Wouldn't this require you to be a lower level manager before jumping to the top level?

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