Staffing/Hiring: Am I dreaming or is this common practice?

[estrogen]

So I come in for NOC shift last night, after a four day weekend and marching in comes a nurse that I have never seen in my life and I have never heard of either. "I'm supposed to orient with you tonight".... "Oh," I say, "pleasure to meet you. How nice! And wich shift are you going to be working?" She says "Night shift, Monday through Friday." My jaw kind of dropped a little. I work Tuesday trhough Thursday and another nurse works Friday through Sunday. The only day they had problem staffing lately was Monday! I have not received a phone call about wether I would be willing - say - change my schedule or re-locate to a different wing. :uhoh21: The only phone calls I receive were as to wether I would pick up and cover extra shifts that they have trouble staffing. They know, as I very politely explained to them on several occasions - and as a matter of fact, when they hired me as well - that I cannot generally pick up additional shifts above our initial agreement, since I have two small children and especially on short notice day care is an issue. I also told them however, that I am willing to accomodate their needs as much as my private life allows, and offered them to talk to me at any time about shifting my work days around, if that would help the staffing planning.

Needless to say, the poor orientee was very distraught about the whole thing. She was saying that the last thing she wants to do is to bump a colleague. It was overall a very awkward and unpleasant situation.

People are quitting all the time here and I'm suspecting that they have trouble hiring new ones (which is probably common these days with the shortage - at least in my state). So I'm suspecting that they just promissed this new nurse anything, just to get her in the door, in hopes that she'll adjust to wathever they need to do with her at the end. Or could it be that they are planning to dump me (or bump me) for someone who is willing to work five days a week? Would that even be legally justifyable? I asked other nurses who've been there for a year or two and they said that they never seen or heard of such a thing and that they didn't think that that was legal... I've worked there for almost three months now, I have never called in sick, I am not aware on any complaints, overall I had the impression that I'm well liked by all and doing a satisfactory job... This all makes me nervous, and also it makes me feel kind of insulted. I mean, I'm not that hard to talk to and I am willing to listen and work with you.... At least you could give me the curtesy of a heads up and spare me the anxiety and the awkward situation with the orientee.

So my question is, is this normal? Have you ever experienced something similar? Do I have to worry?

[mediatix8]

I can't see how they would be that unusually cruel to decide to pair your replacement up with you, of all people, as her preceptor. Why not just pair her up with someone else. I'm sure there's some kind of misunderstanding here.

[estrogen]

I can't see how they would be that unusually cruel to decide to pair your replacement up with you, of all people, as her preceptor. Why not just pair her up with someone else. I'm sure there's some kind of misunderstanding here.

well the reason that she had to be with me is that at night there's only one nurse on the Long Term Care side of the building... I wouldn't call it cruel, I would call it ruthless and dumb:madface:

[military spouse]

I wouldn't trust the DNS a bit! But, that being said, I would remind the DNS of how people have a tendency to not work out and that you have been very reliable. Do you have options ? Are there other places to work? I just wouldn't trust somebody that is willing to mess with other's schedules that way.

[estrogen]

well the reason that she had to be with me is that at night there's only one nurse on the Long Term Care side of the building... I wouldn't call it cruel, I would call it ruthless and dumb:madface:

However, to be fair, she did appologize though....

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

You have been wishy-washy about your needs in order to be flexible for the manager. Perhaps she is thinking she can pretty much plug you in anywhere so she is giving the new gal whatever she wants in order to get her in. If you were to tell her "this is what I need and want", and "this will not work for me" on very clear terms then she would know the limits. I really get a sense that right now she thinks anything goes, and that part of her thinking that is your fault.

I have to disagree with this opinion. Let's not forget that the only way Estrogen found out about this orientee is when she showed up to work with her and told her she was to be orienting with her. It is just not good employee relations for a manager to step all over her regular staff to make way for a newbie who has not demonstrated her loyalty or worth to the company yet. There is no way the DNS could have determined whether this new nurse was going to work out based on her interview and review of her application alone. How is a person supposed to feel if they discover, from another source, that they might be training their replacement? That is such a metaphorical slap in the face. I wouldn't like it one bit if I was called in to the manager and told that another nurse was hired to work in my position and I had a choice to change my regular work schedule which I had already negotiated when I was hired on or be moved to another unit. I'd be damn mad. It may technically be something the manager could do, but it is a very foolish business decision to make, especially in light of the fact that it seems as if the facility has difficulty keeping employees on. Nobody wants to be "pretty much plugged in anywhere" if they hired on with the distinct impression that they were working a certain unit, on a certain shift. I think this DNS opened a big can of worms for herself. Her decision making leaves a lot to be desired. I think the OP has more than bent over backwards to be accomodating and has, in effect, had her position and status in the facility attacked without provocation. Were it me, I would feel I was being forced to do just about anything within reason to please this manager so I could keep my job. But, wishy-washy? No. The decisions about Estrogen's work days and work hours was discussed and worked out when she was orginally hired.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Daytonite,

that is exactly what I meant. I would have contacted the manager right away and asked what was going on. Then I would have stated that it is my schedule, and here are the acceptable alternatives. That would have been it. Direct, to the point, lay it on the line. I just feel that Estrogen needs to be clearer with the management. In her attempt to be helpful and flexible she is enabling them to walk all over here. She needs to be very clear so there are no misunderstandings. They need to know that her flexibility has limits. I totally feel the manager was wrong to do this, but really have a sense she is doing it because Estogen has been a little too flexible and accomodating.

[dian57]

This situation was handled badly from the onset. Feelings of betrayal and loss of confidence in management could have been avoided with a simple phone call to Estrogen or even a note explaining the plan.

In her shoes, I would have problems trusting management from now on. Estrogen, be assertive in stating your employment needs. There are plenty of positions available in LTC.

[estrogen]

This situation was handled badly from the onset. Feelings of betrayal and loss of confidence in management could have been avoided with a simple phone call to Estrogen or even a note explaining the plan.

In her shoes, I would have problems trusting management from now on. Estrogen, be assertive in stating your employment needs. There are plenty of positions available in LTC.

You are absolutely right! I am trying to be very mature about this, but something happened between me and management and now the relationship is completely changed. I don't trust them anymore. All of a sudden, anything they say I take with scepticism (sp?), I'm allways doubting if what they are telling me is really the truth. Like last Friday for instance, I oriented another guy - suppodedly LPN to be on call and on weekend nights (I don't work weekends) on my new run in the sub accute unit. This time they informed me ahead of time and sure, I'm pretty confident that everything is as they say, but all of a sudden, I'm also kind of cautious and telling myself "Who knows what this guy is really going to end up doing..." Paranoid? Yeah, it is...

Also, eventhough I'm not making plans to leave this facility, I find myself compelled to read the Sunday paper's health care job classifieds again....

And all of this could have been avoided