There won't be any raises this year

[Manatee111]

My sister & I are both nurses in different areas of practice at different hospitals in different communities, but both of our hospitals have told us that the staff will not get raises. Is anyone one experiening this at their hospitals? I've only been a nurse for a year now sp this would have been my first raise, but I won't be getting one at all now. There is a lot of frustration at my hospital over it. Recently, over a million dollars was spent to upgrade the orthopedic unit including all single rooms, flat panel TVs, a family room with cappicino machine and granite countertops through out the unit. They've also recently revamped out court yard; ripping out existing trees & putting more benches and lamdscaping. My coworkers are angry because the is money in the budget for those things, but not to give the nurse who work so very hard a cost of living increase. Any thoughts on this subject? Anyone with similar things happening?

[Otessa, BSN, RN]

When I was hired as a new grad in 1992 I made $13/hour and guess what-even though I had stellar evals-no raise in 1993, no raise in 1994(no one else had a raise either). I'm not sure when they started to get raises again since I moved in late 1994 and got a $4 pay raise by moving to a new state 1200 miles away.

otessa

[nurse_mo1986]

Be glad. Our hospital not only did away with this years raises, they took away last years also. we're all down 3-5% depending on what your raise was last year.

[rnsrgr8t]

At my hospital,they cut the raises in 1/2 (normal 3%, now 1.5%) but they increased our insurance rates by more than 1.5% (so we all basically took a paycut) and layed off more than 250 people (across the board, nurses, administrators, aids etc). I am very thankful I have a job but it is hard. Luckily, as an APN, I do have a larger salary, so if I budget and am careful I am ok. If this had happened when I was a staff nurse, I would have been in trouble.

[Plagueis]

Please note that also, like businesses, hospitals are financially complex. Money spent to buy LCD tv's and rennovate rooms usually can NOT be spent on raises. It's not that simple, legally. Taxes and legal uses of money are tricky things.

Well, I wish hospitals and other employers could explain it to us, so that we can understand. I admit that I don't know anything about budgeting, but why don't they come out and explain exactly why it's okay to cut raises and lay off people, but still get bonuses for the CEOs and CFOs (and others higher ups), and spend lots of money on tricked-out rooms.

[Bobylon]

I believe I heard that my hospital is doling out whopping 0.5% raises this year (although, am a relatively recent grad, so don't know what "normal" raises were....) .... yet, after being laid off from 2 jobs in my previous profession before nursing school, and squeaking by on unemployment and Mrs B's salary through school, I'm thankful to have a decent job, and is only 3 miles from home :)

[mykidzmom]

i hate that we have to have the attitude of "just feel glad you have the job" on one hand--yeah--in this economy we ARE lucky--on the other hand it does always feel like us worker bees get the short end of the stick. you try to advocate for respect, to be valued as a professional, which we should do, but then there's always the "well, you could NOT have a job...." it's tricky. seems like we can't win for losin'.

[Otessa, BSN, RN]

Well, I wish hospitals and other employers could explain it to us, so that we can understand. I admit that I don't know anything about budgeting, but why don't they come out and explain exactly why it's okay to cut raises and lay off people, but still get bonuses for the CEOs and CFOs (and others higher ups), and spend lots of money on tricked-out rooms.

Those CEOs and CFOs probably have legally binding contracts that guarantee those bonuses. If I was the CEO or CFO it would be a great way to instill trust and honor if I would forgo that bonus though.....

otessa

[tclema]

Well, I wish hospitals and other employers could explain it to us, so that we can understand. I admit that I don't know anything about budgeting, but why don't they come out and explain exactly why it's okay to cut raises and lay off people, but still get bonuses for the CEOs and CFOs (and others higher ups), and spend lots of money on tricked-out rooms.

That type of open communication would be a blast! I'd love to see that, I believe if people understand why certain things are happening, they are more inclined to stick it out. If the why makes sense, that is.

[Hygiene Queen]

Funny. As soon as we heard we weren't getting raises, nobody gave a flying flip about attending inservices, being a minute late or being a "shining star". No one's eval was as good as they usually were and no one cared. Why bust your butt for nothing? As long as our pt's were cared for to the same standard, all else was just a waste of our time. Big deal. I got a perfect score. I go "above and beyond". My reward?? NO raise. Phttt! Show me the money.

[Otessa, BSN, RN]

I really can't complain too much. My husband is a pilot and has been furloughed (laid off) 2 times AND he got a 'wonderful' 20% pay cut but got to keep his job. lovely. pilots don't make much more than nurses-generally speaking.

[wifey08]

I was laid off along with 200 others. The company mandated a 10% pay decrease across the board and took away how much sick pay an employee could acquire. Even if they "earned" 100 hours, the max is 10. Pretty sad.

[cardiacmadeline, RN]

Reading this thread and some of the other threads on this website sure make me thankful for where I work. We got our raises this year. They were only 0.10 less than last year (not sure what the percentage is off the top of my head). And we got them because we met budget. Administration didn't take raises or bonuses. I can honestly say I like where I work!