Times Are Tough When...

[pagandeva2000]

We all got a great laugh today...a friend of mine was going to call in this morning until she heard the message on the answering service of our Ambulatory Care nursing office. Normally, the secretary leaves a message on the voicemail stating to tell them which clinic you are calling in for, your title, how many days you'll be out, etc... Well today, it has changed. Our administrator leaves his message that says "If you are a chronic time abuser, you may wish to reconsider this call in. If not, you have the option of applying for FMLA leave rather than to risk losing your job. If you STILL plan to leave a message, give the pertinent information and a number where you can be reached". NOW, I have heard EVERYTHING!:chuckle

[Butterfliesnroses]

One thing my work does and has always done. Is if you call in the day before, the day of, or the day after a holiday you don't get your holiday pay. I think it's a wonderful idea.

[growing777]

Wow, what if you're really sick on a holiday? I have actually gone into work sick because I didn't want to call off on a holiday. Well, then I ended up having to go home early and they found someone to come in. It's better to just call in sick if you're sick. I don't call off unless I or one of my kids is sick.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

Where I work there is a policy in place that if you call off the day before or the day after a holiday you cannot use any PTO pay to make up for that day. Your call off is considered a day with out pay. They also keep track of these for future call offs.

The same for mine, but this adds a new twist. I do say that the abusers need to be reminded, but they might as well just start the disciplinary process and stop acting like punks threatening "If you do it one more time..."

I really believe that due to the current economic crisis, more steps will be taken than ever before that may actually lead to termination. What I did notice, however, is that no not many took them seriously because nothing happened significant in the past. A few days suspension didn't really mean much, especially to a nurse, who can get overtime or work elsewhere, write ups?...Well, again, no one was terminated. Now, however, out of desperation and the survival of the entire facility, I believe it is going to happen. It just took too long to get to that point.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

Wow, what if you're really sick on a holiday? I have actually gone into work sick because I didn't want to call off on a holiday. Well, then I ended up having to go home early and they found someone to come in. It's better to just call in sick if you're sick. I don't call off unless I or one of my kids is sick.

Most will say that you must bring in medical or situational documentation. When my boiler bust down last year and had a flood in my basement, I had to provide all of that in order to get paid. This was not during holiday time, but around Martin Luther King...I had to take 4 days off to clean up the mess, get a plumber to purchase a boiler and be there to watch them install that $6000 monster.

[caliotter3]

This sounds akin to a place I worked where the new administrator told the charge nurses to refer call ins to her personal phone number and beeper number.

[Melinurse]

My daughter is a CNA at the nursing home, I took some cookies out to her tonight and she said all but 2 CNA's called in!!! Yikes....quardruple the work for those girls---and I dont know this but I am taking a wild guess here. Not a single member of mgmt is going to come in---what do you think??

I work per diem at a facility and they ( management ) called me today and asked me to work a double! :chuckle Yeah right! I actually have a holiday off. I feel bad for the patients though and for those workers who do go in and are working short. But I have noticed a trend at the facility and nope, mgmt never helps out at all. Maybe that's why people don't want to work there. In my opinion, effective mgmt leads by example. Definately work ethics seem to be lacking when they are having to call the prn workers 4 to 5 days a week because of call-ins. ( not just the holidays )

[rngolfer53]

Wow, what if you're really sick on a holiday? I have actually gone into work sick because I didn't want to call off on a holiday. Well, then I ended up having to go home early and they found someone to come in. It's better to just call in sick if you're sick. I don't call off unless I or one of my kids is sick.

Most managers know who the slackers are. If you don't have a hx of calling in, then it's unlikely people will suspect you of just blowing work off and leaving your colleagues in a bind.

The actual slackers, unfortunately, don't really care about what management thinks (they know management has too lax standards for dismissal) and don't really care about their patients of co-workers, either.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

My daughter is a CNA at the nursing home, I took some cookies out to her tonight and she said all but 2 CNA's called in!!! Yikes....quardruple the work for those girls---and I dont know this but I am taking a wild guess here. Not a single member of mgmt is going to come in---what do you think??

Unbelievable. I don't know if I'm more disgusted with the CNAs or the admins who probably could have predicted this occurance and done something to prevent it. I don't know, something like bargaining for which holidays to have on/off and superduper premium pay. Sigh. Of course, there is probably a lot I don't know about the situation. Just frustrating, thinking about those poor residents.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I see both sides...the slackers have been getting away with murder for so long and yet, seem to retain their positions. This leaves the ones that do work hard extremely exhausted, and when they compare themselves to the others, they say to themselves "Why am I killing myself to tire early, get burned out and yet, these people are getting paid the same as I?". Sometimes, the managers have tried, but have reached no success because they get no support for rocking the boat, which is a vicious, toxic cycle. Right now, I say one up for the managers, because that was funny, for one, and two, that now, there is a reason to be afraid...very afraid...and let's hope that the slackers either get it together or actually, depending on just HOW toxic they are, that they don't and management sticks to their threats this time.

[growing777]

We really don't have a problem with slackers calling off where I work, because we get in trouble for calling off more than 3% of our scheduled days. It is on our evaluation and can affect our pay. The only thing protected from that is time off for a sick child or family member, and it's only protected if you have PTO to apply to that day. We have system in place for holidays, and usually people don't want to be called off because they want holiday pay. We only get holiday pay if we actually work on the holiday, PTO is straight time no matter what. If we want to be off, we can request a schedule change or ask to stay home for that day if staffing is adequate. It works, we don't have an issue with being constantly short-staffed.

[Melinurse]

growing777, I wish it were that way where I work in LTC. Like said though, there are gonna be slackers and it really affects not only the staff that does routinely show up and never calls-in but mostly it hurts patient care.:nono:My New Years wish is to get new management in that place that cares enough about the patients to do something about the short staffing.

Have a wonderful New Years everybody.

[november17, ASN, RN]

others I work with that you can to force to go to ER as they are having chest pains and are symptomatic with history of MI..

I work with a nurse that was looking all flushed and said she felt tired. So we checked her pulse and it was >200 (I lost count when I realized I had counted to 50 in under 15 seconds). Another nurse and I had to harangue her to go get checked out down at the ER (which is literally 2 floors down). She just didn't want to leave the floor!