Utah RN pay, Salt Lake City area

guest769224 · Aug 9, 2015

Does anyone know if their hospitals in Utah use travelers? Ever heard about what they make? I'd love to take a winter travel assignment in SLC.

They sure do use travelers. I think $35-$45 is the rate for travelers in this area. If you have specific questions PM me.

Jukeboxhero00 · Oct 13, 2015

I worked for intermountain for several years and also worked in administration in the home health and hospice field. Here is the long and short regarding RN wages in Utah.

#1 Intermountain rules the roost.

#2 Utah nurses have no Union to speak of.

#3 there is no nursing shortage in Utah.

There are numerous schools producing underprepared new graduates that are driving the wage mark down. Intermountain in particular does not hire many outside applicants aside from entry level positions- they hire internally for the better paying jobs. Another major factor is that there are a high number of nurses in Utah wanting part time work. This could be a stereotype example but Utah is very family oriented and you have a lot of young moms who are nurses and have a partner that may be the primary income so they don't demand a higher wage- tge mid 20's at part time is enough ( not saying I agree with this, it's just the reality). That said, overall, Intermountain is a pretty good company to work for and the benefits are great.

chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Oct 22, 2015

I worked for intermountain for several years and also worked in administration in the home health and hospice field. Here is the long and short regarding RN wages in Utah.
#1 Intermountain rules the roost.
#2 Utah nurses have no Union to speak of.
#3 there is no nursing shortage in Utah.
There are numerous schools producing underprepared new graduates that are driving the wage mark down. Intermountain in particular does not hire many outside applicants aside from entry level positions- they hire internally for the better paying jobs. Another major factor is that there are a high number of nurses in Utah wanting part time work. This could be a stereotype example but Utah is very family oriented and you have a lot of young moms who are nurses and have a partner that may be the primary income so they don't demand a higher wage- tge mid 20's at part time is enough ( not saying I agree with this, it's just the reality). That said, overall, Intermountain is a pretty good company to work for and the benefits are great.

Bumping this.

Curious - is this still the case in 2015?

heatherisbetter, BSN · Nov 4, 2015

Bumping this.
Curious - is this still the case in 2015?

I'd say yes... especially since this post was less than a month ago....

RN0323 · Dec 7, 2015

Yep. I'm moving from GA back home to UT and I'm taking a $6/hr pay cut... I'm making more than I did when I left so I'm looking at the silver lining to try and stay positive. Intermountain is top dog and they set the bar. Overage of nurses still the case. To give you an idea a hospital nurse will likely be paid 21-25 at most and that range is for 0-4 years experience.

hope3456, ASN, RN · Jan 23, 2016

Can anyone speak of the market conditions for nurses in the southern part of the state - specifically St George? Are they any different than SLC?

Calimurse · Feb 1, 2016

Hi, I was wondering if anyone who works at Primary Children's Hospital can tell me if there are differentials for the nurses? I know that the base starting pay is $22.51 an hour, but do their hourly wages increase for night shifts, weekend shifts, and holidays? Thank you!

heatherisbetter, BSN · Feb 1, 2016

Hi, I was wondering if anyone who works at Primary Children's Hospital can tell me if there are differentials for the nurses? I know that the base starting pay is $22.51 an hour, but do their hourly wages increase for night shifts, weekend shifts, and holidays? Thank you!

They do offer a shift differential but I was told that it isnt much, dont expect more than a dollar or two. Someone may be able to correct me, but I am pretty sure that all IHC hospitals work the same.

Barkow · Feb 26, 2016

I left IHC a year ago. The issue with shift differentials at the time was that they were a percentage of one's hourly pay, rather than a straight amount per hour. So a new grad at the bottom of the pay scale not only earned less pay, but their shift differential was lower than a more experienced nurse. Not sure if this is still accurate. I believe there was a weekend differential of maybe 50 cents/hour.

Holiday was time and a half, but in a sneaky way. For example, let's say you work night shift after Thanksgiving dinner. Your whole holiday was ruined, but you're only getting time and a half during the 7p-12a portion of that shift, when it was literally the day of the holiday. You'd have to also work the night shift before the holiday to get that 12a-7a portion at holiday pay rate and thus end up with 12 full hours overall of holiday pay.

Hope that makes some sense

toxycmas · Aug 28, 2016

Okay I've read all of your posts, it is currently 8/27/16 at 2350. I'm going to give a thorough background of what my life as a nurse as been like for the past year to help those that are interested in becoming a nurse, specifically in Utah salt lake city area. I'm not here to shoot opinions or cause silly arguments just stating facts. I'll put my lengthy comment is sections so you don't have to read it all.

Summary of utah's nursing, I'd give it a C- for slightly below average. But i've never worked anywhere else so keep that in mind.

My background- I've been a nurse for just over a year now, I was hired at IHC as a new grad at the children's hospital. I've never worked outside of utah, and I am a full time worker, part time people your benefits at IHC vary greatly but in general are poor.

Here is what I make- I started at 22.51 as a new grad ADN. worked while I got my BSN and didn't get a raise. after a year I got a .90 cent raise due to poor performance for being unteachable and arrogant. Your early raise can increase I BELIEVE is anywhere from .80 cents to 1.20 (exceptional performance) in order to get that you have to do a lot of extra work. So now I make 23.41 which is 40,452.48$ a year. my average paycheck is 1250$ take home, Thats after putting 7% in a 401k, medical, dental, vision, all other benefits, taxes and HSA of 85$. See benefits below.

Differentials- there are two kinda of differentials. The basic ones are night and weekends. Nights you get 2.25$ and weekends you get 1.12$. Then there is what is known as a contract. basically to commit to working a certain amount of nights or weekends in order to get... I think 5-8% bonus. Meaning this bonus is affected by your base pay, the more your base pay the more you make. I am not currently on that because on our unit requires you to be here one year before you can get that. Other units however you can get on a contract right when you start work. Also support roles you can get 5% such as Charge nurse, emergency personal, supplies, etc. All of those are full on my unit and are very competitive to get.

There is cap to base pay rate, don't know for sure but its like 33-35$ an hour. You can increase that however by leaving then coming back to IHC "with experience" you start all over losing your seniority but you eventually can get to a higher cap because you are hired on at a higher base then you cap higher. So the cap in kind of relative to your start base pay, not so much a fixed cap.

IHC does send out a paper ever year showing you how much you make but also how much IHC pays for benefits. Working from June 2015 to the end of the year, according to this paper I made 34$ an hour if IHC paid me hourly without any benefits if that makes sense.

Benefits- you have to maintain 36 hours to keep your full time benefits.

I have a wife and two kids so my benefits are different from a single person. Single people your amounts you have to pay as well as can invest are lower than mine. Okay so...

Medical is 30$ a paycheck, dental 5$ (for just me), vision 3$ (for just me). I have the high deductible which is 3,000$ deductible and 6,000$ max out of pocket.

Health savings account IHC will match up to 1,500$ a year, which is pretty nice.

401K IHC will match up to 4% if you put 5% in, but they don't start making until you have worked there for a year. You have to work for 6 years in order to be considered "invested" which means only after 6 years will you get 100% of what IHC matches. If you only work say 4 years than you only get 60% of what IHC contributes. You always get 100% of what you personally contribute however regardless of how long you stay.

Short term disability is paid for by IHC, however you can add extra to it like I have 50,000$ for 0.58 cents a paycheck.

Long term disability you have to pay for and I will start come open enrollment, I remember it was kinda higher which is why I didn't when I first started.

Critical Illness (metlife) 1.40$ per paycheck for 20,000$ coverage.

Life insurance for my 1.58$ for 175,000, no physical required. However, I will up that to probably 500,000 which requires a physical

wifes life ins is 50,000$ for .70 cents. and child 5,000$ is .38 cents a pay check

Pension plan is 0-10 years 12% of annual income, 10-20 years 14%, and 21+ is 16% of your annual income. Not the best but better than nothing most people say since a lot of companies have dropped their pension plans. Not guarantee this plan will be here however in the next 30 years.

PTO you get 4.62 hours per paycheck that can but used however you want. Every major holiday, e.g. labor day, Christmas, thanksgiving etc you get 8-12 hours of PTO per holiday, so come the end of the year you get a lot of PTO. I currently have over 150 hours in just one years of work, plus when I first started I used a lot due to being called off or sent home early. You do max out PTO at like 350 hours. after 5 years you can cash out 40 hours of PTO after 10 Years 80 hours of PTO.

Holidays (major ones like christmas, labor day, and thanksgiving) you get 1.5 an hour. Non premium holidays like Halloween base pay.

along with holidays, last year i got a christmas bonus of around 400$ but it varies every year.

Other minor benefits include coupons and discounts for working with IHC or having select health (also owned by IHC). Such perks include a 20% discount on your verizon cell phone plan's base pay. So instead of payin 35$ for that its only 28$ base than all of the fees and line access etc. For having select health if you complete their Live Well program each quarter you get 50$ or a 50$ gift card, your choice. so 50$ multiplied by 4 is 200 extra dollars a year.

you also get gym membership discounts, transportation discounts etc.

Poor benefits- I have two kids and both my wife and I work for IHC, she has a support role at the same hospital, and we need a baby sitter, however the one they have cost 22$ an hour for both my kids! Which for our wages is way to much, so only the doctors get to use that place.

Scheduling- big problem for most people. We do 8 week blocks, I sign up for friday, saturday, sunday nights so mines easy to fill. however for new people your schedule will be completely random with days and nights or you can work weekend days or nights. Those are really your only 3 options. In 3 years your undesirables are cut in half from 2 shifts a week to 1 shift a week. after 10 years you don't have to float, unless that hospital is super short, and I believe you don't have to work holidays. After 20 years you have no undesirables and you can work a cush Monday-Wednesday day shift. Keep in mind if you schedule yourself during that 8 week block and forget/ have an event come up like a wedding then your option is to switch with someone, if you can't find someone then tough... most people call in sick.

Cost of living in SLC- My mortgage is 1200$ (includes property tax, escrow, mortgage ins, home and auto ins) for a small two bed starter home, utilities are 300$ give or take, gas 2.42$ currently. Basically between my nursing job and my wifes support job at IHC we have 3,800$ take home a month. and with a budget we spend 3500-3800$ a month, not very much wiggle room, though we do go on a nice vacation each year.

Okay so thats my pay, benefits, and cost of living. Now I can support a family on that but we have to budget which isn't fun. So I picked up a part time job at a home health agency, I make 25.75$ an hour there and work 8-16 hours a week.

IMPORTANT FOR RIGHT NOW!!!- IHC is super short at this time, I am currently working extras 2-3 a week. You get paid 1.5, not double . you do however get a 100$ bonus on top of the 1.5 if you work 9+ hours in the shift, if not only a 50$ bonus. Most out of state nurses laugh at this amount, it is pretty small, at one point it got up to 150$. So for me this month i've been able to make over 7,000$ take home this last month, nearly double what we normally make, however I am working my tail off. The big take away right now is, yes i can make great money but at what cost!! you could make as much as me in another state and not have to work as hard as I am. Plus this is only going on right now due to the shortage of nurses, once it lifts then ill be back to getting called off or sent home early, having to use PTO just to keep my hours.

Shortage reasons- we don't have a union in utah and can't form one or you get fired. Therefore IHC sets the standard for prices due to them being the largest hospital chain in Utah. Because of the low pay nurses are leaving. We have a high turnover rate which costs a lot to train new nurses. anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 dollars to train a new nurse. Most nurses here feel they aren't listened to and management doesn't help, it is corporate that is in charge. And they know that people are willing to work here for less. I agree that there are a lot of part time mom doing nursing as a second income to help out because the scheduling is great. Those that are in it for the money are leaving. Also the hospital is using out dated technology and supplies, e.g. we still paper charge on my unit, our computer program is from the 70's (is what im told), our tubing is cheap etc. Corporate is trying to save money so our supplies are poor.

Future of IHC- Tough to say obviously and this is speculation mixed with opinion. Right now IHC is losing a lot of money due to the affordable care act and icentra (the new computer system we are getting to update the hospital and get ride of paper charting). Because of this they are having to save money. There is a hiring freeze on all position except for nursing (i'm told). Most nurses feel that to save money IHC will increase the patient ratio. I currently have 1-3 patients which at time can be overwhelming. They may increase it to 4 patients per nurse but the nurse gets their own tech. Basically they are pilling more on us for less. Some nurses even speculate we will get pay cuts. Who knows that IHC has been around for a long time and do fairly well. They just restarted their pension plan which is the first thing to usually go when times get hard like this.

If you've read my novel, congrats! I hope this helps you understand what its like to work in SLC utah. and I'd love to hear about your working place because if there is somewhere that I can make double what I currently am but don't have to work extras i'd love to hear about it. To end here are some other factors to consider about utah. Utah has the best snow on earth, great outdoor stuff going on, and the people are fairly nice through passive aggressive in general. Lots of mormons, and the winter has a terrible inversion in SLC but outside of the city its not bad.

AuntPetunia · Nov 13, 2016

toxycmas, thank you for the time and detail you put into your post. It really helps to know what conditions nurses are going through in UT today. Even though we're in nursing to help others, the reality of our profession is that we have to get paid and take care of ourselves at the same time.

UtahisRad · Oct 11, 2017

I am an RN from Utah. I have worked for Intermountain before and I am making the transition back to Intermountain. I have a BSN and 4 years of experience. I have been a home health and hospice director for 1.5 years and needed to get back to the clinical setting. I negotiated my pay and was offered 30 dollars an hour. It's not great considering I make over 75k right now but the flexibility is what I am looking for.