VA 72/80 schedule

[jeremyRN]

I work for the VA ER in Las Vegas, and our unit is considering the 72/80 schedule. Does anyone have any experience with this? If so, do you like it? What are some of the pros and cons?

Also, how does the AL and SL work when you take leave?

Do you still accumulate leave and retirement at the same rate?

Thanks. Any information will be helpful.

[brink]

We are going to the 72/80 hour work week here in Salt Lake for some positions. I am choosing not to take the option. For one: you lose your holiday pay. You have to work the holiday to get paid time and a half. While as an 80 hour person, working holidays is not a benefit to me, getting the holiday pay is. And two: you earn your leave the same but you have to take it differently. Basically if you want 2 weeks off and take 72 hours leave... you are charged 80 hours. for every hour it is 1.11 hours charged. Number 3: you have to work longer to get your full retirement. So for 20 years you have to work like 22 years at least. Also, I believe there is a difference in benefit cost. For me, the loss of holiday pay was a deal breaker

[Rza]

I would definitely find/read the policy for 72/80 AWS. You are correct in the holiday and vacation aspects. However, I think u are wrong with regards to benefits and retirement. The policy states: for all purposes other than scheduling, an employee is considered an. 80hr FTE employee. This means nothing else changes other than your schedule.  This  explains why u would need to use time at 1.111 hrs for every hour you use. You are also forgetting your hourly rate will go up/adjusted when switching to 72hrs. Plus u get OT for any hour over 72hrs per pay or 12hrs in a day.  

[knexx]

brink said:

We are going to the 72/80 hour work week here in Salt Lake for some positions. I am choosing not to take the option. For one: you lose your holiday pay. You have to work the holiday to get paid time and a half. While as an 80 hour person, working holidays is not a benefit to me, getting the holiday pay is. And two: you earn your leave the same but you have to take it differently. Basically if you want 2 weeks off and take 72 hours leave... you are charged 80 hours. for every hour it is 1.11 hours charged. Number 3: you have to work longer to get your full retirement. So for 20 years you have to work like 22 years at least. Also, I believe there is a difference in benefit cost. For me, the loss of holiday pay was a deal breaker

The way I look at is is you work 208 fewer hours per year and still get the same annual salary, effectively raising your hourly rate.. 208 hours is huge. Retirement is not affected. But everyone needs to know that yes, you are charged 1.111 for every hour, but DCPS and/or DFAS can only process quarter-hour time frames. We're still trying to workout the issue but it is rounding up to the nearest quarter hour when it should round down. E.g. You will be charged 1.5 hours instead of 1.25. But if you have half decent management, you can often take a stretch or 5-7 days without using leave. Now if you are you take a lot of unplanned leave or are on intermittent FMLA, then I can see your hours being whittled down rather quickly. Alternatively you can always work extra hours and take CT in lieu of OT, especially since you earn OT with any work over 72 hours in a pay period. 

[VA RN]

brink said:

We are going to the 72/80 hour work week here in Salt Lake for some positions. I am choosing not to take the option. For one: you lose your holiday pay. You have to work the holiday to get paid time and a half. While as an 80 hour person, working holidays is not a benefit to me, getting the holiday pay is. And two: you earn your leave the same but you have to take it differently. Basically if you want 2 weeks off and take 72 hours leave... you are charged 80 hours. for every hour it is 1.11 hours charged. Number 3: you have to work longer to get your full retirement. So for 20 years you have to work like 22 years at least. Also, I believe there is a difference in benefit cost. For me, the loss of holiday pay was a deal breaker

Think of it this way...

You get 5 weeks vacation each year. Going 72/80. You still get 5 weeks of vacation time. By using the calculations of 1.1, it equals 5wks x 36hrs. You already work 4 less hours a week. 

If they calculated it the old way and you only work 36 hrs a week, but they gove you 5wks x 40, you would end up with 5.5 weeks of vacation.  

So, you are not losing vacation time at all. They just need to calculate it differently so everyone gets their 5 weeks. ?

[clevensky]

NeNe said:

Hi! I collaborated with a coworker and was able to get the 72/80 implemented. I can give you some information to  help with the buy-in process with your leadership team. How can I reach out to you? 

Can you email me at [email protected]

[KeiTaf]

Hi, I am working on a proposal now to get this implemented at the VA I am working at, It's long overdue. We have a couple units using this schedule and I would like to get the ball rolling hospital wide. Anyone with any information would greatly appreciate it as I am at a bit of a standstill with where to go for information. 

[James G]

Question regarding the 72/80.  I work at the  Biloxi VA and we have been doing the 72/80 and it has been great!  My question if anyone knows, I am scheduled for a DEMPS training next month.  My mgr tells me I have to convert to back to an 80hr work period for the training, then convert back to the 72/80 when I return.  Anyone have any understanding on this? 

[knexx]

James G said:

Question regarding the 72/80.  I work at the  Biloxi VA and we have been doing the 72/80 and it has been great!  My question if anyone knows, I am scheduled for a DEMPS training next month.  My mgr tells me I have to convert to back to an 80hr work period for the training, then convert back to the 72/80 when I return.  Anyone have any understanding on this? 

Did your manager say why?  If they don't want you to incur OT then just accept CT for overages, management is usually OK with CT vs OT.. 

[VA RN]

Rza said:

I am meeting with mgmt in one week to discuss the conversion to 72/80 AWS. I have gathered as much info as I can find. Our unit has made mock schedules, proposed changes to how we schedule vacations, and ran percentages on sick calls for 8hr vs 12hr shifts.  We converted to consistent every other weekend/holiday.  Hopefully it is enough to convince mgmt this is the way to go. It's already been implanted at 2 other hospitals in our VISN which should help. Anyone who wants my presentation and all the info I have, please lmk. I will help as much as I can. I think the more hospitals that switch to this, the easier it will become for the others. 

@Rza

Me please.

[email protected] 

[KeiTaf]

@Rza

Can you please send me what you have? I'm gathering everything I can to present it to our union and management. Thank you so much 
 

[email protected]

[KeiTaf]

I just spoke to someone who tried to get it implanted before me, and was denied because the argument was we didn't have enough nurses to cover the shifts for the week.  My argument back was, if we change to a 72/80 perhaps more people would be willing to work for the VA, since the benefits truly are one of the biggest perks we have. Anyone else run into this problem? 

[knexx]

KeiTaf said:

I just spoke to someone who tried to get it implanted before me, and was denied because the argument was we didn't have enough nurses to cover the shifts for the week.  My argument back was, if we change to a 72/80 perhaps more people would be willing to work for the VA, since the benefits truly are one of the biggest perks we have. Anyone else run into this problem? 

If you guys aren't having retention and recruitment issues, they will never go for it... But go on VSSC and look up your stations retention data, that might be one way to approach it. But yes you will never have enough nurses if you can't keep them or replace them faster than they leave.