Vacation scheduling

ERGirl83 · May 12, 2015

We are a first come, first served department. He who requests first, wins. We are a relatively small department and allow two RN's off at a time. I'm PT, though and never use PTO for vacations. I just work my schedule so I have room for it. For example, I normally like 2-3 days off in between shifts, but right before a vacation, I might work 3 in a row, then have 11 days off for my vacay.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · May 12, 2015

First come, first served. Once the max requests have been met for any given day, that day is blocked off in the PTO planning folder. There's also a max amount of PTO we're allowed to use over the summer, even if we have hundreds of hours saved. Summer is typically the big trauma season, so they can't have everybody taking PTO.

FlyingScot, RN · May 12, 2015

We have a two week window in February to schedule summer vacations (May thru Sept). We go by seniority. Two RNs may be off at one time. If you don't sign up in the window it's first come first served.

Swellz · May 12, 2015

Our hospital doesn't let us manually use ETO in the summer, so the only way to get time off is to go through your unit's schedule. On my unit, at the beginning of the year, the planner comes out and weeks are picked based on seniority and a rotation so essentially everyone has a fair shot of getting one week off during the summer if they choose it. 3 nurses can be choose each week. However, say you're getting married and you know you need a specific week off during the year; then, you have to choose that in your first round, and maybe there won't be any summer weeks left by your second round. But that's a choice you know you're making at the time, so it is what it is. It's not ideal.

Editorial Team / Admin · May 12, 2015

Requests go in during February. All staff divided into four groups by seniority and are assigned a week to get their request in. If they miss their week, they go to the end if the list after the least senior peoples week. 3 nurses and 3 techs allowed off per week. If too many people request the same week on the same group, it's whoever put in first.

Mavrick, BSN, RN · May 12, 2015

First request, first granted. Two weeks max in summer and around Christmas. Two people off at a time. One year in advance request.

BrandonLPN, LPN · May 12, 2015

I disagree with the first come, first served model. Vacation scheduling should be done based on seniority.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · May 12, 2015

Summer vacation time is granted on a first-come, first-serve basis at my workplace. Requests for time-off must be submitted to our staffing coordinator or a nurse manager at least 30 days prior to the first requested day off.

Fiona59 · May 12, 2015

Vacation planner is posted for a specified period.

Then it goes by seniority.

I'm finally getting to the point where I have enough seniority to get the "prime" times of summer and Christmas. Except we now have several nurses with school aged children who need the prime time and are fairly recent hires.

I'm not going to take away school holidays from some family so I don't request those periods. I'm not a saint and I'm not being nice. I just remember what it was like when my parents couldn't get time off during my school holidays.

caseyuptonurse · May 12, 2015

I think the seniority scheduling is awful... It is great for the nurses with seniority though, I can't blame them for it. Ours is one schedule for our 3 combined units and only one nurse can be off each week no matter if they are different shifts or not. Aka with over 52 employees and it being seniority based, I get no vacation because no weeks were left when it was my turn to choose. It's an awful system, but management is looking into changing it to keep nurses around.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · May 12, 2015

When I worked in the hospital, it went like this. 120 hrs/week allotted to RN vacation time. An email went out saying "the vacation sign up schedule will be posted on Monday." People who were not working showed up and everyone tore that paper up. It was very cut throat.