Weekend Call Outs

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We do not have any policy that treats weekend call outs any differently than week days. I have approached this with my Adm but I am getting push back there. In our state it does not pay to be a young mom and a CNA. The state pays you more to stay home and there is no motivation to work. I need a creative approach recruit and retain. Any suggestions?

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

We have a general callout policy that seems to be working out very fair. Everyone's name is on a list. If there is a callout and your name is at the top of the list then you are the one mandated to stay and cover. Once you have covered a call off your name goes to the bottom of the list. If you call out, your name is automatically goes to the top of the list. If you are gracious enough to come in on a day off to help cover a call off - you can NOT be mandated for that shift only (learned the hard way that no one will come in if they know there name is at the top of the list). Recently had a girl ask to have a day off for a distance relative's funeral (not covered under benefits). When she learned she could go but would be considered a call out she changed her mind "Not worth going to the top of the list when I'm safely on the bottom". By putting anyone with a call out on the top of the list it seems to be somewhat protecting those with great attendance as their name tends to stay at the bottom.

For weekend call outs, the person is automatically scheduled the following weekend. And they are scheduled for any unit, any shift where there is a need.

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Weekend call out, without a doctors note, you work your next two weekends off! Guess what? The weekend callouts have stopped:)

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Specializes in retired LTC.
Weekend call out, without a doctors note, you work your next two weekends off! Guess what? The weekend callouts have stopped:)
That's nice but when they're already working every weekend anyway! This was the problem we freq faced, esp since the caller -outer was PRNing second-job at our facility.
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AmoLucia do you really need employees like that? I just don't see why any facility would put up with chronic call outs from any staff, nurses or CNA's. There seem to be plenty of people who need jobs... I know you may not have the ability to make the decisions on firing staff, I'm just saying I can't believe what places put up with! Crazy...

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Specializes in LTC, Education, Management, QAPI.

I have to admit I have the same trouble. We do have a lot of people looking for jobs, but it's our good employees that have become frequent call out staff. Most of it is medical, sure, but the talent we're finding is so sub-par it's not even funny. There are *TONS* of nurses and nurse aides now, many of them in the field because of quick schooling and a little money, not because they want to care for people.

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I am not so fortunate to be in an area where there is plenty of staff. I have a fair amount of agency staff. The local hospitals swallow up most Nurses and aides.

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Specializes in Short Term/Skilled.

We used to have a lot of CNA call outs in LTC on the weekends. If you did call out on the weekend you were scheduled to work your next weekend off even if it wasn't for two more months. They made no exceptions, either. We had a staff member miscarry and miss her weekend and she still had to work the the next one......

I don't know about your facility but the CNAs in my facility would call out on the weekend due to working understaffed. They'd look at the schedule and see we had 16 patients each on 3-11 and say "forget it". Didn't work out in their favor when they'd have to work just as understaffed in their next weekend but didn't stop it from happening either.

I Think the better way is to reward good attendance than to punish bad attendance. I think chronic call outs should be dealt with also but I think some kind of drawing or monetary gift for those with perfect attendance would make the call outs less frequent. I've always thought it was good to be appreciated especially in the kind of field that can be very thankless and horrendously hard work.

Just my two cents.

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We used to have a lot of CNA call outs in LTC on the weekends. If you did call out on the weekend you were scheduled to work your next weekend off even if it wasn't for two more months. They made no exceptions, either. We had a staff member miscarry and miss her weekend and she still had to work the the next one......

I don't know about your facility but the CNAs in my facility would call out on the weekend due to working understaffed. They'd look at the schedule and see we had 16 patients each on 3-11 and say "forget it". Didn't work out in their favor when they'd have to work just as understaffed in their next weekend but didn't stop it from happening either.

I Think the better way is to reward good attendance than to punish bad attendance. I think chronic call outs should be dealt with also but I think some kind of drawing or monetary gift for those with perfect attendance would make the call outs less frequent. I've always thought it was good to be appreciated especially in the kind of field that can be very thankless and horrendously hard work.

Just my two cents.

Really? A lady miscarried and she had to work the next weekend? Does your facility have no heart?

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Specializes in Short Term/Skilled.

Really? A lady miscarried and she had to work the next weekend? Does your facility have no heart?

Yup. They just had a zero tolerance policy for it. They needed the coverage that badly. They didn't care what the excuse was it was a black and white policy. Pretty crappy but they looked at it like if they gave one person leeway they had to do it for others.......

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Yup. They just had a zero tolerance policy for it. They needed the coverage that badly. They didn't care what the excuse was it was a black and white policy. Pretty crappy but they looked at it like if they gave one person leeway they had to do it for others.......

I would've quit if I'd just had a miscarriage and they forced me to work.

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I like the idea for a drawing to reward perfect attendance....which is a double edge sword to me....to reward people for something they are suppose to do anyway.....I was an aide for 15 years and I could count the times I called out on one hand....I am sorry to say it but I see ethics and morals have taken a huge nose dive and find it super discouraging!

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