What kind of little "Thanks" does your hospital give, or are they too cheap?

[pattyslattery]

My hospital turned from a non-profit to for-profit a couple of years ago. Since then it has been cost cut after cost cut. The latest thing to go was the 5 dollar Starbucks card that management would lay on someone after a great job or an especially hard day. Evidently administration considers a Starbucks card "reportable income." Now I've heard they're considering other options, like handing out page hilighters as a gesture of thanks. I already have about a million page highlighters.

So do you get any of the little things? Or are you just expected to work and go home?

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

We didn't even have a Nurse's Week this year...instead if was called "Hospital Week" and we didn't really get anything. Sometimes management will reward us with a meal ticket or a ticket for a certain percentage off in the gift shop, but that hasn't happened recently...

[sauconyrunner]

I switched jobs this year, and I have to admit, I find it a little frustrating that we are so conditioned to want and expect things like Starbucks cards. I did a few little random rewards for nurses showing appropriate hand washing. All of a sudden people were coming up to me, "Where is my magnet, I washed my hands? Where is my candy?" I'm thinking when did following policy need to be rewarded?

It is a job. You do work in exchange for money. All of those trinkets can be easily afforded on a nurses wage. Might be time to take a good look at what it is you really are looking for...my guess is that you are craving recognition. It is really time that Nurses start to VALUE themselves. If we need a trinket to reaffirm our worth...well It says a lot. You might not think its about worth or recognition...but really is it all about a Starbucks coffee that you can already afford?

[bekpow]

Every employee in the hospital received 3% of their pay as a bonus for improved patient satisfaction scores.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

"Thanks" coming from a hospital? HA.

When I worked in the hospital, you were expected to come in to work extra out of the goodness of your own heart and not be paid anything extra for it. I particularly remember one day when we were incredibly short-staffed and the charge nurse was having a heck of a time trying to find someone to come in. She told our manager, "you need to give me something to offer them" and asked about offering free parking or something. (Said hospital charged $35/day to park in the garage across the street.) Our manager's response? "I'm not giving that for a one time favor... someone would have to work 4 or 5 extra shifts to get that." 5 extra shifts for something that costs $35? She honestly expected that people would want to work extra for the equivalent of $7 extra for the entire shift. When other people would point out that their friends/relatives who were nurses were given financial incentives for picking up extra shifts (like a $50 bonus for working an extra shift or something) the answer was always "It's not in the budget." I knew that was a crock of bs then but it became even more clear how much they were lying when I changed jobs. I went from working at a teaching hospital affiliated with an IVY League Medical School to a small home care agency. My current agency operates on a MUCH smaller budget and makes far less profit but offers financial incentives all the time. My first employer had over $2 billion in stock and bond holdings in the most recent tax year and made $50 million in profits last year but it's not in their budget to offer anything to their staff. They stopped giving gifts or anything for nurses' week years ago (we used to get a cafeteria voucher). I got a $25 gift card to Macy's for nurses' week this year.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Trinkets and gift cards are a slippery slope, IMO, to trivializing performance. Do adult professionals in other fields expect gift cards for exceptional performance?

No. They expect quarterly bonuses that are probably equivalent to a nurses' weekly pay. Or more.

[CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

...

It is a job. You do work in exchange for money. All of those trinkets can be easily afforded on a nurses wage. Might be time to take a good look at what it is you really are looking for...my guess is that you are craving recognition. It is really time that Nurses start to VALUE themselves. If we need a trinket to reaffirm our worth...well It says a lot. You might not think its about worth or recognition...but really is it all about a Starbucks coffee that you can already afford?

For me, it's not about trinkets or minor "thank you's" (although those are nice). It's about being called into my manager's office, not for a write-up, but to be told about a pt's "thank you" card that happened to mention me and a number of my coworkers. Far better is when a pt & their family comes back to visit the ICU where they spent a week...or two...or six. Often, the pt has little memory of what happened (and that's a GOOD thing). Their family members, however, remember the ICU staffs' kindness and attentiveness to their needs.

That being said, when the hospital (or my manager) buys pizza for lunch for the entire department (in appreciation for the staff not going totally bug nuts during a stressful shift), that's a good thing!:yelclap:

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

I work for the largest heath care system in my state. I received a plastic change purse.. with the system's logo on it .. for my Nurse's week appreciation gift.

I view that as an insult to my contribution to the system.

Hey.. nursie.. you are a dime a dozen. I wonder how many fat cats.. sitting in meetings.. that came across THAT brilliant idea.

[alovelymother]

At my hospital they give us quarterly bonuses if we meet a certain number of goals. For a full time employee it ends up being about $1000 per year.

They have actually assigned weeks to all of the staff. We have nurses week, surgical tech week, lab week, housekeeping week etc. they give out t-shirts and have raffles. They will bring in different chefs from around the community to cater to the staff.

Also for the RNs they pay an extra $7/hr for any extra shift.

We also get our fair share of horrible hospital koozies, frisbees, and keychains.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

I can't even get my annual review. We recently had our benefits cut, but the docs and admin still get their bonuses. I think my work can stop being so generous. :: eye roll ::

[Elladora]

We get a t-shirt (for meetings so people can tell who works in which department at a glance), nice raises and REALLY nice bonuses.

On holidays, they usually set out a basket of random stuff - everything from pizza cutters to books to magnets for our lockers. You can take something if you want. (Usually the double pay is payment enough for most people).

[xxlilkacixx]

For my birthday this year they sent me a card with a cafeteria gift card for $1.68. I bought a tasty soda, it was great lol

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

We get the stabucks gift card, or a free meal. It's not expected but it's nice.

Once a week the manager has a mini 10 min staff update about 'stuff'. Aftwards he goes over all the Kudos that staff write up about their team members. It's nice to get them and know your hard work was appreciated.

I won employee of the quarter I got 150 bucks and a parking space. Earlier this year I won Employee of the year and won 1500.00, and received a huge bouquet of flowers and a sizable gift card to Gene Juarez .