What would make you feel appreciated on the job?

Nikki Nurse · Jul 3, 2009

A few thoughts:

1. Scheduled 15 minute breaks

2. A 30 minute lunch break

3. Treat us with adult respect, not like children. Don't talk down and think we'll look up.

4. Don't "rule" with an iron fist. Most don't respect that sort of manager.

5.approve vacation time.

6.ask where the "issues" are and what we , as a team, can do to improve them. Those in the trenches know what the problems are and often know the answers to fix them.

7.ask for both sides of a story prior to writing anyone up. Just because a doc complains doesn't always mean he is right or even telling the truth. If needed ask others who were witnesses.

8. Don'tmake employees feel like they have to call in "ill" to get much needed time off (funerals,weddings, family members who have surgery or are very ill,etc.) because if it is that important to them they won't be there anyway. Just approve it and figure how to deal without that person since you will have to anyway.

9.look for the good in the employee and thank them (personally, not by e-mail)

10. Lead by example. You will get what you give.

zuzi · Jul 3, 2009

Hey, now my question related to your question... why YOU need to fell that you are appreciated? Make you to fell better? If you know your OWN value, you don't need any feedback from any one... that is not counting to much...with or without appreciations your standard of care will be THE SAME, good or bad! You will be the same...good or bad!

Look insiede you instead to look at others... just you if you are true with yourself could give THE CORRECT appreciation to yourself.

I meet in my carrier people who live JUST for appreciations, they will do everything for it, just to be appreciated "a little" , lol..and is not at all a correct path!

What do you expect from a manager to come and eat with you at the other side of the spagetti noodle? Or give you a hug for so good job you did? You are much more happy with an official smile and an official thank you? You are at job, job is job pesonal life is personal life...totally different! You need to do THE JOB with or without them appreciations... who cares, why to care?

Or may be you belive that an appreciation could push you up on top? LOOOOOL is not true, this is not life!

I will tell you a story... is about my sister my good sister she is an insurance manager now at one of International companies.... she start to work from the down hill...she told me "never I belived, ever that I will be here, never I ask, never I dreamed, never I expected APPRECIATION, I did my job, that is all!"

"I did my job!" That is all that counts!

Do your job on the position where you are now and do it good, the rest.... looooool.... dosen't matter at all!

And for hugs and appreciations please come here, looool always a hug.

meluhn · Jul 3, 2009

Its the little things. How about management covering us for our lunch time that they know we never get. They seem to be able to do it for the secretaries but not the nurses on the floor. We do not have a charge nurse and they know full well that we never get the lunch that they dock us for. How about making a point to make the cnas do what they are supposed to do like empty the foleys at the end of every shift and give us report on the output and who had a bm etc. If the cnas dont even take us seriously who will?

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · Jul 3, 2009

If you decide to buy lunch for one shift, do it for night shift too. There's nothing that makes you feel like garbage than coming in, finding the crumbs and trash from pizza or chinese takeout that was bought for dayshift "just to say thanks" when all we get are admissions....and, "can someone clean up the breakroom tonight? Thanks..."

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Jul 3, 2009

What would make me feel appreciated? Not overlooking me on payday and saying "sorry, you will get it next time. Your were overlooked this time. These things happen." Tell that to my 3 year old who can now not register for the swim class she was promised, since mommy doesn't have money for it. :angryfire

MedSurgeMess · Jul 3, 2009

I feel very fortunate with my dept director, she tries to accomplish all of the things mentioned in these posts, and if she can't she gives a reasonable explanation within a reasonable amount of time. She thanks in person, by phone, by email, and snail mail. She gives small token gifts, gift cards to favorite stores, or free lunch cards, and if she knows that you are having a bad day and can't get away, she will call cafeteria and have a lunch brought up (she's observant enough that she even knows who prefers what and who has special diets,etc). She will show up in scrubs and work ANY shift when we are short staffed, and she is not afraid of wiping butts, suctioning trachs, inserting foleys, giving a bath, doing vitals, or whatever is needed. She's not perfect, but considering what I hear about other bosses, she's close enough. Unfortunately, there are only a few others like her in our organization, the rest will stab you in the back publicly and laugh in your face while you bleed to death.

DoeRN · Jul 4, 2009

Not being made to feel guilty when you have worked your scheduled 36 hours plus another 24 extra in a weeks time. When you say well I do need at least ONE day off this week not being made to feel that you are letting the floor down. And the classic: Thank you we really appreciate all that you do. My patient's tell me all of the time but sometimes you need to hear it from your coworkers and management.

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Jul 4, 2009

Not being made to feel guilty when you have worked your scheduled 36 hours plus another 24 extra in a weeks time. When you say well I do need at least ONE day off this week not being made to feel that you are letting the floor down. And the classic: Thank you we really appreciate all that you do. My patient's tell me all of the time but sometimes you need to hear it from your coworkers and management.

Yes! I could do without the guilt when I say "no, I am unable to work beyond what I am scheduled." If I wanted a full-time job, I would have asked to be put on as full-time. What is with the guilt from certain co-workers and management if I do not want to pick up extra time? There is a reason why I am not a full-time employee. I can't work full-time hours right now. Quit guilting me. Some people honestly do have things going on outside of work that they must attend to. I am not the only person affected by working longer/more hours. I would gladly work more if my life would allow me to do that. Quit guilting me. It will not get me to put in more hours.

Scrubby · Jul 4, 2009

How about management stop taking advantage of the good nurses who do stay late all the time and work the extra shift on their rostered day off. Obviously these nurses are totally exhausted having to work more than everyone else yet you keep relying on their goodwill because you cannot staff the department properly, and are allowing surgeons and administration to overbook the operating list. The rest of the nurses are switched onto this issue and refuse to work any more than we have to because you'll just keep on demanding more and more.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jul 4, 2009

I was thinking about this very topic this afternoon. Meaningful recognition is a cornerstone of healthy work environments. To me, meaningful recognition is not the patronizing email sent to "the staff" after a particularly horrible shift telling everyone, whether they were involved or not, what a great job we do and how much our hard work is appreciated. I would be thrilled to the soles of my feet if my manager came to me and said, "I really like the way you interact with families and how carefully you explain things to them. That's a special quality," or some other comment that reflects my approach to my job. (I work peds critical care.) That would tell me that she has actually paid attention to what I do. But that kind of feedback is never proffered by our management. I hear it from coworkers and former coworkers, and I won't say that their feedback isn't important to me - it really is - but if I chose to change jobs, my potential employer would be talking to may manager, not my friends. A couple of years ago I was assigned to attend a training class that I had no interest in involving myself with; they had asked for volunteers to take on this particular specialty role, and I wasn't one but I was signed up anyway. When I was called into the office to discuss my umm... displeasure, I was told that the voluntary factor had been discarded and that all the nurses who were frequently assigned the resource nurse role were required to have the training. (We are supposed to have two transport nurses, an admitting nurse and a resource nurse who helps with admissions, mentors new staff, covers breaks, attends codes and acts as the charge nurse when the charge nurse is off the unit.) The look on my manager's face when I told her that was very interesting since I hadn't been the resource nurse in more than 6 months was quite funny. "What do you mean?" she said. That's how much attention she pays. And this is the person who can make or break my career.

I would also love to see our management actually address problems instead of ignoring them in the hope that they'll just go away. We have a nurse on nights who is a bully. We have a handful of nurses who are always given the best assignments and privileges the rest of us don't get, and another handful who are always singled out for the nasty assignments. There's another nurse who comes to work in chinos, a long sleeved t-shirt, motorcycle boots and an oilcloth vest that we know darned well she wears in the barn when she's milking cows. At the same time others have been instructed not to wear anything but scrubs... Never mind the nurses whose practice borders on dangerous, or the new nurse who is getting busy with one of our residents in the call room when she works nights... None of these things is ever dealt with.

Anybody looking for a good peds nurse?

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jul 5, 2009

i would also love to see our management actually address problems instead of ignoring them in the hope that they'll just go away. we have a nurse on nights who is a bully. we have a handful of nurses who are always given the best assignments and privileges the rest of us don't get, and another handful who are always singled out for the nasty assignments. there's another nurse who comes to work in chinos, a long sleeved t-shirt, motorcycle boots and an oilcloth vest that we know darned well she wears in the barn when she's milking cows. at the same time others have been instructed not to wear anything but scrubs... never mind the nurses whose practice borders on dangerous, or the new nurse who is getting busy with one of our residents in the call room when she works nights... none of these things is ever dealt with.
anybody looking for a good peds nurse?

i work sicu and i could have written this post -- except for the part about the barn attire. even the nurses getting busy with the residents in the call room. (we have more than one.) when our manager quit, the acting nurse manager took care of the problem nurse with 63 sick calls over the past year, the nurse who had every symptom of a drug problem and the nurse who had no clue about anything. but the bully still remains. the favoritism continues and the same group of nurses continue to get the nasty assignments while others always get the best assignments. i know she's working on it, but i'd like to see something accomplished rather than always hear "i'm working on it."

i do feel appreciated when my manager acknowledges my teaching skills, but i've been in line for a promotion up the clinical ladder for a couple of years now. "it's the economy. no raises, no bonuses." the economy wasn't an issue a couple of years ago.

and i'd love a manager who advocates for her staff, who stands up for them when someone else -- the np from the step-down unit, the new resident, a family member or a patient accuses them of something. innocent until proven guilty? no, it's "if they're upset, it must be something you did." amazingly, i haven't been in trouble lately -- but others have and some of the accusations are so ridiculous i'm not sure how my manager can keep a straight face.

patient satisfaction surveys are a joke -- i can't be responsible for the lousy food or the fact that the patient had a short term memory deficit before her surgery and now cannot remember why she's in the hospital. (got marked down on that one recently.) one nurse got back a horrible survey because the physician made the patient npo and the patient didn't believe the nurse's explanations of that. also not a nursing responsibility . . . but when someone is unhappy, it must be the nurse's fault. yet my manager takes each and every one of these complaints to the nurse involved.

i'd also like a "thank you" when i work overtime, pick up an extra shift, take on extra patients or teach an extra class.