What does your schedule look like?

Years ago I was a hospital department manager. I ran a critical care unit in a Midwestern college town.

I made it a habit to work the 11-7 shift periodically, at least quarterly. That meant that I was there the entire 8 hr shift (not 12), overnight, in my office or on the floor. I helped relieve staff for breaks. I assisted with care. I spoke with staff and with the shift managers. It was an opportunity to observe them in action. It was an opportunity for them to know and trust me. There was always plenty of chart reviews or other paper work that could be accomplished during those hours.

I conducted staff meetings at 0700 and at 1900 in addition to midday to accommodate the needs of those staff whenever it was possible.

Sometimes this resulted in long and uncomfortable days for me. Managers are not always in control of their schedules and some meetings may not be missed. In general, however, this inconvenience was well worthwhile and was survivable.

I would recommend that if you are responsible for the support of staff 24hr/day you should think less in terms of what is fair to you and more in terms of how to best meet their needs and how to develop a good and professional relationship with that staff.

I am not recommending that you abuse yourself for the job, just that you not overlook the importance of the needs, opinions, and feelings of the staff working those shifts.

Just my opinion.

Good luck

Typically I try to go in at 0600 one day a week so I can connect with night shift. 0700 doesn't really afford that opportunity because it's at shift change and they are busy. 2 days a week I go in later (8:30am) so I can stay later and be around for the pm shift.

Thank you both for your responses. I really do appreciate them. I agree about overlapping into night shift occasionally and I understand that managers have to be flexible. I am close to the night shift staff because I have worked mainly with them and know them well. I definitely want and need to keep them feeling like they are important and not forgotten.

I just wish I had more of a consistent start time. Right now I am coming in at 1200 one day and expected to come in at 0600 the next. It is wreaking havoc with my sleep and home life. It seems to me that the healthcare leadership culture expects everyone to be a martyr and suffer, or else you must not be doing your job correctly. I need to try to have some work and home life balance.

As soon as I figure that out I will let everyone know!

Thanks again for your comments and advice

Thank you both for your responses. I really do appreciate them. I agree about overlapping into night shift occasionally and I understand that managers have to be flexible. I am close to the night shift staff because I have worked mainly with them and know them well. I definitely want and need to keep them feeling like they are important and not forgotten.

I just wish I had more of a consistent start time. Right now I am coming in at 1200 one day and expected to come in at 0600 the next. It is wreaking havoc with my sleep and home life. It seems to me that the healthcare leadership culture expects everyone to be a martyr and suffer, or else you must not be doing your job correctly. I need to try to have some work and home life balance.

As soon as I figure that out I will let everyone know!

Thanks again for your comments and advice

As a manager my routine day to day schedule is generally 0700 to 1800. That does vary some from day to day and week to week, but in general I am at work early and home late.

It is unnecessary to work 50-60 hours per week every week. There are some weeks when new initiatives are started or when you have a lot of things going on that you must work more than 40 hours but it should be the exception. If it is every week and it is not by choice...then its time to start job hunting. If I work 10-12 hours one day I try to make up for it by leaving early on another day. It is definitely a balancing act. In general, night shift people work nights for a reason...if I came in every day at 0600 to see nights I would drive them insane. I have a deal worked out with my night shift that if they want to see me for a specific reason, they can let me know and I will come in early. Otherwise I usually pick one day a week/every other week that I come in early to see them. I am also present in our unit shared governance that happens once a month and night shift is well represented.

My assistant director comes in around 1200 and stays until 2000 a couple times a week routinely. Like you said, as managers we have things that have to be done during the day on most days so it is unrealistic for us to be here frequently at night.

I do have the luxury of having a highly engaged staff and very experienced night crew so they are generally self sufficient. It may be different for each organization.

I am fairly new to my current position (OB Director) and my first round of employee satisfaction results scored unusually low in "my boss is a good communicator." I was floored, as I feel that I over-communicate. In meeting with staff one-on-one, I found that specifically night shift just want to SEE me more.

Because they work 5-5 I wasn't seeing night shift often. With several meetings starting at 0700, I typically come in around 0630 and leave around 1600. I have adjusted my schedule and actually come in later when I can so that I can stay later and have face time with them. I truly enjoy visiting with them and getting to hear their opinion, feedback, issues they run into, etc. I am hoping this is meeting their needs and they feel more connected to me as well as the unit as a whole.