When You Request I Switch Shifts with You

[Nurse SMS]

Just a general rant here and a bit of advice....If you are going to ask another nurse to switch shifts with you, you need to be prepared to do him/her the same at some point in the future. Chances are you are screwing up what they thought their schedule was going to look like by your request and they were nice enough to do it anyway because you are in a pickle. Its called doing you a favor. Generally speaking it is good manners to understand you need to do the same when/if the time comes, even if it is not completely your favorite timing for it.

Once, I understand. Twice, I am getting a little miffed. Third request with no reciprocation the answer will be no forever after. Whether I have something going on or not, whether I like you or not. Fair is as fair does. Don't expect someone to keep being your go-to person if you aren't ever going to be theirs.

[hecallsmeDuchess]

We have people all the time that ask if one can come in and cover them from 3-7 and don't ask if the person wants to covered the same way too. I know it's 4 hours but that should be reciprocated so the asked can get to leave work one shift early to do stuff if they wanted to. There are also others who need people to work for them but never have a convenient time to work for you, ever. That irritates me...a lot.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Seriously?? Six days isn't enough time???? Sorry but unless you have tickets for something that is plenty of time. Most people don't know they need a change further in advance than that. They did YOU a favor. You owe them a bit of inconvenience to yourself as your favor inconvenienced them first. It is a good lesson to teach your kids that sometimes plans change in order to do right by others. Six days is plenty of time.

We schedule a month out and we all have very busy young kids so I get what Mandy was saying. Weekends have always been full of things for my kids to do with an occasional weekend to just relax and play. Right now we are in the middle of AAU basketball which means traveling 70 + miles to tournaments. I'm on call every 3rd weekend so yeah, I plan far in advance and if the schedule changes (which it sometimes does) that can mess things up.

I too am a firm believer in what the OP said though. You should reciprocate. I'm lucky in that I work with 3 other nurses who are willing to do that.

[Gabby-RN]

I agree. Lately I have taken a new approach when asked if I can cover a shift. I write it down and say I have to check my calendar. When I get some time later that day I compare our schedules and see if there are any swaps that might benefit me-like maybe give me 4-5 days off in a row. Then I go back to the person and say I would be willing to swap next Thursday for Friday for you next week if you would be willing to swap Monday for Wednesday for me the following week. I don't have a busy social life but I do enjoy stretches off to take care of things around the house, spend time with the kids, sleep late, or pick up shifts at my per diem job.

My department is large (75 or so FT/PT nurses), our schedule is a 6 week block schedule, we can not ask for individual days off so swaps are our only option other than calling out sick. There are a few nurses I know will reciprocate but everyone else I use the above approach. If they need the day off bad enough they usually agree.

[T-Bird78]

What gripes me is when a coworker asks if you will switch days and you say no, and they get all huffy and mad. We have certain days we have to stay late and a particular coworker will switch closing days with me. I had to say no because I already had something lined up right after work, and she got mad at me and stomped off to call her husband and complain to him that I wouldn't trade days. What she failed to realize is the day she wanted to trade was already my day to close so it wouldn't have helped me at all, and I've switched every other time. I'm the bad person for not being able to rearrange my schedule for her convenience? Yeah.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

When I get someone to switch shifts for me, I make it my mission to pick up shifts for them. For example, I had one girl pick up a Saturday 7-7am shift for me. I've had her pick up a couple other shifts. In return, I picked up shifts for her (even on a snowy day) and stayed past my shift to do part of hers if she needed me to.

On the other hand, there is another girl I work with who at one point would ask me to work for her several times a week. She would always make up some lame excuse or claim that there was an emergency or because she had a child (pfft). I knew she would never pick up for me, and after awhile, I got pretty annoyed with her, especially when she would text me multiple times even after I told her no.

It is poor manners to ask a favor of someone and not plan to return the favor.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

Nope, normally 6 days is not enough time. If I dont already have plan, sure I will do it with short notice, do it all the time when I pick up extra shifts to cover a call off. But if I have already made plans with my family or girl scout troop, you better believe I will not change them.

Count me in that group too. Granted I VERY rarely ask people to switch w/ me, in large part b/c I don't have much flexibility to reciprocate. But when I pick up for someone, it's not just my own schedule I'm messing with. I have five kids, three of whom are in sports/music, a husband who does not work weekends, in-laws who watch the kids if their dad is working, and we are active in our church. If nothing else, I don't want to hear the hubs say, "I hate your job." (He was irked enough when he became aware that PTO needs to be requested 2 months in advance.)

[Fiona59]

Our shift pattern never changes. We have one nurse who sticks to her part time hours and is never available to cover a sick call or a day when we know we will need an extra nurse.

She is the first to expect us to cover her needs. We all work every other weekend and she constantly wants us to change weekends with her. Weekends are our quiet days, so we look forward to those shifts. She will never, ever pick up one our weekday shifts in exchange.

Our system basically says a shift must be exchanged for a shift, unless the originator wants to use a vacation day or banked overtimes hours to get the shift off and then you must approach a part timer. She doesn't want to use her vacation time to make it easier because she is off every August and two weeks into September and then the Christmas week.

It's all about her, all of the time.

[Wrench Party]

I'm so glad we self schedule for this reason. I like to know I at least have some control over my work life, and can predict when

I can squish in the shift without ruining all my plans.

That being said, I think the switching shifts idea is endemic to particular units. I've only switched once in the last 4 months for a co-worker flying back into town.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

We have one nurse who sticks to her part time hours and is never available to cover a sick call or a day when we know we will need an extra nurse.

While I otherwise agree she's pretty selfish, a part-time worker who wants to work part-time isn't being selfish. We've got pretty much the same policy, but if the three of us on the unit (only three on a huge unit) covered EVERYONE'S shifts because they want a day off so it has to be a part-timer, we would all be constantly working full-time hours. If I wanted to work full-time hours, I'd work full-time and get myself full-time benefits.

[SquishyRN, BSN, RN]

What gripes me is when a coworker asks if you will switch days and you say no and they get all huffy and mad.[/quote']

Yup. I switched with a coworker once because she asked. A week later she asks if I can still work my regular scheduled day because she couldn't get a babysitter. So essentially she wanted me to work both her day and my originally scheduled day. I told her I already made plans after we switched, and she huffed, "Well you were supposed be working that day," as if she was the one doing me the favor in the first place. My plans were flexible and I could have easily been swayed, but because of the attitude I dug my heels in deciding not to help her out.

[Big Blondie, ASN, BSN, MSN, APRN]

One PA I worked with was always asking people to work her night shifts and she would work your day shift. She would never trade a day for a day shift. I started telling her that I would work her shift, but not trade. She didnt want to lose the money for the shift. She started asking others the same request then everyone started telling her the same as I, needless to say she quit asking. Its ridiculous to ask people to upset their entire sleep pattern and family life over and over again without trading equal sometimes. I always try to help people out, but like others said, be considerate and pay back fairly.

[CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

....If you are going to ask another nurse to switch shifts with you, you need to be prepared to do him/her the same at some point in the future...Third request with no reciprocation the answer will be no forever after. Whether I have something going on or not, whether I like you or not. Fair is as fair does. Don't expect someone to keep being your go-to person if you aren't ever going to be theirs.

AMEN! Beware of repeat offenders!!! Any Nurses reading this post who are prone to this behavior should be WARNED that by behaving this way you will develop a reputation of being self-serving amongst other Nurses and inter-professional staff. Gossip travels, I've seen it happen. As a result, other Nursing staff start refusing to help them out with scheduling or anything. Personally, I have a ONE strike policy. If I do another Nurse a favor by swapping shifts to help them out and it's not reciprocated when I need their help (and they have no excusable reason for not returning the favor, i.e. family death, etc...), I will NEVER help them again with shift swaps or anything. It's basic professional etiquette and no Nurse should allow themselves to be used.