Why no retention bonuses??

Nurses General Nursing

Updated:   Published

No Retention Bonus For Nurses But Yes To New Grads?!

What excuses have your hospitals given you for why they WILL give sign-on bonuses to new and even completely inexperienced nurses, but WON'T give RETENTION bonuses to those of us who have shown loyalty and ARE the experienced backbones of the hospital?? Do they not realize that those of us with experience will just go work elsewhere and get that bonus $$$ somewhere else? 

klone said:

But a mission doesn't pay the bills.

I bet trying to retain MAs is possibly an even rougher situation than trying to retain nurses (?)

It grinds my gears when corporations think that some workers should show up to work reliably and give 100% and....not come away with enough to really support themselves at any level of comfort to speak of, let alone consider getting a tiny bit ahead or having a family.

Regarding your latest post - keep us updated. Sending good vibes/virtual support.

3 Votes
Nurse Beth said:

Because they don't value experience.

BINGO!

2 Votes
kbrn2002 said:

Say what? Are they actively trying to get rid of all their experienced nursing staff? That would certainly be a good way to do it. I'd be looking for another job. Heck that's pretty much why I left my previous employment and they weren't paying the new staff more than me, but it was only $0.25/hr less than me and I'd been there 25 years.  I was so not OK with that and I can't imagine too many nurses would be OK with that. 

They wouldn't be...and "THEY" wouldn't care...because to them, you're readily replaceable..  They'll just call in travelers until they fill your spot.  It's business first, no matter what they try and sell you...

scott bump said:

I get the annoyance, ! I learned their was funds donated for RN case managers to be given laptops...    went to a conference and the Donner asks about them   Huh?  no we never saw them...      Speculating but have a feeling those funds went to the facilities Providers  Retreat for the weekend.    follow the money because it corrupts sometimes!  HR will stand on their heads before dolling it out, including giving you false information! 
    Oh even better! HR  when I first got there HR was arguing my years as an RN  back and forth we went.   so I moved to another facility  then came back...   HR tells me  "well since they went with the years you said you worked now we will"  (yes at one point I had 3 jobs)  but? HR then tells me " that formula we use to determine salary isn't really followed"   well there you go!...   it was all about the money  the years I worked before I got there was not the issue, the money was!!

and you! Don't underestimate the power you had with negotiating. If you hadn't stood up for yourself and risked going elsewhere they never would have respected what you were saying!! Great Job!!

???

NICU Guy said:

This was initiated August 2022. It was offered to all nurses (new and experienced). This offer was a reaction to a university hospital (competitor) offering free tuition to their employees. 

You must repay all money paid from retention bonus if you quit before your contract expires.

What is going to interesting is what happens starting Aug 2024 when the two year contracts expire. Does the bonus disappear or does the base rate increase?

I predict it won't be an abrupt change.. I think it will happen gradually.  Drag it out for a while for retention, decrease it a little after that to test the temp, and then once realization sets in and people are comfy, maybe holiday time then it will go away... but I could be wrong, I hope I am.. ?

JKL33 said:

I'm not one who thinks money isn't important; of course it is. But I'm just curious what you are currently hearing on the ground on a committee like this--is there ever any serious consideration of how we treat people being one of the main factors that we all know it is, and any effort to do anything about it?

The most offensive things I (as part of staff) experienced were not isolated; it was just a given that we would be spoken to with general disrespect, for example. Not even necessarily frankly offensive but just in a manner that respectable people would not speak to anyone they respected. Appreciation consisted mostly of making sure to tack on "thanks for all you do" to communications, even if the main purpose was criticism. That's baseline, and obviously leaving out the even more offensive treatment nurses endure.

I'm not trying to make any new complaint. I just still remain kind of dumbfounded that collectively upper admin (hospitals/lg health systems) keeps the nursing shortage crisis verbiage in the forefront (my nice way of saying they cry about it incessantly) and they want to keep staffing costs low and they don't appear to even want to participate in leading a respectful, professional atmosphere.

Do they ever consider that respect might be a little more cost effective than constantly doubling down on disrespect?

Money/fair pay is important but there is not enough money to fund this 'treat 'em like 5-year olds' approach that is taken with nurses.

We are replaceable. They don't have to care. 

My question to you is, that if you did receive all the praise and accolades you desire, yet you still remain unvalued, understaffed, and ignored, yet "WE" appreciate you and send you appreciative emails, offer tshirts (that you have to pay for), reward you with student of the month, oh I'm sorry "daisy of the month", is that okay with you?

Or is that not the intent of you post? IF it wasn't I'm sorry.. LOL (3rd 12) Forgive me  ?

SunCityInsPhysical said:

This is the same cat and mouse game that has been played since the nursing shortages in the 80s and 90s.  ANA has done NOTHING for us ever. No National clinical ladder, no retirement plan like teachers have, we're basically the same as or less than folks who work at McDonald's. 

 

Not McDonalds..... I'm dyinggggg!

SunCityInsPhysical said:

 

In every state, every hospital, clinic, every nursing department I've ever worked in for over 43 years the common denominator is that everyone is constantly at odds instead of having a consistent plan and working for a common goal. I've been part of solving critical shortages only to watch and hear the back sliding. The sneaky insidious slipping away of promises by uncaring bean counters.

 

 

Testify!! Love this!  

But seriously, this is the problem.  Coming up with ideas and then burying them away.  It doesn't work for nursing and you know why.  WE haven't given them any reason to change anything.  Nurses are not united as a whole.  We're like those pop up malls.  When the old mall is outdated bring in a shiny new one with promise for new things to keep business up.

1 Votes
klone said:

So, this thread lit a fire under my *** yesterday, and I pounded out a big long email to my fellow committee members (we are bleeding MAs as an organization, and we've been tasked with figuring out how to fix it). I felt like at the beginning of Jerry Maguire when he wrote that big manifesto that he felt was ground-breaking, and instead it got him fired. I basically said that our problem came down to 2 issues - we need to pay them more, and we need to respect and value them more. 

Love Love Love your Jerry McGuire moment, now don't get Fired being too smart. ??

HiddenAngels said:

We are replaceable. They don't have to care. 

My question to you is, that if you did receive all the praise and accolades you desire, yet you still remain unvalued, understaffed, and ignored, yet "WE" appreciate you and send you appreciative emails, offer tshirts (that you have to pay for), reward you with student of the month, oh I'm sorry "daisy of the month", is that okay with you?

Or is that not the intent of you post? IF it wasn't I'm sorry.. LOL (3rd 12) Forgive me  ?

Yeah, that is definitely not the point of my post. I don't desire praise and accolades at all. The opposite of disrespect is not praise and accolades, it is simply general human respect. 

Disrespect is an undercurrent that affects everything in employers' relationships with nurses (in my opinion). I will try to give a couple of examples but am a bit hesitant to do so because this isn't about a specific complaint but rather about the thread of disrespect that can be found in general treatment of nurses (by employers):

Ex 1: It is not okay with me to ever find myself sitting in a group (such as staff meeting) and be rudely lectured and threatened on a topic I have no involvement in and no idea what provoked it. Specific ex: CNO makes rounds visiting staff meetings and angrily pointing finger all around room while stating, "going forward ANY INSTANCE of mishandling of controlled substances, for ANY REASON...we will REPORT.YOU.TO.THE.BOARD.OF.NURSING."  Now, I'm sure someone did something bad, but excuse me, it wasn't ***ing me, and to make matters worse, **unintentional** mishandling IS a risk when people are running their as$es off, so now you are threatening literally every staff nurse in the room.

I'm just one of those people who, since there is no reason to threaten me with the BON, then I WILL NOT tolerate being spoken to that way. I will leave. [I did subsequently make long-term plan to leave, did the plan, and have now left, this specific incident high on the list of provoking factors]

Ex 2: Handling of patient complaints. Again, this is not about me personally, it is about how nurses are treated on the whole.  I understand that employers have sort of an obligation to follow through on patient complaints. However, this doesn't mean that they have no discretion in how this is done and are legally required to inform an individual nurse every single time someone has made a complaint. People cannot function that way; it destroys morale and creates anger and distrust

Ex 3: Being treated as if stupid. Being lied to. Making dumb rules and blaming them on JC or OSHA. Classic example is/was the very common ban on drinks at nurse's station

Ex 4: Rules, workflows that people can't do, that are **literally** impossible (I mean really literally) and just looking people right in the eye with a dumb innocent look and demanding that they do them then getting angry/punitive when they can't be done

**

So as you can see, the opposite of ^ these types of things is not praise and accolades, it is simple....stop that crap. As far as I'm concerned healthcare organizations can't financially afford to retain workers while acting that way, because there isn't enough money to make people put up with it for long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 Votes
Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Rose_Queen said:

Because you don't work for the right employer. Mine gave out massive retention bonuses in three installments to direct care staff. 

Same.  

We got $6,000 in late 2020 during our covid surge.  $2,000 a month for three months if we didn't call in sick.  But this was for RNs and RTs, but no on else, and not just experienced nurses but included new grads.  We don't have sign-on bonuses that I know of.

But that was a one-time bonus and we don't get regular retention bonuses.

There is a program of a $5,000 referral bonus if we can recruit a nurse to work for us.

We did get across the board raises based, twice the past few years,  on experience to bring us in line with the community rate.  I got $1 an hour but several people got up to a $5 an hour raise based on experienced.   Experienced nurses where I work make far more per hour than new grads.  For example, I make about $15 more an hour than a new grad and get more time off. 

Hospitals need to balance their need for new recruits and retention.  New grads should never make more than an experienced nurse.  I think where I work experience is valued and with a lot of competition locally for RNs they are trying to keep experienced nurses from quitting.  Retention bonuses would be nice, but I'm realistic to know that's probably not going to happen.

4 Votes
Specializes in Dialysis.

My employer (1 of the big 2 dialysis) gave an $1800 retention bonus in early 2022, to retain until 1/1/23. After taxes and such, I received $686. Most of my coworkers that signed came out at about a grand. Overall, most of my coworkers didn't sign, they were leaving for places that pay better, with bigger bonuses, even if it meant crappier work conditions, like staffing, or hours. 

Country Bumpkin General Hospital never gave bonuses, etc, because they haven't had any staffing issues. I'm being serious. Hillbilly Healthcare, in the next county, was giving a 7,000 for 1 year, 15,000 for 2 year, or 35,000 for 3 year sign on/retention bonus, plus increased their pay, for new grads on up. Neither ever used travelers during the pandemic, or even up to this time, and are adamant that they would never. 

I know the CNOs at both. They both agree that if you add these bonuses, that you have to cut something else to make up for it. Both are non profits, but that only means that there aren't shareholders getting a stake in the income, it just gets reinvested. I'm so tired of the games that the suits play with us. They didn't forego their bonuses, or other perks!

4 Votes
JKL33 said:

Yeah, that is definitely not the point of my post. I don't desire praise and accolades at all. The opposite of disrespect is not praise and accolades, it is simply general human respect. 

Disrespect is an undercurrent that affects everything in employers' relationships with nurses (in my opinion). I will try to give a couple of examples but am a bit hesitant to do so because this isn't about a specific complaint but rather about the thread of disrespect that can be found in general treatment of nurses (by employers):

Ex 1: It is not okay with me to ever find myself sitting in a group (such as staff meeting) and be rudely lectured and threatened on a topic I have no involvement in and no idea what provoked it. Specific ex: CNO makes rounds visiting staff meetings and angrily pointing finger all around room while stating, "going forward ANY INSTANCE of mishandling of controlled substances, for ANY REASON...we will REPORT.YOU.TO.THE.BOARD.OF.NURSING."  Now, I'm sure someone did something bad, but excuse me, it wasn't ***ing me, and to make matters worse, **unintentional** mishandling IS a risk when people are running their as$es off, so now you are threatening literally every staff nurse in the room.

I'm just one of those people who, since there is no reason to threaten me with the BON, then I WILL NOT tolerate being spoken to that way. I will leave. [I did subsequently make long-term plan to leave, did the plan, and have now left, this specific incident high on the list of provoking factors]

Ex 2: Handling of patient complaints. Again, this is not about me personally, it is about how nurses are treated on the whole.  I understand that employers have sort of an obligation to follow through on patient complaints. However, this doesn't mean that they have no discretion in how this is done and are legally required to inform an individual nurse every single time someone has made a complaint. People cannot function that way; it destroys morale and creates anger and distrust

Ex 3: Being treated as if stupid. Being lied to. Making dumb rules and blaming them on JC or OSHA. Classic example is/was the very common ban on drinks at nurse's station

Ex 4: Rules, workflows that people can't do, that are **literally** impossible (I mean really literally) and just looking people right in the eye with a dumb innocent look and demanding that they do them then getting angry/punitive when they can't be done

**

So as you can see, the opposite of ^ these types of things is not praise and accolades, it is simple....stop that crap. As far as I'm concerned healthcare organizations can't financially afford to retain workers while acting that way, because there isn't enough money to make people put up with it for long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay I ???THIS!  and I totally agree with all of it!! ?

It is an undercurrent and I don't think nurses realize it is happening to them.  We seem so busy, we just roll with the punches.  And the da__ group meetings that are just demoralizing and demeaning like a scolding you would give a toddler, yet they try to do it in a professional way and have snacks and drinks to fool even the wise if that's even possible. 

Patient complaints -- hmm, I did try to advocate for nurses rights, and tried to zero in on the fact that we are often lied on and that patients can sometimes be highly manipulative, but it fell on deaf ears.  And don't even get me started on JC and OSHA it's like, who's really the man behind the curtain controlling us in Oz.  I'll stop bcus I don't want to rewrite your post but it was a great post.  Clearly I misunderstood you ❤️

Tweety said:

Same.  

We got $6,000 in late 2020 during our covid surge.  $2,000 a month for three months if we didn't call in sick.  But this was for RNs and RTs, but no on else, and not just experienced nurses but included new grads.  We don't have sign-on bonuses that I know of.

But that was a one-time bonus and we don't get regular retention bonuses.

There is a program of a $5,000 referral bonus if we can recruit a nurse to work for us.

We did get across the board raises based, twice the past few years,  on experience to bring us in line with the community rate.  I got $1 an hour but several people got up to a $5 an hour raise based on experienced.   Experienced nurses where I work make far more per hour than new grads.  For example, I make about $15 more an hour than a new grad and get more time off. 

Hospitals need to balance their need for new recruits and retention.  New grads should never make more than an experienced nurse.  I think where I work experience is valued and with a lot of competition locally for RNs they are trying to keep experienced nurses from quitting.  Retention bonuses would be nice, but I'm realistic to know that's probably not going to happen.

I feel like I'm seeing stars. Wow

3 Votes
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