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TerribleGramber_Nazi t1_ixmiyen wrote

Likely a free market of supply and demand for traveling nurses.

The pay needs to be enough to incentivize them to migrate.

Believe me, they would pay them the bare minimum they could

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mistie_gish t1_ixmo272 wrote

If they could hire enough locally, they wouldn't need travel nurses.

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bhejda t1_ixmra0x wrote

If they treated and paid "regular" staff well, so many people wouldn't turn into temp contractors.

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zippy_08318 t1_ixnhns2 wrote

It’s quite common for nurses to pick up contract hour’s in addition to their regular gig. My wife has a full time (3 12 hour shifts) gig but works 1-3 shifts per week on contract as well. Virtually all of her friends do similar. The extra money is too good to pass up

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mistie_gish t1_ixn26fa wrote

Totally agree! Also, it's unfair that the people who are able to take advantage of the higher wages being a traveling nurse are more likely to be younger people without kids- NOT that I blame anyone for getting the best deal for themselves! But a lot of people who would love to command a higher rate can't do it because they have responsibilities at home.

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Paranoidexboyfriend t1_ixo1rao wrote

How is that unfair? The whole point is they’re paying a premium for a less than ideal living situation.

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todayilearmed t1_ixo2tgk wrote

Travel nurses get way worse assignments, get pulled to other units before regular staff does, and don’t get the benefits regular employees get. It’s not unfair..but what is unfair is nursing wages as a whole for the past century

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pittbiomed t1_ixmu2xv wrote

This is a US whole nursing issue , this isn’t a local issue in any way

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Amrun90 t1_ixns73a wrote

They have been through all the local staff, treated them like trash, and worked them into the ground until they left.

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TerribleGramber_Nazi t1_ixmr2tb wrote

Very true! I assume it has to do with workforce elasticity.

If there are people with specialized skills that takes years of education and certification are in the area and aren’t employed then they will move to an area that will employ them. Creating an equilibrium of sorts.

If there is a strong fluctuation in work demand over a short period then the workforce won’t magically appear locally and incentives are required to import labor.

On the other side of elasticity, as demand shrinks, many positions will no longer need to be filled.

Local positions of lower value probably have a higher priority to the hospital over higher costing travel workers.

So the hospitals/employers need to pay for relocation, the inconvenience of upending your current living situation, the risk of job security, etc. Not sure how much thats worth to you and everyone’s situation is different with family etc.

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jangoblamba t1_ixmsr6u wrote

Annecdotal, but I have a few friends that have recently quit from UPMC nursing to do travel nursing contracts because the pay is so drastically better than what UPMC offers them. They know that they can artificially create this kind of travel nursing need by just not being apart of the main systems. Also, UPMC just changed it's requirements for nurses to be on full-time payroll, from 30 shifts a year to 8 hrs minimum per week, which removed a lot of the flexibility of being apart of their program. That was the straw that broke my friend's backs with staying there; they weren't willing to be paid poorly on a weekly basis compared to their travel nursing contracts. Again, this is just what I've heard from a few nurses within their system, but they say a lot of the complaints they have are pretty ubiquitous.

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TerribleGramber_Nazi t1_ixmtsvv wrote

Super interesting insight. Thank you for sharing.

Free markets will do what they will and people will take the best options available for themselves/family. Things take time for sudden changes to settle and efficiency to be met

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jangoblamba t1_ixmve87 wrote

Yea, although I do hope that in UPMC's case some sort of gov't red tape starts pushing them to do the right thing for their employees. It's obvious that UPMC is willing to work against their employees to make more money and to increase their rate of geographical monopolization, and they seem to have created a scenario where they have no bigger incentives to change. I'm usually not down with more red tape, but when UPMC is doing such blatant and oblivious things and not changing, it's up to anything else to kickstart that change

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Edmeyers01 t1_ixnb108 wrote

People working at UPMC need to keep the pressure for raises up. Most of the people I know that work there sit there for years and years and just complain about it. The only way is to leave and then come back and negotiate higher pay.

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jangoblamba t1_ixndw4m wrote

I don't think leaving and coming back is a healthy way to negotiate higher wages. It's definitely a strategy, but UPMC should be competitive by just being good at offering good wages. I'm a server that makes as much as UPMC nurses. That's kinda pathetic on UPMC's part

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Edmeyers01 t1_ixpbi24 wrote

I agree with your hypothetical, but unfortunately UPMC has a borderline successful monopoly in Pittsburgh. That takes away any healthy options. This advice worked for me and landed me 3x what I was getting paid previously by UPMC for my old analyst job. It’s awesome that they are feeling the pressures of the labor shortage, but it is going to take a whole lot more than that for them to change their ways. At the individual level, today, your best option is to leave and come back

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First-Hour t1_ixolj63 wrote

I like to be transparent. I left my job to do travel nursing. Did local travel in Pittsburgh. Pay jumped from $30 an hour to $70-90.

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jangoblamba t1_ixonvnd wrote

That's about the same jump they experienced, so I'd say you're on the ball with that

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pittbiomed t1_ixmtxdc wrote

You stating you have friends that have done x is the definition of anecdotal .you do realize that right?

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jangoblamba t1_ixmul7m wrote

You do realize the space comes after the period, not before, right? And that the word after a full stop is capitalized?

Yes, I do, by stating that first, I'm providing a gentle reminder to take what I have to say with a grain of salt. That's all.

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pittbiomed t1_ixnsfcj wrote

Of course , with no response to a fact someone attacks the structure or spelling of things. Lol , I get it . I guess you do not know the definition of anecdotal , but that’s ok, we all can see what weapons you use in your arguments.

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jangoblamba t1_ixnvesy wrote

complains about the subjective use of a word

Cannot perform the basics of English grammatical structure

Bitches anyway

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pittbiomed t1_ixo0lrb wrote

Lol as I said too funny that’s all you have to say lol

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steeerrrfff t1_ixn06ft wrote

Correction: they do pay them the minimum they can.

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DaleGribble312 t1_ixmx64n wrote

Who are all these people paying people.more than the minimum they can? I'd like some extra money

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