Hi all,
I'm very curious,
For nurses who work in public hospitals (or any other roles who do not work the standard 9-5):
What are your thoughts on on-call, overtime, overnight, weekend shifts?
Is it worth the extra money? Are you grateful for these shifts or do you dread these shifts?
Have you been able to do these consistently over a long period of time?
How have you been able to manage your personal life while working these irregular shifts?
I've worked night shift 8pm-4am for the past seven years and I really enjoy the work life balance compared to the standard 9-5. I usually sleep at 6am and wake around midday which gives me quite a bit of time before work for personal things. The extra money from loadings is an added bonus. I hope that helps.
Wow how many night shifts did you work per week?
Did this make up your pay for a normal 5-day 9-5?
It's my full time role on a rotating roster. The rosters are four weeks in advance, i.e I work 5 shifts a week Monday to Friday for a month, then next month will be Tuesday to Saturday. My pay would usually be around 30% more than if I was to do day shift.
I do enjoy the lifestyle night shift brings, however it comes down to personal preference.
Wow I'm surprised to hear you do night shifts every day 5 days a week! It definitely seems tough, Glad it's working for you though
I used to work in a place that ran 24/7, meaning that we had 4 groups taking turns in doing shifts (basically we had 6 working days, and 2 days break).
Whether that shift work broke you or not really depended on whether you actively used the time between shifts well I felt.
If you exercised and tried to keep to a healthy lifestyle, you faired well, if not, then it normally drained you because the fatigue was real.
Be fair, the condition was far far far worse than what you'd get it Australia in terms of work hours and environment but even then I wouldn't personally recommend doing it for a long time.
Guess we are lucky in Australia but I still feel for those doing shiftwork.. props to you for coping
Eh, be fair, it was related to conscription, which wouldn't fly anywhere other than Korea.
Anyways, plenty of exercise and plenty of sun whenever I can and however I can was what I went for.
This meant waking up before I needed to wake up which was painful to say the least.
My wife's best friend is a nurse and often works nights/overnight and public holidays. Pre-covid it was difficult getting her to come out when we wanted to go for drinks, dinner, more drinks and clubbing as this was her work time. We would have to plan at least a month in advance especially if it was an important event.
The money for her is very worth it however she disliked the fact that because she had no children, she was often deemed less important to other nurses who had children when it came to taking time off, public holidays, etc.
Ah sounds difficult to have a social life if your friends have standard 9-5's!!
But also can't imagine what it'd be like for those who have children - you would have a lot less time with your kids if you did weeknights and weekends.
You could always save it for extended downtime later in life. You don't need to spend it right away. Maybe 10 years from now you'd appreciate the choice of only working a few days a week for a year or two. You could put in the time now and take it easy latter. Do you even want a personal life right now?
Yeah I definitely think it's a good idea to sacrifice now bc I definitely don't want to be slaving away when I'm older haha..
It's hard to keep friends who don't work shiftwork, as previously mentioned. Organising days/times for catch ups/events can be difficult.
I like the money, and not having to travel in peak times.
I'll work OT, when it suits me. Sometimes just relaxing at home, is valued more than the OT $$$.
Definite pluses. Is your work place accommodating, are you able to put in preferences with your shifts?
You can swap with someone else, but you usually just work your roster.
Working a 7 day rotating roster is part of the deal.
Weekend shifts are the only ones that pay significantly more to make it worthwhile.
Its the night shift and rotating on and off nights thats the killer. The quality of sleep you get in the day is nothing like a good nights sleep. The sleep deprivation affects you in many ways, its difficult to eat properly, to concentrate, your mood is irritable and emotions labile. Theres stacks of evidence to show it shortens your lifespan too.
Do weekend day shifts pay more than night shifts??
And if so, why is that?
Definitely seems like night shifts would be the ones that are more taxing :(
Weekend pay the same regardless of the shift. Penalty rate is midnight to midnight
Nightshift only 15% penalty during week.
People who work night shifts die 10 years younger and have more heart disease, cancer and other diseases, it's not natural to work those hours.
Lol wow… very scary
Yep for 15% extra pay. Not a bargain
work night shifts die 10 years younger
That's a big claim, any studies to back it up?
Only study I've seen on this is this one.
All my nurse relatives love the extra loading and schedule their work around them. They've been doing shift work all their working lives. BUT note they were ALL single!
Once you have a family or relationships it gets much harder especially if they're not doing the same thing.
My husband did shift work as well and after doing it for 7 years and having not done it for the same amount of time, his health and sleep patterns are still affected by the time he spent on shift work! He would never ever recommend the health risks over the monetary gains.
Seems very tough but I guess some people have to do it :(
My mate use to do alot of at night shift and get loaded hours for public hols. I think he appreciated the extra cash.