Should You Go Part-Time as a New Grad Nurse?
Have you thought about working part-time as a new grad RN? Or as a current bedside nurse, ever feel jealous of your part-time co-workers?
Just because you don't have kids to take care of, or in school, or have other responsibilities outside of work - doesn't mean you can't consider working part-time. In fact - going part-time may be the best way to stick it out in the hospital longer term!
Through my experiences as a nurse, and nurse manager – most newer nurses in the initial years of their career work full-time. Sometimes as nurses start families, they may go part-time – but early on in careers, most nurses without families work full time.
I am now seeing more nurses who are opting to go part time. Not because anything has really changed in their life, but because they need a break!
I think many new grad nurses don’t even think about part time as an option. They may see part-time positions posted and completely disregard them. New grads want to starting making money – enough of that unpaid nursing school clinical business!
So why may you want to consider a part time nursing position?
- Work/life balance
- Less need to ask for PTO or schedule adjustments
- Prevent burnout
- Working in the hospital right now is hard. People are over the pandemic, rough staffing, stress – just to name a few. Going part-time is a more sustainable way to stay at the bedside if you’re more prone to getting burnt out.
- You can pick up a second job or PRN
- Variety can be nice. Working 2 part-time jobs gives you a change of pace
- Ability to pick up more shifts at an incentivized rate
- Many hospitals offer incentives to pick up more shifts when they are short staffed. It could be a certain more $/hour, or time and a half, or even double time.
- These incentives go beyond your worked FTE. So if you’re full-time, you would need to work a 4th shift in a week to get the incentive. If you’re part time though, and work 2 days a week, you can get that incentive for your third shift. And you may even feel you could pick up two extra shifts. And then you’re making MORE MONEY than your fellow full time nurse, who picked up one extra shift. Whoa!
- Mandated extra shifts aren’t as bad
- Hospitals may also mandate everyone to work extra shifts. If you’re full time, that means you’re going to be working some overtime. That can be a lot. Especially when staffing is rough and you’re tired.
- If you’re part-time, it’s easier to work these extra shifts – because you’re not already working full-time hours.
- You can pick up more to make more
- Most hospitals have opportunity for nurses to pick up more shifts. If you want to make more money, you have the option to work an extra shift or so every week.
- And let’s say you picked up and had a rough week and need some time away – well next week it’s back to part time hours! No need to beg for a PTO day for a breather.
Hope this makes you think more about the benefits of part-time. It’s not for everyone, but it may be a way to sustainably stay at the bedside, and offer you more flexibility and better mental health!
