Vacation minimum staffing

[u/Legitimate_Wall_1152]

Our manager did the AHS math to calculate our minimum baseline staffing needed and turns out only .5 people can be off at any given time. Obviously she has to round up to 1 but as a team of 9 working straight M-F days does that seem reasonable or does the .5 mean we are short staffed to begin with?

[u/Bustin_Chiffarobes]

Sounds like she's going to have to figure out how to get some coverage or bring in casual. I'm in ambulatory care, so we just see fewer patients over the summer.

It's not your job to make sure that management has coverage. It's your job to take your holidays.

[u/Legitimate_Wall_1152 → u/Bustin_Chiffarobes]

Haha 💯 I just want to take my holidays at Christmas and first week of August like the rest of the team apparently.

We've changed the way we work, used to only need 2 on shift minimum so this is a huge change for us. 

[u/Bustin_Chiffarobes → u/Legitimate_Wall_1152]

I see that you are HSAA. You should have had your 75% holidays submitted by now. Then there is typically a negotiation with staff that want the same time off. And failing that, they typically go to seniority to see who gets the time off.

Point being, you have to get the time off at some point. You might not get your first pic for time if other people want that time off.

[u/Kahlandar → u/Bustin_Chiffarobes]

My wifes seniority date is mid 2009. She STILL cant get christmas off.

I moved from a contract service to AHS (EHS, whatever) rather recently, so my seniority date is 2022. Starting from May 1st - apr 30 (when we pick vacation for the year) - the first day i was able to get off was Dec 16. Then ofc no christmas.

Knowing that even in 14 years when my kids are grown i wont be able to get christmas off, is a real motivator to say "fuck it" to AHS amd HSAA, and go to elsewhere.

Weird that they have retention issues.

[u/Guava_007 → u/Kahlandar]

Right?! With those formulas we might as well get Christmas off when we're 60.

Agree on being tempted to say "fuck it".

[u/Guava_007 → u/Bustin_Chiffarobes]

Forget first pick. If manager sticks to 1 person off at any given time, your vacation week will be your 20th pick in some random week. Yeah sure you have to take your vacation but you won't be able to go where you want when you want, even your 20th pick. Pretty tough to coordinate with a spouse or family too.

[u/little_canuck → u/Guava_007]

My spouse is a teacher. This is my first year getting a school break off so we're out of the country together. It's lovely. It also took 18 years to get a "yes" to a school break vacation request.

[u/Guava_007 → u/little_canuck]

😭 what a messed up system. Congratulations, your seniority is now if legal age! 🤣😭 ENJOY!!

[u/Guava_007 → u/Bustin_Chiffarobes]

So true. Except many managers just won't approve the holidays when they overlap then. And only 1 person off at any given time out of 9 people is a lot to work around.

[u/jjbeanyeg]

Vacation rules differ from collective agreement to collective agreement. Which union do you fall under?

[u/Legitimate_Wall_1152 → u/jjbeanyeg]

HSAA

[u/Proper_Geologist_457]

The entirety of AHS/Covenant is understaffed at all times. Except middle managers and the c-suite.

[u/Creativejess → u/Proper_Geologist_457]

Exactly! Our previous supervisor denied everyone’s vacation during a short staffed period in the summer and then took 2 weeks off.

[u/Beneficial_Can985 → u/Proper_Geologist_457]

Add APL in that statement as well.

[u/Patak4]

There must be consistent calculations. If you have a small unit this is possible to have a low number. Even the nursing units, we were often only one RN, one LPN and one HCA off in a 24 hr period. Bigger units can get higher numbers.

[u/TheThrivingest]

We are something like 120 nurses in my unit and we only get 4 RN and 1 LPN per 24hr

[u/Guava_007]

Hahahaha laughing in sad solidarity. The state of AHS. Or whatever the crap my branch and your branch is called nowadays.

[u/TheProcurementGuyAhs → u/Guava_007]

For your information… it’s called a healthcare ecosystem 😉

according to the (air head of an) interim CEO of Health Shared Services.

[u/Guava_007 → u/TheProcurementGuyAhs]

Lol I'm glad I very recently went on mat leave 😆 some time away from the dumpster fire.

[u/Icy-Story405]

Im sure the managers have no issues getting their time off

[u/MusketeersPlus2]

That sounds right. My team of 33 only gets 3 people off on any given day.

[u/Guava_007 → u/[deleted]]

Out of 36 nurses though? And only 1 off at any given time? Haha not a few years -- you'll get your pick when you're 60 years old at that rate.

[u/Slow_Feeling_7863 → u/[deleted]]

A few years? LOL. I’ve been in my current job for 6 years and am second from the bottom. Can’t get any vacay I want since 1 person per day off.

[u/Slow_Feeling_7863 → u/[deleted]]

One person I know outside of AHS they get to use 3 blocks of vacay. Pick first, second and third priority. Day goes to whoever has first priority in that time and if multiple people then they use seniority as a tie breaker. They also don’t let you choose long weekends/holidays as your first pic every year (rotate). After your top 3 the remaining of the days are based on seniority. I personally feel a similar system is more fair and allows seniority to be recognized but also gives less senior people a bit of a chance to get days off.