Requesting Time Off on Contract

I'm not sure if I put this under the right category, but hope so! We have been traveling for almost a year now, and have never requested specific day's off on a contract. We have heard that other travelers negotiate this into their contracts though, and we are curious about how/when to do that. Our 5 year anniversary is this August and we are hoping to have at least a few days to do something. So do you talk about it during the interview process? Or do you wait until after you have been ofered the job and have it negotiated into your contract? I have heard conflicting opinions and would like to know what works best. We haven't been lucky enough to work at a self scheduling facility yet (well, just one but they didn't stick to it).

Also, while I'm on the subject, do all travelers get stuck working the last 3 days of their contract typically? It's something we don't fuss about because we figure it's part of the deal. But it does kind of stink that instead of working the Sun, Mon, Tues and having Wed - Sun to pack and travel he is almost always scheduled like Thurs, Fri, Sat of that last week. Which means if the next job has a Mon start date it is almost always impossible to not have to take a week off in between assignments (which can be hard on the pocket book at times). We mentioned it to one recruiter one time to see if that could be contracted, but she pretty much said that it's up to the facility how they schedule you, so we haven't mentioned it again since then. Any input would be helpful. Thanks!

Hello KelliTravels :)

I've been traveling for 2.5 years and haven't requested specific days off within a contract.  Most places that I have been to has worked with me on getting days off or getting a long weekend.  Most of the time I ask another co-worker to trade for me and has worked out, I try not to reduce my hours.  I've never had a problem doing it that way.  At times it can be an event, I worked every Thurs-Sun in NM and it was like pulling teeth to get a Fri-Say off.  I was there for 7 months and only got one weekend off.  If your not in a contract you may want to request those days off, I've had another traveler working with me that requested a holiday off and got it before they started the contract.

I often get stuck with working the last days of my contract, most of the time my contract ends on a Friday and I move out on Monday or Tuesday depending on where I'm going next.  I had one assignment in TX that ended on Friday and had to be in NM to start on Sunday.  Whew, that was an all day Saturday driving in the middle of nowhere in which I ran into having a dead battery in my car which made the trip even longer.  And worked 8 days in a row clearing 90 hours for the week.  Talk about needing to recharge after that.  But I choose to be busy at that time, another time I was off a month (not my choice).  I guess we take the good and bad of travel life.  LOL

I would talk with your company, most of the time if it's a few days that can be swicthed around at most hospitals.  Good Luck and Happy 5th Anniversary :)
 

Thanks for the info Amanda! We have had varrying situations when it comes to getting a facility to allow him to switch days. Some are super cool about it and some are kinda jerks. We might try to get a couple of days for the anniversary written into the contract so we don't have to depend on swapping and so we can plan something in advance, but it's also not something we are willing to make a big fuss over. Same with the end days. It would be nice if it would work out our way, but we accept that we have to be flexible too. And thank you!!! I'm typically not worried about celebrating any holiday's on the exact day. We always just pick a day that works with our schedules to celebrate Birthdays, Christmas, etc. But 5 years is kinda a biggy! I mean we have grown and changed together so much over the past 5 years so I am hoping we can celebrate it! :)

Hey Kelli!
I would be a little hesitant about your husband requesting time off in an interview especially if you guys are only wanting a few days to celebrate your anniversary. I think more often than not it leaves a bad taste in the interviewing managers mouth. The interview is the time for your husband to "woo" the manager because they probably have a stack of 25-50 other canidates they could call who wouldnt have those requests. Of course, if its not agreed upon in the interview though, the company won't put it in the contract but in almost every instance one of my travelers wants a few days blocked off either the manager or other RN's have worked with them to figure it out...especially for such a special event like an anniversary. As for the end of the contract, that's usually another instance where explaining the situation to the manager or co-workers will help in getting his 3 shifts at the front end of the week. If it doesnt look like thats going to happen the company should be able to negotiate a mid week start for him at the new assignment to get into HR and start unit orientation by the end of the week. I've been able to do that for most of my travelers in the same situation (unless they've got certains days per month they do orientation). Ultimately the hospital wants the traveler there asap and would much rather have a mid week start than having to wait until the beginning of the next week. Then you wont go a week without a paycheck either!!

It seems like every recruiter has their own preference. Some say to talk to the interviewer about it, some say wait till after the interview and we will negotiate it into the contract. Our current recruiter, however, wouldn't let us do either. She made us risk it and see if they would work with us after the contract (I was not very thrilled with this non-solution). Out of 6 assignments so far, not one scheduling department has been willing to work with Skyler on any post-contract requests. He hasn't had many but like maybe asking to be scheduled a particular day off for company or trying to trade shifts with another traveler. They always seem to be unwilling to help out. That is, until this current assignment.

We have never had nor do we expect to ever have again a nicer scheduling lady!!! She called him 2 weeks before his contract and gave him his entire schedule for 11 weeks!!! And when he made those 2 requests she was super nice about it and switched a few days around to make it work. And then she even went a step further and told him to look it all over and call her back if he needs her to make any adjustments! What?! Wow we were so pleasently surprised!!! And it's so awesome to have his entire schedule already. We can make plans as far in advance during this contract as we want. And now I can tell our family when we will for sure be home, etc. Wonderful!

We've done mostly midweek start dates actually (including this one). We just had a really weird situation this time that we were trying to work around from all angles. Luckily, it all seems to have panned out nicely!