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I've got a friend who's a nurse in a local hospital. She's in the OB ward but has a half dozen patients on her floor with Covid. She says at least half is on an

I've got a friend who's a nurse in a local hospital. She's in the OB ward but has a half dozen patients on her floor with Covid. She says at least half is on antianxiety meds (xanax); she just got a talking-to from her doc who refused to refill her prescription. Apparently, the first bottle is available for anyone with the connections, but after that they start talking about addiction and asking questions. They are offering extra pay; they are understaffed with positions open for RNs at $50/hr plus a 30% bonus (not sure why that's not just $65). About 40% of the staff has or has had COVID.

jamie_ca 6y ago
Cynical take: 30% bonus is there for retention. If you don't stick around for the year to hit the bonus, that's salary they don't need to pay you.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  That’s not cynical, that’s the purpose of a bonus. To ensure retention until the bonus is paid, and if you don’t stick around until the payout date, then you don’t get a bonus. You also stagger the bonus accrual and the payout time so that when the bonus is paid, they are halfway to accruing next year’s bonus so if they want to leave, they have to contemplate giving up a half year’s worth of bonus.
  - Scoundreller 6y ago
    And to add, sometimes a new employer will pay out that “lost” bonus if they really want you. In my case, I was 3/4 into a 1yr retention bonus, and the new employer (which usually doesn’t do retention bonuses) agreed to give me the same bonus after staying for a year. Not exactly the same thing, but trying to encourage people to consider jobs even if they’re part-way into one of these retention arrangements. It was a ~$10k return for a few hours of negotiation. But I was prepared to walk away if I didn’t get it.
op03 6y ago
Immigration flood gates will be opened to solve this just as they did for Y2K.
- vsskanth 6y ago
  There are no "floodgates" to open. FYI if you're an RN, you can get an EB-2 I-140 approved without any sponsorship, under the National Interest Waiver. They're considered to be in perpetual shortage. The fact that people still aren't flooding in should tell you something.

jamie_ca 6y ago

Cynical take: 30% bonus is there for retention. If you don't stick around for the year to hit the bonus, that's salary they don't need to pay you.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
That’s not cynical, that’s the purpose of a bonus. To ensure retention until the bonus is paid, and if you don’t stick around until the payout date, then you don’t get a bonus. You also stagger the bonus accrual and the payout time so that when the bonus is paid, they are halfway to accruing next year’s bonus so if they want to leave, they have to contemplate giving up a half year’s worth of bonus.
- Scoundreller 6y ago
  And to add, sometimes a new employer will pay out that “lost” bonus if they really want you. In my case, I was 3/4 into a 1yr retention bonus, and the new employer (which usually doesn’t do retention bonuses) agreed to give me the same bonus after staying for a year. Not exactly the same thing, but trying to encourage people to consider jobs even if they’re part-way into one of these retention arrangements. It was a ~$10k return for a few hours of negotiation. But I was prepared to walk away if I didn’t get it.

op03 6y ago

Immigration flood gates will be opened to solve this just as they did for Y2K.

vsskanth 6y ago
There are no "floodgates" to open. FYI if you're an RN, you can get an EB-2 I-140 approved without any sponsorship, under the National Interest Waiver. They're considered to be in perpetual shortage. The fact that people still aren't flooding in should tell you something.