as posted, my job is to push beds in a hospital, but there is a funny clause on my contract:
‘In addition to these duties (pushing beds), other duties may be assigned.’
Meaning they can dump everything they want on me.
During the interview, before starting my job, I asked the manager about this clause and he said, “just helping the nurses to move patients on the bed”. Fine I thought, I can live with that.
The manager lied to me. I’ve been doing much more than that, things nobody told me would be my responsibility, like looking for medicines on other units, looking for patients out of the unit because nobody finds them, and more I don’t want to list.
On a later conversation per email, manager told me he wants someone who offers ‘mutual support’. I told him nobody is supporting me when I have to correct how other nurses placed the electrodes on patients, or how infusions are usually not disconnected after infusion, meaning I’m the one who has to discard them and clean the line before pushing the patient, how patients complain to me they’ve been asking for a nurse for hours because they wanted to go to the toilet, but nobody ever comes, meaning I have to toilet them…, how oxygen bottles are never ready, the long distances I have to cover sometimes (big hospital), that I have to help the radiologist to place the patient on the working surface, because he is either too fat or too senile, patient files nurses don’t find and tell me I have to find them (wtf?)
I don’t mind doing everything related to my job, I don’t mind the long distances I have to cover, I don’t mind explaining anatomy to a scared granny or the results to a man scared of losing a leg, I don’t mind helping the technician or calling him to ask if this is a good moment to bring the patient, but they’re shamelessly using this clause to dump everything they can on me.
I do mind being used like this.
I sent an email to this manager explaining all this, just using better English, asking him if he expects me to work as a nurse when there are no patients to move and becoming the guy who pushes beds when needed to, stating that if so he has unrealistic expectations and I’m still waiting for an answer.
I also wrote I work to live, not live to work, so I may have signed my death sentence already?
An idea would be to tell them I can do that, work as a nurse and push beds when needed for more money, but I don’t believe it will work.
Another option: shamelessly half ass it till I get fired, look for something else in the meantime, like the main guy in office space.
Why is it so hard to find a job where nobody dumps more and more stuff for you to do for the same pay?
I no longer have any expectations of this employer. Want to fire me? fire me.
I remember seeing your earlier post about escalating your situation, so I’m referencing both when I speak here. Also, please keep in mind that I live in the US and don’t work in healthcare, so my experiences are all from that angle.
That clause in your contract is totally normal.
I’ve had a version of that same clause for every role I’ve worked - it’s a catch-all for “we might ask you to do a thing not listed, and when we do you need to do it.” Some places are more reasonable in their requests than others, but basically all of them (that I know of) have it just in case.
Your previous post mentioned that you would receive requests to help out other nurses when you had downtime between patients. That too is normal. Every workplace has its own norms and social standards, but a fairly common one is “if you have time to help others who are busy when you aren’t, do it.” That support is meant to swing both ways, but if a person routinely has a lot of downtime while others don’t, they may feel they’ve been unfairly targeted for extra work while others may simply see it as evening out the workload.
At the end of the day, your workplace is unlikely to change. It’s unfortunately going to come down to what you want to deal with:
- Accept the norms at your current role and work within them, even if personally don’t like them. (Otherwise known as “suck it up and deal.”)
- Find a role with norms that fit your working style better. (Knowing that this attitude is common, so you may be looking for a while.)
- Do the bare minimum until you’re grudgingly accepted or forced out. (Leaving you either ostracized and with little chance of future promotion or fired with a reason that may make finding another role difficult.)
I share your dislike of having more work assigned to you despite it not really being yours to do, but I’ve also chosen to just accept that this is part of working. An annoying part, but one I’ve learned to deal with.
One last thing from a fellow “please just leave me alone to do my work” person: I’ve found that if I occasionally volunteer to help someone in my downtime, they’re more likely to leave me in peace when they either see I’m actually busy or when I tell them I’ve been working all day and just need a few minutes to chill. That bit of proactive busyness on occasion has gotten me more downtime in the long run than trying to hide it ever did. (Just my experience, though. You do you.)
Keep an accurate work diary, something high enough detail that you can look back on in several months and know what you were doing at what time on what day. Something you can then use to answer the question “Exactly, how many time this month were you asked to do X”, and the answer be precise.
Sounds like you might be being asked to do things you haven’t had training for, and don’t have the certificates for. In which case this becomes a legal liability issue, and something they can’t ignore, and can’t fire you for.
Also, be careful of the difference between “I have been asked by a manager to do this” and “noone else was doing it so I felt I had to”. If you’re speaking to patients about their medical issues without training or being specifically asked to, you could be getting yourself into trouble too.
The diary thing is useful for everyone in every job really. In your annual review (or quarterly, whatever) it’s incredibly useful to provide facts and figures for what you’ve been spending time doing. Particularly if you’ve got a manager who wants to downplay your efforts, or if you’re asking for pay rises/ bumps up to higher grades.
This is also a “do I have time” issue.
Personally, if I’m paid to work I don’t mind doing other type of jobs, as long as the job I’m hired to do takes precedence. So if I am done with my assignments and they’re still paying me for the time spent at work, I’ll work at whatever needs doing.
Where I feel this doesn’t work in your case is doing jobs you’re not qualified to do. You’re not trained and qualified to talk to patients about their troubles, or to train nursing staff on how to apply electrodes, and probably not to bring patients to the bathroom. All things that would be your responsibility if you were to do it wrong, as those are not under the qualifications for your position.
I would put my foot down on those, and go fetch a different/senior nurse (as fetching people IS your job) when that’s needed.
And that is the conversation I’d have with my manager - not that I don’t want to work while they are still paying, but what types of assignments I’m expected and allowed and qualified to do, and which to refer to someone else to not put yourself and the hospital at risk for liability. And to have that in writing.
Fetching nurses is fraught, as well. I was fired once, because a dying patient needed a procedure I wasn’t qualified to perform, the nurse was too busy smoking and pussyfooting around to perform the procedure. The procedure wouldn’t save the patient’s life, but would ease suffering as they passed. I complained (nicely) and a few days later, was terminated (the nurse got to the DON before I did).
Not a lawyer, so that’s that.
But just because something is in a contract, that doesn’t make it enforceable. Companies can’t just do illegal shit because it’s “in the contract”.
I think you are doing a great job for calling your employer out on this. Really, more than half of the people I meet who are employed in the work force are absolutely reaching their breaking points yet they are so used to obey they just continue let a relentless system kill them slowly. I can’t really give you practical advice on how to act, I’ve been lucky enough to avoid situations like yours by being a freelancer hiding at home, but I’ve been following your posts and just want you to know I admire your tenacity. Don’t let this bring you down mentally and spiritually, you’re on the right track and if more people had the courage to act like you we would not all be in the exploitative situation we’re in.
They kill us with work, and when we burn out they diagnose us with mental illness. I just won’t accept this gaslighting logic anymore.
Would you be fine doing those jobs if you were paid more? Be a model employee until you meet with the person that can change your salary. Find the number that would make you happy and ask for it. If they don’t meet that number, then slack off.
Don’t be emotional. You are a tool like a wrench to them. If they can buy a wrench cheaper, they will. If you are a great wrench that they will profit from purchasing, they will pay extra.
That sounds like a fucking shithole to work, although hospitals are rarely a chilly workplace. Yet that clause is more common than you might think. Basically for the reasons you listed: exploit people or at least have the option left to do so, if need shall arise.
You’re obviously doing too much and also outside your paygrade and education. Like moving a patient or dealing with them at all unless you’re a registered nurse. Sounds like the USA?
Dunno about your countries rules, but I’d choose the halfass way. Do what you are primarily hired to do, maybe a bit here and there, but don’t do that very well and surely not quickly. If anyone sees you CAN do it all, you WILL do it all. People are shit.
Do so and calmly look elsewhere before you’re getting stuck there. Good luck mate.
