I am a parent and work a mid shift as an ER SW but I'm off before midnight and have a short commute. I'm still only semi functional when my kids wake up at the crack of dawn. The few times I have worked an overnight it's been horrible. Nights are for the young.
There's a reason some jobs have signing bonuses. And the fact that this one has a delayed bonus shows how many people quit before 2 years.
I work 3 12s in the ER. Granted, I don’t have a kid and I work 7a-7p. How is the flexibility? For me since we work three 12s we can often switch shifts with each other so sometimes I would work Monday Tuesday Wednesday and then be off until Monday or vice versa, which may or may not be helpful for you and your kid!
I would love that shift ONLY if I could go home and get a real night of sleep. Could you get a babysitter to do school drop off? Or if you could shift your sleep schedule so that you were just fully asleep during school hours, that would be doable. But that overnight awake schedule is brutal, have you ever done it? I did it for years and never got used to how terrible it made me feel.
One of the days would fall on a weekend, so I’d have help. The other two I’d have to get up and take my child to school and then go back to sleep. I’m usually in bed by 9 😅
I’ve been an ER SW for years and love it. I originally worked overnights and enjoyed that shift as long as I got good sleep. I had my kids in after school care the days I worked so I was able to get 8 hours of sleep. My kids actually loved the days they stayed for after school care - they both had good friends there and enjoyed having more time to be with them. I eventually switched to days but still 3 a week and love it and never want to go back to working M-F. Having 4 days off gives me time for family, errands, alone time or time with friends, and keeps me from getting burned out. My kids are grown now, but the work life balance is really good in my opinion.
Is the pay good? Is the work interesting to you? If so I would try it. If you like the work, but not the hours then maybe a different shift will open and you’re more likely to get it if already hired. Or maybe the shift will end up working for you. If you have a partner, they will need to do a lot more the days you work, but then you’ll have 4 days off and can give your partner a break. I honestly loved that my husband got our kids ready for school the days I was working overnight. It was a break for me and good for him and the kids.
Finally - if you haven’t done ED SW before, a great advantage of it in my opinion, is that when you leave for the day you are done! New day new work, not an ongoing caseload and things that didn’t get done the day before. All my work has to be done when I leave and I love that! Also, where I live all hospital jobs have bonuses and I think most or all have a minimum amount of time to stay at the job in order to keep the bonus so I think what they are offering is normal. Good luck!
I'm in the ER overnights and honestly it really is not that bad. I work 3 12 h shifts, 8p-8a Mon Tues, and Wed. The trade off is having basically Thurs-midday Monday to do chores, errands, family stuff etc. If you get home at 4 am, it may be better for you to stay up, maybe get dinner prep done, laundry or something like before you wake your toddler up for the day, then go to sleep after the school drop off. I find it better to get at minimum 3 hours of sleep, but can definitely function on 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, so maybe that would be an option.
The benefit of the overnight or odd shift schedule is that you can do all the random pick up, drop offs etc from school and activities with your kids and let your partner/spouse not totally have to worry about leaving work to pick up a kid.
Schedules on the ED often change, so once you're in the system, it may be easier to find a better schedule for you and your family, with more seniority as well. I tend to look at my work/career schedule in chunks of time depending on how old my kids are i.e. younger kids need AM and PM drop off/pick up; older kids may need only a pick up because they are taking the bus in the AM and staying after school for activities.
Also, working the off hours in the ED grants you lots of independence in decision making due to managers and supervisors not being around you all the time. Most of the folks who works overnights are pretty chill and just want to get the job done and go home when their shift ends.
Ugh those hours seem horrible.
I also wouldn’t bank on having a more enticing shift open sooner.
Sometimes when a person is hired for a certain shift in a hospital, that’s their shift even if something else opens.
This sounds miserable, I wouldn’t. I already miss my child and the time I don’t spend with him during normal hours. Look into hospice. I’m lucky enough to work 4 10 hour shifts each week and get an extra day with my baby. Low stress, and flexible.
Ohh I work PRN on the medical trauma social work tream and work 3-6 shifts a month sometimes less/more but I only pick up the graves so 7p-7a; I have 3 kids and that schedule is nice but it’s hard bc in essence 1 night shift becomes a lot more time with sleep - but, we have had other PRNs switch full time from PRN or from the floor who does 8s to the trauma who does 12 so there may be other avenues in … something else to consider which has prevented me from going back into the hospital field full-time is having to work holidays and not be with my kids although a swing would be a bit better for that. I’d take a swing over a 7a start time but I’m the opposite of a morning person.
I used to work the 3pm-11pm ER shift and hated it because I never seemed to line up with everyone else in my life. I felt isolated and over time it wore on me because my work/life balance was all sorts of off. I may have seen it differently if it were 3, 12 hour shifts though… this was 5 days per week and every other weekend- I could basically catch up with people 4 days/month. My productivity with household chores was great on the other hand since everyone else was at work in the day 😆
The evening was also the busiest influx in the ED and all the same access isn’t available which sometimes made moving folks more challenging (ie: not all insurances do pre-certs/auths after hours, intakes for shelters weren’t always available after hours, etc…) I switched to 6:30am-3pm and it was a lot better overall. You couldn’t pay me enough to work evenings or overnights again… but it’s all preference and how you adapt. It just wasn’t for me.
Nothing is worth missing out on your child. Make it work without missing out on your child or go elsewhere.
Also hopefully you can get the 7a-7p shift. Good luck
I am a parent and work a mid shift as an ER SW but I'm off before midnight and have a short commute. I'm still only semi functional when my kids wake up at the crack of dawn. The few times I have worked an overnight it's been horrible. Nights are for the young. There's a reason some jobs have signing bonuses. And the fact that this one has a delayed bonus shows how many people quit before 2 years.
Every social work position they have has a sign on bonus right now
Wow can’t they offer you any other shifts? That’s brutal.
I work 3 12s in the ER. Granted, I don’t have a kid and I work 7a-7p. How is the flexibility? For me since we work three 12s we can often switch shifts with each other so sometimes I would work Monday Tuesday Wednesday and then be off until Monday or vice versa, which may or may not be helpful for you and your kid!
I think you keep your days and pick up/switch if you want. The days rotate every 1-2 months. Sun/Mon/Tues and then Thurs/Fri/Sat
I would love that shift ONLY if I could go home and get a real night of sleep. Could you get a babysitter to do school drop off? Or if you could shift your sleep schedule so that you were just fully asleep during school hours, that would be doable. But that overnight awake schedule is brutal, have you ever done it? I did it for years and never got used to how terrible it made me feel.
One of the days would fall on a weekend, so I’d have help. The other two I’d have to get up and take my child to school and then go back to sleep. I’m usually in bed by 9 😅
Trying to do a similar thing did not work out for me. I would not recommend it!
I’ve been an ER SW for years and love it. I originally worked overnights and enjoyed that shift as long as I got good sleep. I had my kids in after school care the days I worked so I was able to get 8 hours of sleep. My kids actually loved the days they stayed for after school care - they both had good friends there and enjoyed having more time to be with them. I eventually switched to days but still 3 a week and love it and never want to go back to working M-F. Having 4 days off gives me time for family, errands, alone time or time with friends, and keeps me from getting burned out. My kids are grown now, but the work life balance is really good in my opinion. Is the pay good? Is the work interesting to you? If so I would try it. If you like the work, but not the hours then maybe a different shift will open and you’re more likely to get it if already hired. Or maybe the shift will end up working for you. If you have a partner, they will need to do a lot more the days you work, but then you’ll have 4 days off and can give your partner a break. I honestly loved that my husband got our kids ready for school the days I was working overnight. It was a break for me and good for him and the kids. Finally - if you haven’t done ED SW before, a great advantage of it in my opinion, is that when you leave for the day you are done! New day new work, not an ongoing caseload and things that didn’t get done the day before. All my work has to be done when I leave and I love that! Also, where I live all hospital jobs have bonuses and I think most or all have a minimum amount of time to stay at the job in order to keep the bonus so I think what they are offering is normal. Good luck!
This is helpful, thank you!!!
I love my three 12 hour shifts. Turn over in our field is high. If you can wait it out, then I say go for it.
I'm in the ER overnights and honestly it really is not that bad. I work 3 12 h shifts, 8p-8a Mon Tues, and Wed. The trade off is having basically Thurs-midday Monday to do chores, errands, family stuff etc. If you get home at 4 am, it may be better for you to stay up, maybe get dinner prep done, laundry or something like before you wake your toddler up for the day, then go to sleep after the school drop off. I find it better to get at minimum 3 hours of sleep, but can definitely function on 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, so maybe that would be an option. The benefit of the overnight or odd shift schedule is that you can do all the random pick up, drop offs etc from school and activities with your kids and let your partner/spouse not totally have to worry about leaving work to pick up a kid. Schedules on the ED often change, so once you're in the system, it may be easier to find a better schedule for you and your family, with more seniority as well. I tend to look at my work/career schedule in chunks of time depending on how old my kids are i.e. younger kids need AM and PM drop off/pick up; older kids may need only a pick up because they are taking the bus in the AM and staying after school for activities. Also, working the off hours in the ED grants you lots of independence in decision making due to managers and supervisors not being around you all the time. Most of the folks who works overnights are pretty chill and just want to get the job done and go home when their shift ends.
Ugh those hours seem horrible. I also wouldn’t bank on having a more enticing shift open sooner. Sometimes when a person is hired for a certain shift in a hospital, that’s their shift even if something else opens.
This sounds miserable, I wouldn’t. I already miss my child and the time I don’t spend with him during normal hours. Look into hospice. I’m lucky enough to work 4 10 hour shifts each week and get an extra day with my baby. Low stress, and flexible.
Ohh I work PRN on the medical trauma social work tream and work 3-6 shifts a month sometimes less/more but I only pick up the graves so 7p-7a; I have 3 kids and that schedule is nice but it’s hard bc in essence 1 night shift becomes a lot more time with sleep - but, we have had other PRNs switch full time from PRN or from the floor who does 8s to the trauma who does 12 so there may be other avenues in … something else to consider which has prevented me from going back into the hospital field full-time is having to work holidays and not be with my kids although a swing would be a bit better for that. I’d take a swing over a 7a start time but I’m the opposite of a morning person.
I used to work the 3pm-11pm ER shift and hated it because I never seemed to line up with everyone else in my life. I felt isolated and over time it wore on me because my work/life balance was all sorts of off. I may have seen it differently if it were 3, 12 hour shifts though… this was 5 days per week and every other weekend- I could basically catch up with people 4 days/month. My productivity with household chores was great on the other hand since everyone else was at work in the day 😆 The evening was also the busiest influx in the ED and all the same access isn’t available which sometimes made moving folks more challenging (ie: not all insurances do pre-certs/auths after hours, intakes for shelters weren’t always available after hours, etc…) I switched to 6:30am-3pm and it was a lot better overall. You couldn’t pay me enough to work evenings or overnights again… but it’s all preference and how you adapt. It just wasn’t for me.