Limited Hours

[Guest Guest_marcia]

Hello,

I am training for AD and right now am only assisting. It seems as if 40 hours a week is not enough time to get everything done that needs to be done.

 

The facility I work at has a limit of 31 hours per week. I am working there and at home over 40, but of course get paid for the 31. Are most facilities like this?

 

Also, while I have your attention.....

 

How do you know if being an AD is not for you? There is more stress there than I had even anticipated. Not many benefits either.

I am wondering if I am doing the right thing. I am giving over 10 hours of my personal time each week, having to put my money up front for classes, etc. And I won't get reimbursed for a very long time.

 

This facility has gone through several Activity Assistants and Directors and I see why.

 

Any advice or information you can give me would be helpful.

 

Of course I know it's about the people...it's too bad facilities don't do better compensating staff to make sure the residents are well taken care of in every way.

 

Thank you,

Marcia

 

Also, I need to take these classes, but I also need to travel and miss 2 weeks of work, and come up with my motel/hotel bill and not get paid while I am there.

Is that the norm?

[Diana 0]

Hi Marcia,

First, Welcome to our site. You will find it useful and encouraging!

 

Yes, everything you have described is the norm. From working the extra hours (which only yourself can give permission for, the company cannot demand that of you), to paying for classes, hotel and travel first and getting reimbursed later. You are probably wondering if that is a step too much, but I haven't heard of any facility that does it differently.

 

If you are only given 31 hours a week, stick to that! But if you work more, be sure to document and then during your employee review, explain the need for more hours and perhaps they'll grant you this in pay.

 

Gotta run, I'll explain more later!!!

[Pennie 26]

Hi Marcia,

Welcome. All jobs no matter what they are I believe have some stress of one kind or another involved. Ours would be one that has a high level of this. You are an Ass't correct? Do you have an AD? What kind of hours do they work? What kind of work do you take home to do?

I can tell you first hand that you should not take any work home or do it on your own time. This will also cause you to burn out fast. I know all of have & some still do. However if you do this then the powers that be think there is no problem, after all everything is getting done. So you need to show that the 31 hours is just not cutting it. Really the AD should be standing up for you & the dept. on this! But if not take matters into your own hands & speak to the admin. about your concerns.

As far as getting money back on seminars etc. it varies from facility to facility. Some do not even pay for this. I have gone to seminars where they send the bill to the facility and get paid this way. I have also gotten all of the seminar info. with full cost well in advance and given it to accounting, they pay for the seminar prior to the date(s) it will be held. I have had them give me the check to take with me to the seminar & pay at the time of registering. You just need to speak to accounting dept see how they handle things as well as speaking to the people doing the seminar to see what they are willing to do.

Your travel time will have to be after the seminar but this shouldn't be to bad if they cover the rest for you.

You said you would have to take 2 weeks off for the classes, what kind of classes? If it is for the Basic & Advance classes to become certified you might look into taking these on-line. I hope I have not confussed you but if I have please let me know.

As far as staying in this profession only you can answer this. But if your heart is not into it you should probably find another line of work. Life is to short to work in a field that we just don't like ;-) ADing is a lot of hard and stressful work, it will at times interfer in your home life. Take the time to think about what you really want. I'll be waiting to hear back from you P

[Guest Kay K]

I am an Activity Coordinator at a facility. We have 71 residents (we are almost full). I'm it. I work 30 hours a week with most weekends off.

I have a question? How many of you were acknowleged (sorry for that misspelled work) in January during Activity Director Week? I have been doing this job for over a year now and it seems that upper management does not even hardly know I am there. I have asked for more training but in this small town there just isn't any. And your right, classes are paid for out of my pocket and then who know when I would be reimbursed (I have not taken any classes but have asked). My e-mail address is mkn1036631@aol.com. Would love to hear from you.

 

I live in Great Falls Montana

[StacieO 0]

I am the responsible person for setting up my budget for my department, therefore, I am able to determine the amount allocated for classes/seminars. 90% of the time, I am able to have my accounts payable send a check in advance, but if I pay anything out of pocket, mileage, & hotel costs, I am reimbursed by the 15th of the next month (provided I have turned in my expenses by the end of the month). So - my advice is to find out who is setting up your dept.'s budget & go from there, you may need to have more of a voice. Most certifications require a certain number of CEU's & if your facility is requiring certficiation, then they had better footing the bill to maintain them. I was able to negotiate w/ my boss this year to be reimbursed for the cost of my year CTRS dues (SWEET!!!!!).

 

And as was mentioned, if you don't feel this is the right field, don't invest much of your own time & money! I know this is where I was meant to be!!

 

Have a super MONDAY! 8-)

Stacie

[heavenstar 0]

I admit, I work in a completely different environment than most--- (IL, 400 residents, and I am the only AD) I work 40 a week, with about 5 hours overtime a month (which I get comped for).

My advice is to not give up on ADing just yet. It sounds like you are at the wrong place. Try moving to a new facility-- granted, you will have stress wherever you go, and you will have to give up some of your personal time and maybe even paying up front every once in a while. But I would definately talk to the Admin before hand and make sure that is what is expected.

 

Another idea: Can you get some of the residents to help you? Such as calling Bingo while you do your documentation? Can you make a standard form where all you have to do is just add a little on each person?

[Guest Guest_marcia]

Hey, thank you all for your replies. You have all given me much to think about.

Being new at this, and yes I am an assistant now, not a director, you have also asked questions that I had not thought of as yet.

The facility where I work is very small and in the state of Indiana which like a lot of states seems to be short of money at this time.

Even though it is a small facility, there is stress, and as all of you said, that is to be expected.

Thank you again for your help.

Marcia

[GinaFilice 0]

Hey,

 

I have 106 clients and I run everything in a day centre EPC program, first of all you need to get a membership to ActivityConnection - it is what has saved me because everything is already done for you - you just need to implement activities and adapt them where necessary. My agency had no money to hire me a program worker - I thought I was going to burn out after 3 months of working here. Once I got connected to ActivityConnection I have stopped taking client notes and assessments home with me.

 

Also, you need to request that you ahve at least one full day in office to get admin stuff completed.

 

Also, volunteers can be a great asset.

 

Cheers!

Gina

[StacieO 0]

Gina:

I also use Activity Connection & LOVE it! It is worth every penny spent on it. My calendars are a snap & we can down-load soooo many activities/ideas, we don't even use all of them! We've put them into 3 ring binders according to subject or month, depending on what best fits. I would not give that up for anything. I did give up our subscription for Creative Forecasting, though. It's a super resource, but I have YEARS (7+) in our office & it just didn't seem like we used it anymore. I look forward to the 10th of every month, because a new month is posted!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

[lllucas 0]

Hi, Marcia! :-)

 

I'm in Indiana, too. The first thing I would suggest is that you become a member of this site and sign up for their e-mail. Next you might check out my site and sign up for my free Activity Director newsletter ( http://www.theactivitydirectorsoffice.com ). There are many free AD sites on the Internet these days that can help you with activity ideas and "nuts & bolts" things for your department. The hardest things to find are forms. Most places that have forms also charge for them.

 

Other sites you may be interested in visiting are Gina Salazar's Activity Ideas That Work and Activity Chat sites, and Debbie Hommel's DH Special Services. Their addresses are listed under "Web Links" on the upper left side of this page. If you search around you can find quite a few sites.

 

Sounds like you are in one of those 40 bed facilities. Your hours are totally based on census. When census goes up...so do your hours. At some point you may even qualify to have an assistant. Until then you have to work your butt off to make ends meet. :pint:

 

The extra hours you work are illegal. If the wage & hour people find out about it they can make the nursing home pay you for all of them you have worked. That has happened other places and it really infuriates management. My advice is work your 31 hours. If it doesn't get done let them know you need more hours or more help.

 

It will help you if you can develop an active corps of volunteers. Let them do the activities while you work on those charts.

 

Best wishes in AD'ing, ;-)

[mashonda 0]

Marcia,

 

As the others have said, it's probably best that you don't take work home. I admit, when I first started my job, I did this too thinking that was the only way to get things done. After I quickly became frustrated and close to burn out, I began to stop doing that. What didn't get done would be there the next day. Our jobs can be very stressful and you can easily burn out. I have a thing that I tell myself every day. "I quit." By this, I mean that when I walk out of the facility, I quit everyday until it's time to start for the next day.

 

With regards to you being reimbursed, that varies according to facilities. The facility I work at will reimburse me for conferences (reasonably priced and a reasonable location) if the administrator approves. If they don't reimburse the entire fee, they usually offer some (either mileage, hotel or conference). But fyi, if you are not reimbursed at all for any of the conferences you attend, save all of your receipts, conference flyers and such and use them to file on your taxes. I'm a recreational therapist and I have to get a certain number of CEU's and when I am not reimbursed, I save everything that has to do with that conference and use that on my taxes.

[pokeysmith36 0]

Marcia,

I am the only AD for a 120 bed facility which has a main population and a small Alzheimer Unit as well. I have to do the activity scheduling for both units and yes, being an AD is very stressful - I was wondering who does the MDS Assessments? I have to do those and document as well. Thankfully I have a devoted Activity Assistant (Could use another one) who is an angel. About taking work home... the HIPPA Regulation sort of puts a stop to bringing some work home - anything like participation logs that have names, etc. on them. I don't know many activity directors who have not taken some sort of work home - or any who do not put in overtime - I average about 5 hours per week. I normally work a 40 hour week.

As far as hotel/motels, etc. I do not have to prepay those things because I just cannot afford to do so - so my corporate office sends it in ahead of time and the only thing I pay for when gone is my food - which they reimburse me.

Feel free to email me at pokeysmith36@yahoo.com anytime....it is hard in the begining.

[mbkemp 0]

HI, I just started two weeks ago as AD at my facility. I'm not having these same problems that you describe. Yes, I do put in an extra half hour here and there of my own time but, I get paid for 40 hr. weeks. I will be going to be certified in the summer and the facility is paying for my classes, hotel, gas, and meals. The pay is more than generous as far as I'm concerned. And in between activities I have more than enough down time to get paper work and activity preparations done, I even run errands for the Residents during their nap time. I am absolutely loving this job. I feel like I'm getting "paid" to be a friend and playmate to the residents.

[StacieO 0]

I'm glad you are loving your job! I really love mine, too, but I struggle to find the time for everything, especially the extra's, & feel like I'm always a day late, dollar short. Problem is, in our facility we have entirely too many meetings/committees. Which, I or a member of my staff always seem to be part of. Besides the usual care conf. meetings, interdisc. teams, dept. head meeting, I'm also a member of the safety committee, depression team, behavior committee, employee recognition/retention team, dining team, culture change team, satisfaction survey team, customer service problem solving committee & well, I'm forgetting something, but you get the point. We have a DON that feels NOTHING can be done w/out a team/committee & it is very frustrating, cuz our Admin pretty much goes along w/ all that. Tomorrow, I have 6 hours of meetings scheduled! It is just insane. Luckily, they don't all meet every week, but it is added work to our already busy schedule. On top of that, our Social Worker has decided that she is too busy to do the Mini Mentals & Depression Scales - so I'm doing Mini Mentals & a member of the nursing staff is doing the depression scales. (That's a facility specific issue, I know & I also know she is not going to hang around long.) Sorry I'm venting - but I do love my job, it's just amazing how it has changed in the 9 years I've been doing this.

[Guest Guest_Kathy]

I read the first few postings, my first advice is to save your receipts for everything. The course, the hotel, your meals, gas, tolls, mileage. We all forget that we are in business and we have to start deducting these expenses from our taxes. We need to start saving those expenditures as well as all the extras that you buy for your department (which in some cases is a donation that is tax deductable) and you all know that you buy way too much for your activities program! when was the last time you saw a nurse bring in a catheter bag she happen to pick up at Wal-mart?

Education is an investment in yourself. Taking the classes may seem like a redundant exercise, however investing in yourself is a wise decision. Learning as much as you can from others and learning about yourself helps you. Looking at continuing education as an investment in you helps.

Now onto the extra hours, you are only hurting yourself and your department. If they only pay for 31 hours, well thats that. Until the nursing home industry figures out that we need people in the activities department and we keep donating hours and hours to the facility we will never get the staff the residents need. If the work can't get done, you will need more staff. That's a trick I have learned from our over inflated nursing department. The MDS's were always late so nursing stepped in and said that they could do it. Well 4 MDS nurses are now on staff and they are still late. Moral of the story, sell your department, don't volunteer for all those jobs, do monthly time studies to see where your time is being spent and include the overtime. Learn to say no.

Until we as a profession start saying that we can only do so much in the time that you give me we will never have enough staff. Also as soon as we stop doing the job of three people and recognize that we are a valuable asset to the facility if we have the individuals to do the job we will continue to be stressed.

So there you have it, take pride in what you do, save all your reicepts, start thinking like a business person and stop taking work home. Happy Spring!

[SFRUTCHEY1963 0]

I am an Activity Director of a 180 bed facility with 9 full time staff and 2 part time staff. I am salary so I get paid for 40 hours......if I do any overtime I get a percentage of my hour rate (which turns out to be like $5). So.....I have learned there is no overtime. You have to learn when to say NO. The only thing I take home is my monthly calendar to work on my computer at home because it's nice and quiet.

[gfjones 0]

I have one assistant and she can only work 30 hours each week. I need her 40 hours each week but the budget just doesn't exist for more hours for her. I am Director for a 60 bed SNF and a 65 bed RH also a 30 bed alzheimer's unit so I stay really busy and have to spend a lot of time off doing things for the residents such as; shopping for them and looking for different craft items but you really have to love what you are doing or you will get burn out really quick.