Nurse pay has been the subject of headlines since the pandemic, with many caregivers leaving staff jobs to become travel nurses or finding new careers all together.
But a survey by the staffing community connectRN, in conjunction with the newsletter The Nursing Beat, finds pay is still an issue.
According to their findings, half of the more than 1,300 U.S. nurses polled said they had side hustles driven by the need for extra money.
“I want to be able to save money, not just for a rainy day. I want to be secure and comfortable knowing I have multiple backup plans,” one nurse replied.
Not only that, nearly half of new nurses — those in the profession fewer than three years — plan to make their side hustle their full-time job, and 8 in 10 respondents said they wanted to start their own business.
“It comes as no surprise that nurses are multifaceted and wish to pursue different opportunities,” said Tamara AL-Yassin, former bedside nurse and CEO of The Nursing Beat. “However the amount of new nurses who surveyed that they plan to leave permanently for their side hustle is alarming. There is an enormous amount of work to be done in order to better support our young nurses who are a different generation, requiring different standards. If we don’t begin to listen and solve archaic institutional employment requirements, we will ultimately loose our nursing workforce.”
Mental health, being there for family and friends, work/life balance, maintaining their physical health, and excelling at their jobs were the top five reasons given by 90% of those surveyed.
Nearly half of the nurses said their household management, health and fitness goals, and relationships with friends and loved ones were negatively affected by their jobs.
You can read the full survey results at www.thenewnursebyconnectrn.com/.
About the Author
