if this becomes a thing we need to make "fire-sale" a euphemism for a literal fire.
this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
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New bullshit jargon just dropped.
During the pandemic, a large swath of hospital systems, both psych and medical, contracted with nurses to travel to work for them on 13 wk contracts. There were some significantly high contracts in the midst of the pandemic, mainly through a company called Krucial. However, the Krucial contracts were not normal work weeks but five 12hr shifts every week, with significant overtime. Overtime in travel contracts was typically above the standard 1.5x hourly rate most hourly workers are accustomed to. The weekly rates on these contracts made news. I say this so we can move past it to the standard contracts where we can talk about lack of burnout.
The normal travel contract was typically 36hrs a week, a standard work week for the hourly nurse, with elevated OT. Rates were stronger than precovid, which was a strong lure, but the industry at large had not increased staff nurse pay with cost of living, most of the industry not seeing much in hourly rate increases past the years 2000-2008 which was some significantly bad wage stagnation. California was and is, as always, the exception in this practice. Post COVID, many states now pay nurses in keeping with the normal contract rates they originally left their staff jobs for. OT on staff is 1.5x but extra shifts beyond an FTE will often contain an extra $20-30/hr after OT is factored in, or a flat $200-500 per extra 12h shift. As such, many nurses who left for travel are back on staff and not traveling.
Even so, there were nurses who would not leave travel even though hospitals were offering better deals on the financial side, to be staff. More money, less movement sounds good, right?
Not for some. Burnout due to scheduling and lack of time off remains a problem for nursing staff. Meanwhile, travel contracts work like this: 13wks on, with roughly two weeks off in between. If a nurse opts to sign on for another 13wks at the same location, 1-2 weeks off is typically offered in between the old contract and the new. In addition, they can take Christmas off.
Less pay than staff, now, but a swath of nurses stick with travel regardless because they aren’t burning out. Travel nurses don’t typically burn out. Think about why. What would your own hourly work feel like on a 13wks on, 2wks off rotation?
Many people are going to and have to follow money, but this real life experiment has demonstrated how much less money people will take when they can to just not have to work every single week of their lives. There’s a lesson here that corporate America will likely never heed.
FYI travel nursing and locum tenens were around before the pandemic and still happening after. Seasonality occurs in different regions due to snow birds (aging boomers with a vacation home) for the most part.
Also travel is still going to pay more than a staff nurse when comparing a single area.
Post pandemic the contracts profess to pay the same as staff but those contracts are taking the room/board stipend, blending it with the hourly rate, and presenting it all as hourly income, when the stipend isn’t something that should count against income when in fact, stipend is only allowable by the IRS in situations where living expenses are duplicated.
In essence what these new contracts are doing is not acknowledging expense duplication, as if these nurses don’t already have a rent or mortgage, alongside all the household bills like renters insurance or electricity, that continue to be paid in tandem with a long term furnished rental in another state. And are they even accumulating retirement beyond an IRA?
The 2 weeks off is also unpaid. The strangest expense detail is this. Income tax is paid to each state which is somehow legal under the contracted circumstances. The home state and the state worked.
While the details are fascinating, that is not my point in bringing it up. I’m more interested in the work pattern. 13 wks on. 2 wks off. The nurses who talk about travel love it, even when the pay is lower than what staffers make either with the blended rate or after subtracting room/board stipends. As such, I think we need to look to the work pattern.
Part of the reason I bought it up is because the amount for the travel is higher that most nurses are taking longer than 2 weeks off. I personally know several that take a month off before starting a new contract.
If it financially works, then that is brilliant.
As a member of Gen Y, it's been interesting seeing younger generations take on habits I've been doing for years. A few years ago I took a couple weeks to take a road trip across the country, after quitting one job and acquiring a start date for a new one (to start after I returned.) I've been doing this because vacations in the US of 2 or more weeks are impossible to get in many jobs.
For the situation above, I had planned a vacation for the first job - I requested it nearly two months early. Then a few days before I was set to go (after I'd already booked a place to stay), my boss attempted to deny my time off. Thankfully, HR put their foot down and I was able to go, but it was the last straw for me. So when I got a new job, I planned out time to enjoy for myself before returning to the rat race.
Workers are human. We need a break sometimes. If companies aren't going to respect that basic human need, we're going to find ways to reclaim our time.
how dare you! cracks whip your glorious CEO deserves that bonus and you should be grateful for being a minute part of this occasion.
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I get six weeks paid time off every year, on top of pay for 10 national or state holidays, this amounts to eight weeks pto EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
Oh, also, unlimited sick days (though after 6 weeks the pay goes down to 60% and is then paid not by my employer but by my cheap, statutory, mandatory health insurance) and other social securities that have allowed me to spend TWO (non-consecutive) YEARS without a job and take care of my mental health.
I don't think it's just Gen-Z.
Here's former Manchester United and England footballer Gary Neville, telling us about his "mini-retirements"
Gary Neville - Mini-Retirements (youtube link)
Gary is 50 years old.