If you’ve been following my posts for the last couple weeks, you will have seen me mention some uncertainties surrounding my job.
First, there was very real talk that I might need to go back to some sort of patient care role if WI experienced a surge in COVID cases (I mentioned it here and then shared about some anxiety related to that here). It seemed like maybe that ship had sailed, as I hadn’t been selected in the first rounds of re-deployment and so far, there hasn’t been a massive surge like they were concerned about…so I was sort of breathing a little sigh of relief about it.
Then, last week we received an email stating our hospital would be implementing various salary cuts in response to millions of dollars of revenue deficits it is facing. The email also said they would start flexing down many positions and potentially furloughing some people, but no specific details were shared about my position at that time. (More about that here)
I just wanted to share a quick update about all of that, since I finally did have a meeting with my boss last Friday afternoon. Basically, my department and role have to cut 30% of our workforce down over the next at least 8 weeks. So, this means that my full time 40 hour/week position needs to decrease by 12 hours per week, down to 28 hours/ week, effective this week.
Boo!!! I knew things didn’t sound good in the email but was crossing my fingers that somehow we magically wouldn’t be affected. They are allowing usage of accrued vacation time, but considering I just went to Mexico recently, I already ate up the majority of my accrued time so far this year. I think I have something like 8 hours available of PTO to use. Double boo.
I feel overall okay about this, however, since honestly I was worried that my position was going to be completely furloughed. I had sort of prepared myself mentally for the worst. I realize my job doesn’t provide direct patient care and isn’t “essential” technically, so I really was concerned that we might be chosen to just be completely laid off! So on the one hand, I feel relieved that my salary is “only” going to be cut by 30%. (I mean, this still seems like A LOT…but 30% is better than being cut by 100%).
First, there was very real talk that I might need to go back to some sort of patient care role if WI experienced a surge in COVID cases (I mentioned it here and then shared about some anxiety related to that here). It seemed like maybe that ship had sailed, as I hadn’t been selected in the first rounds of re-deployment and so far, there hasn’t been a massive surge like they were concerned about…so I was sort of breathing a little sigh of relief about it.
Then, last week we received an email stating our hospital would be implementing various salary cuts in response to millions of dollars of revenue deficits it is facing. The email also said they would start flexing down many positions and potentially furloughing some people, but no specific details were shared about my position at that time. (More about that here)
I just wanted to share a quick update about all of that, since I finally did have a meeting with my boss last Friday afternoon. Basically, my department and role have to cut 30% of our workforce down over the next at least 8 weeks. So, this means that my full time 40 hour/week position needs to decrease by 12 hours per week, down to 28 hours/ week, effective this week.
Boo!!! I knew things didn’t sound good in the email but was crossing my fingers that somehow we magically wouldn’t be affected. They are allowing usage of accrued vacation time, but considering I just went to Mexico recently, I already ate up the majority of my accrued time so far this year. I think I have something like 8 hours available of PTO to use. Double boo.
I feel overall okay about this, however, since honestly I was worried that my position was going to be completely furloughed. I had sort of prepared myself mentally for the worst. I realize my job doesn’t provide direct patient care and isn’t “essential” technically, so I really was concerned that we might be chosen to just be completely laid off! So on the one hand, I feel relieved that my salary is “only” going to be cut by 30%. (I mean, this still seems like A LOT…but 30% is better than being cut by 100%).
I would say my biggest concern now is just how long will this go on. 8 weeks is manageable, but if the financial troubles persist long term, I definitely don’t want to be on a 28 hour/ week salary forever or super long term…. But at this point I just need to mostly wait and see. I know many others are in a similar situation (or worse!), so I’m trying to just take it in stride the best I can. There’s nothing I can actually do about it anyway, so worrying about it too much is pretty pointless. I’m also not thrilled about how this unpaid time will affect my future vacation time earned (since it’s earned based on hours worked) and also my retirement fund, etc.
I am trying to stay focused on the fact that a) I still have a job, b) I still have a solid income, and c) I still will have my healthcare benefits during this time. These are all positives!
Anyway, that’s enough about that. Like I said, no use crying over spilled milk! Today will be one of my first reduced hours days- I am planning to take one 1/2 day off plus one full day off per week (4+8= the 12 hours required off). This week I am taking the half day Tuesday and full day Wednesday. I figured I might as well lump them together to have a nice little chunk off mid week. On the plus side, the extra hours off will be nice in terms of helping the boys with school stuff, and maybe I’ll actually get to some projects around the house. I would much rather I was getting PAID for this time…but I guess I’ll try to make the best of it.
I am trying to stay focused on the fact that a) I still have a job, b) I still have a solid income, and c) I still will have my healthcare benefits during this time. These are all positives!
Anyway, that’s enough about that. Like I said, no use crying over spilled milk! Today will be one of my first reduced hours days- I am planning to take one 1/2 day off plus one full day off per week (4+8= the 12 hours required off). This week I am taking the half day Tuesday and full day Wednesday. I figured I might as well lump them together to have a nice little chunk off mid week. On the plus side, the extra hours off will be nice in terms of helping the boys with school stuff, and maybe I’ll actually get to some projects around the house. I would much rather I was getting PAID for this time…but I guess I’ll try to make the best of it.
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| At least my lilies are blooming! They are so pretty. |
Some Positivity!
I have a few quotes I want to share in closing today lest the above all seem very Debbie Downer-like for my “Grateful Kae”/ positivity based blog. 😉
1. I just have to share another couple of 5 am Joel’s emails that I received recently (if you don’t know who he is, I highly recommend checking out my previous post about him here: Some Wisdom on a Wednesday: 5 am Joel, “How to Money” and Kind People).
He sent a daily email I think on April 15th that I also loved and saved that was titled “What Weakens You, Strengthens You.” He talks about how hard choices and tough times in life actually are opportunities to make ourselves better and how terrible our lives would actually be if everything were handed to us on a silver platter. It all sounds cliche, but it really is true! Read the brief message here.
Another good one last week was called “Problem Approach”. My favorite quote from within it was this: ”The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem” – Captain Jack Sparrow 🙂 You can read the email here.
2. I saw an ad for a new movie on Netflix called “Extraction”- I actually hadn’t heard of it, but maybe others have. It seems it is an action movie about a guy working in the black market who is hired to rescue the son of an international drug-lord’s son who has been kidnapped.. sounds very dramatic and dangerous and very R rated. Not usually my preferred movie genre, but who knows, maybe it’s good.
Anyway, I liked a quote I saw though from it: “You drown not by falling into the river, but by staying submerged in it.” Good one!
3. I shared this image on my personal FB page yesterday (well, I originally shared it a year ago when we had a bunch of SNOW at the very end of April, which was quite irritating). I had run across it online and loved it then, and FB reminded me yesterday of it, so I decided to share it again (even though thank goodness, this year we did NOT have any snow). A good life motto, I think, even if you sub out the “snow” for some other difficulty:
Anyway, I liked a quote I saw though from it: “You drown not by falling into the river, but by staying submerged in it.” Good one!
3. I shared this image on my personal FB page yesterday (well, I originally shared it a year ago when we had a bunch of SNOW at the very end of April, which was quite irritating). I had run across it online and loved it then, and FB reminded me yesterday of it, so I decided to share it again (even though thank goodness, this year we did NOT have any snow). A good life motto, I think, even if you sub out the “snow” for some other difficulty:
Daily Gratitude:
Today I am focusing on the gratitude I feel that I still have a job! I may have reduced hours, but I still have a job, I have an income, I have benefits. I will choose to focus on these things! I am also grateful that though not ideal at all nor my preference, the reduced hours may lighten the burden a little bit during these last weeks of homeschooling the boys.
GRATEFUL KAE 
That is a bummer about your hours/pay being cut. I hope it's not for too long of a period of time. I hope that your work load is cut commensurate with your pay/hours so you aren't trying to fit 40 hours of work into 28 hours! Our company has said they need to cut $700 million in costs and they are trying to not cut positions. But I don't see how they get to that goal without cutting headcount. But we'll see what happens. My team is already pretty lean so hopefully we aren't impacted.
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Fortunately, my work is such that it can start/ stop pretty clearly, so I should be able to restrain it to the 28 hours. It would be even worse to be expected to "cut" hours but then have a job where that just isn't really possible… I'll hope for the best for your team! It does seem a little hard to imagine where $700 million could come from without cutting positions, but I don't know the ins and outs of the company of course!
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