I do personal care work for a company that owns adult family homes in the area. There are shifts open basically every week, but they're rarely at the house I prefer to work in, they're usually not night shifts (which I prefer to work), and they are NEVER both (the other night shift worker at my main house never trades or misses shifts). And so, when I get called to fill in a shift, my natural reaction is "Working extra sucks, and working extra outside of your usual duties sucks even more" and so I want to turn it down.
Instead, what I've started doing is calculating exactly what I would make. "Do you want to work today?" is not a fun question, but "Do you want to make $165 (minus taxes) today?" is much easier to say yes to. This is especially effective if, like me, you work full time, so any extra hours are overtime (don't forget to include that in your math!). It also makes the shift itself easier if you keep that number in your mind while you work.
P.S.: Picking up frequently also tends to put you on the good side of whoever doesn't have to fill/work that shift anymore. I'm pretty sure I could light my shift manager's car on fire and they'd still have to strongly consider whether or not I'm worth having around.
January 22, 2017 at 10:06AM
