Work Can Be Rewarding

When I 1st joined my company, I wanted a full time position. But I was told that all staff in Day Surgery are on permanent part time positions. Recently, my manager informed me that the HR is allowing staff to convert to a full time position. I wasn't too keen on it initially as I was working full time hours even though I'm on a 30 hour a week contract. The other thing is, if I don't hit 37.5 hours in Day Surgery, I'll have to go work in the clinics to make up the hours. After thinking about it though, I've decided to make the switch, mainly for financial benefits. At the moment, I'm earning leave based on 30 hours a week, even though I may be working 40 hours a week. My employer super contribution is also based on 30 hours a week which means I'm getting much lesser. I officially start on the 30th this month.

I handed the new employment letter to my manager to bring over to HR (they're in another building to which I have no staff access). During that period, we had a big hoohaa in the department. We have a staff in recovery who can be quite negative & her comments can be sarcastic. She's gotten into arguments with my previous manager & they didn't speak to each other for half a year. Recently, we have a new staff & they were working in recovery together. I don't know what happened, from what I heard, it seemed that some not so polite words were said to the new staff & she was seen crying in the change room. My manager took them both to her office & they were trashing it out there. My manager then decided to put me in recovery instead. With this staff, I've never taken offense regardless of what she said to me. I know it's her character & I just let the comments bounce off me. But the new staff obviously took it to heart. As the new staff can't scrub yet, my manager had to. It was quite a bit of a mess with the roster there.

Anyway, when she came back from the HR, she told me that she had requested that I be given an additional jump on my salary on top of the yearly increment. Her exact words to me were, "You're worth every single cent we pay you." I was shocked speechless. All along, I've never said no when she wanted me to learn work in a new area, not becoz I wanted recognition or anything but rather, I've always felt it would be beneficial to know more. I liked being able to go to which ever area where I'm required. Most importantly, if I ever lose my job, it would be easier to find a new 1 if I'm not so restricted that I can only work as an ophthalmic scrub/scout nurse. I can always look for a job as an aesthetic nurse, a recovery nurse, a laser theatre nurse or a clinic nurse. I never expected to be rewarded for it.

I don't know. Maybe what prompted this on was becoz of this big hoohaa that we had. I've always tried to choose my words carefully so as to not hurt other people's feelings. If I don't feel like I should comment, I will always smile & nod my head in acknowledgement. Perhaps that is why I don't have clashes with my colleagues. Life can be so hard, so why make it harder on yourself? We spend so many hours a day at work. It will only make us miserable if the work relationships are strained.

I'm very thankful for the way things had turned out for me. The extra money will be of great help. If we stay true to ourselves & have good work ethics, even if we're not rewarded, we'll feel good about ourselves & our outlook in life will change positively. I think that beats any other kind of rewards we will ever get.