Dear Colleagues,
Managers and leaders across UHN are talking about budgets. Everyone is saying the same thing about our approach to the next financial year- we are expecting relative reductions in funding, but: 1) we will avoid a deficit; 2) we will maintain budgeted patient volumes; and 3) we will avoid involuntary job loss. In this message I want to explain how everyone can help to protect all of our jobs here at UHN.
In 2008, we spent more than $12 million on overtime payments to our staff. This large amount of overtime is the equivalent of 200 fulltime positions. Over the past few months, we have substantially reduced overtime across UHN- but we need to do more to protect everyone's job. We are making progress to eliminate overtime by making investments in our Nursing Resource Team - RNs who provide overtime (and sick time) coverage in our clinical units- and we are bringing our clinical activity into line with available staffing. We have more work to do on this front, but we need everyone's help to protect our jobs and avoid layoffs.
All of our managers will be talking about overtime. If we have a sick call on a unit, we will ask if we can change assignments without requesting anyone to stay overtime. We know that asking staff to work overtime today results in more sick time in tomorrow.
The excellence of UHN is dependant on the people who work here. We will get through this budget cycle stronger than ever by recognizing that one of the best ways to support each other is to avoid overtime.
Bob
