Addressing management issues
Budgeting for overtime
Q My department went over the
yearly budget last year. The department
performance with respect
to finances is very low compared
to other departments within my
hospital system. One cause is too
much overtime (OT) has been paid
out to FTEs. In addition, we have an
inconsistent policy in terms of paid
time off to our employees who go
on extended leave for three or more
weeks. Are there some strategies
that I can use to cut my budget and
operate within a restricted budget?
AMarti Bailey opines, "You have
already detected several problems
that need to be resolved. The first is your
department's overtime. Regular overtime
is just like a fever — it is a symptom of
an underlying problem. Although some
businesses operate regularly with a high
level of overtime, it should be budgeted.
The second problem you have identified
is inconsistencies in paid-time-off
policies. The risk you take in allowing
paid-time-offpolicy to be inconsistently
applied cannot be overemphasized. You
need to work with your human resource
(HR) specialists to understand exacdy
what the policy is, get a written copy,
distribute it to all your staff, and follow
it to the letter. If the inconsistencies are
from department to department within
the laboratory, now is the time to get
with lab administration to clarify the
policy and see that it is applied in an
equitable manner to all lab employees.
Resolving these two primary issues can
go a long way towards correcting your
budgetary problems."
Larry Crolla points out, "You answered
part of your question in your
statement that you need consistency