Mental health RN Sarah Ellyard is currently enjoying maternity leave with her son Finley, but she is already thinking about her return to work and how she will manage the demands of motherhood with a taxing job.

Sarah was quite happy to work extra hours earlier in her nursing career. “But I gradually got to the point where I didn’t want to do that anymore. So, I just started to say no,” she says.

“I think it’s certainly common for early career nurses to often take on a disproportionate amount of overtime.

“But there comes a point when it’s not sustainable to keep doing that. And people’s priorities change. Particularly if they end up having young children or other kinds of caring responsibilities as they get older.”

Staffing shortages and the resulting gap in rosters creates pressure for staff to work double shifts and overtime, she says. “There’s an expectation that, regardless of your preferences, you need to work all the different shifts. You do have a little bit of a say, but it depends on who the manager is.

“But in the end, the operational needs of the hospital always get put above the needs of individual nurses.”

Sarah says it’s particularly hard to get enough time to properly recover from night shifts. “I found it hard having to work night shifts every month. Sometimes I had to work six days in a row. I would like more flexibility, so I don’t have to do rosters like that.

“I’d like to work no more than five days in a row. That would really help with fatigue management.

“If there is less burnout, and nurses come to work feeling less tired but happier thanks to a better work-life balance, then I think it would benefit the organisation as well.”

More flexibility and control over hours would aid retention, Sarah says. “I know nurses who had to resign their permanent job and go casual because they’re not able to get the hours or the shifts that they need.”

Sarah says the challenge of balancing work and family responsibilities is compounded by the lack of childcare options. “There aren’t many daycare centres that open early. If a morning shift starts at seven, there’s not very many daycares that open before that. There are some that open at 6.30am but they’re very few and far between. And then, obviously, there’s not many that do extended hours in the afternoon either.

“If you’re not working the standard nine-to-five job, finding childcare that has extended hours is really difficult.”