Therapists win improved work-life balance over weekend schedules at UCSF Parnassus Heights

The inpatient rehab therapists at UCSF Parnassus have secured a significant victory regarding their weekend work schedules. Previously required to work two weekend days every five weeks, these dedicated healthcare workers will now only need to work one weekend day per month. The change follows a coordinated effort by the therapists, who highlighted the impact of the demanding schedule on their work-life balance through strategic data collection and engagement with management.

“We realized that after thinking about the actual problem, it was more like we’re not doing our best at this moment to make the most of our resources,” explained Amanda Chow, a Physical Therapist 3 of almost five years at UCSF Health. “Ultimately, if we don’t have a proper schedule, then, at the end of the day, that impacts patient care. ”

After a march on the boss last year, during which UCSF healthcare workers demanded a substantive change to the weekend schedule policy, UPTE members once again escalated the issue with management. Their latest example of collective action involved them presenting their findings as a united front, detailing data points showing better patient outcomes, preventing severe burnout, and higher morale within the department. After the joint effort by the inpatient rehab therapists, management acquiesced to the workers’ demands and changed the weekend schedule policy.

Chow explained how the team’s efforts to restructure their weekend list helped them identify and prioritize patients who truly needed care on the weekends, leading to the change in the schedule: “By streamlining that weekend patient list, it helped us navigate and prioritize who those people were we needed to see on the weekends. That was a high priority.”

Ana Karavias, an Occupational Therapist 2 involved in the push for a better weekend schedule, echoed similar sentiments. She emphasized the importance of focusing on what they could control: “Many of us have worked in healthcare for a long time, so there are many difficulties that come with the job. As we uncovered this project, it was apparent that burnout was real, and people had very little work-life balance. A big theme that we were capturing was the weekend schedule, how that works in our department, how that has changed over the years, and the expectation.”

Ana also highlighted the collective approach taken by the therapists, noting how vital it was to rally their colleagues around the cause, creating buy-in from coworkers: “This change wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t a collective approach. All of us were getting involved and having those conversations one-on-one and in department meetings. Having everyone on the same page was important before moving forward with management. We couldn’t have made this impact if not all of us were doing what we had asked everyone else to do.”

Therapists collected and presented data to management that demonstrated the need for change. “We really worked hard on quantifying some of these issues and creating data points,” expressed Ana.

The change in the therapists’ weekend working schedules not only improves the work-life balance for the therapists but also sets a precedent for our ongoing negotiations and collective actions within the wider University of California system. “I think it’s motivating and energizing that we were able to implement a change,” Ana reflected, underscoring the broader impact this success could have while we push for better working conditions, including improved work-life balance, across all UC campuses, labs, and medical centers.

The new schedule for inpatient rehab therapists is set to take effect in October, marking a significant step forward for UCSF healthcare professionals who must balance the demands of their critical work with their personal lives.