IT Salaried Staff - Your on call this week, are you compensated?

[runlikeanantelope]

Big debate going on at work right now whether the IT Salary employees that have to take call should be compensated extra. I've seen this debate at every company and the answer is usually no. But I think it depends on what defines "on call"? Available by cell phone for phone support, response time within 2 hours, etc?

I'd like to know how your company handles it.

 

[jaymaechtlen]

At our company, the on-call person may get some compensating time off, but not 1:1.
It is viewed as part of the job, part of the world of IT.

 

[runlikeanantelope]

It is viewed as part of the job, part of the world of IT."

I agree - that is how I view it.

 

[mrdenny]

It is viewed as part of the job, part of the world of IT."

Yep.

Now there are exceptions. If I spend 10 minutes fixing something then the company just got 10 minutes of work for free.

If I have to spend 4 hours of my saturday working on something, then I get a half day during the week (or at some later point depending on work load and project load).

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000) / MCTS (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[SF0751]

Most of our IT staff (including myself) are "on-call" 24/7 for our respected areas. The company either provides a cell phone for our use, or gives us a fixed monthly amount if we use our personal cell phone as our point of contact.

If the problem can be resolved with a phone conversation, then I don't worry about the time spent. If I have to VPN into the system, or drive into the office, then I'm reimbursed for my time.

Susan
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work."
- Thomas A. Edison

 

[flapeyre]

We rotate the on-call programmer on a weekly basis. The on-call programmer gets a cell phone, laptop (with a Sprint card), and a pager for that week. The system might page us anytime if there is a problem (for example, an error message in a batch job that a programmer has to answer), but the help desk is only manned until 10PM. Our group only deals with programming issues; system-related (such as the backup job running out of tape in the tape drive), and PC issues are handled by their respective groups.

For this, we get an extra $75.00 for the week. There are 9 of us, so I'm only on call once every 8 to 9 weeks (Monday through Sunday).

If it's a busy week, I may get paged once or twice for the whole week. If it's not busy, there may be no pages at all.

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[NickFerrar]

We have an on-call rotation and are paid an hourly rate for being on-call (about $4 during weekdays, $6 at weekends), we have company mobiles/blackberries to. If we're actually called we get a full hour overtime (and subsequent overtime if the call takes longer than an hour to resolve, overtime is only x1.5 though for first 7.5 hours). We do need to be able to attend site within an hour though if the call requires it.
I guess it sounds like we're pretty lucky compared with some people of course base salaries might be lower etc.

 

[lespaul]

We rotate with a staff of 9, phone and pager come with the territory. Depending on how long it takes I will accrue comp time at 1:1 (hourly staff accrue at 1:1.5 if they worked at least 40 hours that week, if not it's 1:1).

Again, if it takes less than 10 minutes I probably wouldn't record any time.

les

 

[Gooser]

My previous job--in the US Air Force--required me to carry a pager.

Now, let me qualify these statements, because I don't want to sound like a lazy a__. I was in the USAF, so yes, they had my butt 24/7 with the option of sending me to Leavenworth if I decided I didn't want to play nice anymore. I was in a position that I should not have been in according to my training, matched to that required for the position (whole different career-field). Most of the calls I got I couldn't do anything about. I would drive in to work (about 15min each way for me) spend 10-15 minutes accessing the system (doors to unlock, manifests to sign-off, alarms to disarm, etc.) only to find a problem that wasn't my problem, then call the appropriate unit's pager and wait for them to come in, (15 mins - 2 hours depending on who got called,) then wait for them to fix the problem (30 mins - 2 hours, usually, though sometimes more) and then another 10-15 mins signing-off and locking up.

For my troubles, I got sub-standard pay, outrageous housing costs, no extra pay, no time back, little recognition, and the benefits guaranteed me at enlistment taken away.

So, if you've got a pager story, I've got a worse one.

I once spent 18 hours in a locked room with no windows at 80+ degrees Fahrenheit, to make sure it didn't get "too warm in there."

Another time, I spent 14 hours in that same room in the dark because our scheduled "power-down" became a "power-out" and a bunch of junk broke. After that one I learned to bring enough food with me. I think my stomach started to digest itself.

There were times where I got paged in, went through the hole rigamarole of going in, unlocking, calling, waiting, locking, going home...just to have the pager go off 15 minutes after my head hit the pillow and have to go in again, and when I got home again it went off again. One weekend I got paged every four hours from 8pm Thursday until I 8am Monday. (This was right after gas prices took-off after Katrina.)

Once in a while--read seldom--we would get a [subscript]little[/subscrip] time back, but never nearly 1:1. Never got paid for gas, parking, meals, etc., etc. although, one time, another group (which included some GS civilian workers) had to come in for a power-down and their supervisor bought them all pizza. They felt sorry for me, so they shared a couple-a slices of Papa John's finest.

And to top it all off, I was LMT, so I got the heaviest rotation and all the good holidays, I got to be pager-guy.

So, look on the bright side. You are not in Federal Prison, and you make more than a Sergeant in the Air Force...trust me, you do.



v/r

Gooser

Why do today
that which may not need to be done tomorrow --me

 

[mrdenny]

Ah, the perks of serving ones country all spelled out. The military seams to leave stories like this out of the recruiting commercials for some reason. I can't imagine why.

BTW: Thanks for serving, we do all appreciate it. (I think I spelled that right.)

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000) / MCTS (SQL 2005) / MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[Gooser]

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I did get--as a token of the Unit's appreciation of my sleepless year of service--a pen-and-pencil set with my [mispeled] name on it! Thanks for nothing!

v/r

Gooser

Bad Spelers of the Werld, UNTIE!

 

[Martin999]

Yes, my comapnies quite good about it.

I cover two areas usually, so 2 weeks a month on call. Get paid per hour on call, and then o/time (well call up, but rate is same) if called. I f I have to go in as opposed to dial in, then 3 hours minimum is paid, even if I'm only there 10 mins. Rare, though, as I can normally fix from home.

Soulnds like some of you guys are taken for granted ... I feel for you.

That said, paying me say for a weekends work is very cheap compared to paying a 3rd party, and I probably do a better job.

Martin

 

[Martin999]

damm, I meant "company's

 

[GSmitherman]

I think too many companies use the "Computer Professional" as a way to avoid paying employees what they deserve. I use to work for a company that installs PBX's. They are trying to say the technicians are "Computer Professionals", that way they can avoid paying overtime and on call. They believe because we integrate PBX's with some data networks they are justified in making techs overtime exempt. The techs might have a basic knowledge of data networks, but to classify them like they are is riduculous. There is no company that would hire any of us to work on their networks. It's like saying since you put gas in a car, you are a mechanic. This will ultimately be decided by the courts I guess.

 

[aarenot]

$125/week to carry pager.
OT for response time of pager going off, until back home or done with response.
Even if not at 40 hrs for the week.

hourly employee, or salaried, does not matter. We do convergance so more PBX/IPBX TECHNICIANS, NOT STRAIGHT IT.

You guys who do straight IT, make more $ to begin with.

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[UnaBomber]

Ahh the bliss of consulting. I am not allowed to even have email at home. I come in at 9:00 and leave at 5:30 every day. I am not working support as much right now however, 80% implementation, and 20% support. But I have been there, I have done my fair share of all nighters, just not on my current project...

Gooser mate, that is one harsh story!

UnaBomber
ccnp mcse2k

 

[LadySlinger]

My last job started off salaried with lots of on-call duties. Since it was a publication with weekly deadlines, i was suppose to be on call those nights...sometimes I would receive phone calls into the night (despite the cut-off time being 9:00 pm). Half of the calls would be secretarial related stuff (do we have any more copies of this? It's the last one and i can't find anymore" "Just take that copy over to the copy machine and copy it!!!")
Anyhoo, once the auditor came through and discovered my boss coded my job wrong, I began to punch a clock (instead of him just changing my title). Once that happened I began to log my time spent on the phone calls, rounding to the nearest quarter of the hour.

Basically as stated above, once that company gives you a cell phone or pager, you're freetime is doomed.

 

[dheida]

Now there are exceptions. If I spend 10 minutes fixing something then the company just got 10 minutes of work for free.

If I have to spend 4 hours of my saturday working on something, then I get a half day during the week (or at some later point depending on work load and project load). "

Same here.

 

[pbunyon]

Expected in the indrustry, bull. Expect to get paid for working otherwise your being taken advantage of. Stand up for your rights for your family if you won't do it for yourselves.

Paul

 

[OhioBill]

I fondly remember the last time my boss carped about OT and lack thereof, general lateness, 24/7 support... I ran a report based on the company security system listing the hours I spent at the office - over 40 per week.

I didn't wait for the boss to comment. I cut my hours to 40 per week and stopped answering the pager and the phone. I now enjoy a 40 hour work week.

When I was a contractor the clock started when the phone rang, so I didn't mind too much. Ring up another one, Jocko! Cha-Ching! One thing's for sure, if you're a contractor and the company calls you, they are well and truly up against it and need your services.