After Hours / On call support - Current IT rates/benefits.

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richrdh18

232 posts

Master Geek
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#1497747 23-Feb-2016 12:17

geekbhaji:
richrdh18:

When on call, I continue to play golf, mountain bike ride in areas with no cell coverage, go to movies or nights out with the boys.

Its good that you are able to enjoy your life while being on call but what are the consequences if you are unable to attend a call? Has that ever happened ?

Good question, it has never happened and I guess its the risk I take. They cant have their piece of cake and eat it too. Fortunately we don't get frequent call outs that warrant traveling back into work (most calls can be handled across the phone/remote access or put off until next business day). Worst case scenario they would start ringing around others to see if they were available.

Also, depending upon which line manager we ask ref this on call response time thing, we always get a different interpretation of what is required. (which is frustrating)

From my point of view, if employers require their staff to be on call, the there should be some remuneration for it.

Jeeves

301 posts

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#1498597 24-Feb-2016 15:36

My old job as a network engineer at a small, but well known and very old ISP - we didn't get paid for being on-call (which was all the time, no roster). The theory was that if we did our job right, nothing would break and we wouldn't get called out. I'm sure you all agree how much of a retarded theory that is.. several times something happened and didn't get fixed for a long time because people were drunk or just couldn't be bothered answering the phone.

Current job I'm on-call 1 week out of every 2 - get paid $350 per week for being on-call, time-in-lieu for call outs and I can claim mileage. Our response time is quite generous so I can travel quite far from work and still be ok.

Bleh

2 posts

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#2939970 9-Jul-2022 11:56

What's the current going rate now for on-call and the terms and conditions? Cheers.

boosacnoodle

1274 posts

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#2940122 9-Jul-2022 15:33

Few years back (circa 2017), when I was in IT, I was getting around $200 a week + standard legislative requirements (e.g. day in lieu if called on a public holiday).

deadlyllama

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#2940164 9-Jul-2022 17:49

Bleh:

What's the current going rate now for on-call and the terms and conditions? Cheers.

I'd love to know this too, I'm looking at a job with an on call component right now, and I've never been on call before.

lxsw20

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#2940213 9-Jul-2022 22:22

The unhelpful answer is - it depends.

A L1 password changer on call is obviously not going to get paid what a Snr Network Engineer on call is.

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quickymart

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#2940266 9-Jul-2022 23:15

I get an annual allowance on top of my salary, and work on-call 1 week in 4.

Lias

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#2940319 10-Jul-2022 10:19

It's always going to vary depending on the level of expectation, the skills, the seniority, etc.

At the highest end, Sanderson v South Canterbury District Health Board [2017] NZERA Christchurch 37 established that if your employer places very high demands on your availability, they need to pay you minimum wage for every hour you are on call.

Historically my general rule of thumb was if an employer wants me to be available 24x7, not leave town, not get drunk, etc I expected around $4-500 per week if the phone never rings, and plenty more if it does ring. Given the spike in salaries I'd probably ask for more these days.

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afe66

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#2940331 10-Jul-2022 11:39

In a non it situation, my regular overnight on call component rate is the same as my base daytime rate but I am paid that for the whole night period whether I get called in or not.

No handing in time sheets.

Get called in almost every time on call and have the next day roster off. Might be called in for an hour or potentially all night by which time I could have been awake for 24 hrs.

Being second on call (first on call backup), no allowance but get paid couple hundred per hour, minimum 3 hrs if called in. (rare)

Another voluntary job involves on call overnight for 13 hrs for a couple hundred dollars but then if called in its couple of hundred per hour minimum 3 hrs.

Peppery

919 posts

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#2940355 10-Jul-2022 13:26

Our standby is a hair over $400 per week for both first & second on call. T1.5 if we do get called. Our L2 team is 24x7 so calls are relatively infrequent - the last time I was rostered on I only had one call all week.

xpd

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#2940357 10-Jul-2022 14:27

Job I had a few years ago, we were paid $200 a week for being available for a particular client (I was with an MSP) 24/7. Think I had one after hours call from that client the whole time I was there. So was nice bonus whenever I was rostered on (was every three weeks IIRC).

XPD / Gavin

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