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

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geekbhaji

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#191951 22-Feb-2016 15:31

How much people are getting for being on call in IT industry?

Are you getting any other benefits?

How does on call/After hours support structure works at your place eg. is it lump-sum payment or hourly or time in lieu , do you have a backup-are they paid etc.

Kindly share your views.

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#1497064 22-Feb-2016 15:49

I would also be interested to know this.

maxeon

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#1497065 22-Feb-2016 15:49

With my current employer - I am on-call on a roster basis (around once 4 weeks).

I get paid 600 per week (before tax) for just being on-call plus hourly rate paid for any actual calls received and dealt with.

Payment for the hourly rate is time and half plus any day in lieu if it is a public holiday.

My previous role had no hourly allowance. They only paid fixed amount of 600 before tax for being on-call per week.

From the company perspective they believed this will motivate the person on-call to try and reduce the noise and ensure they don't get more calls outside hours by pro-actively checking for any issues in the change calendar etc, however many people denied to being on-call because they felt it was not worth it.

Edited to fix mistakes.

sep11guy

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#1497066 22-Feb-2016 15:51

maxeon:

I get paid 600 per week (before tax) for just being on-call plus hourly rate paid for any actual calls received and dealt with.

is that 600 per week for 52 weeks, or is it 600 per week for the week you are actually on call ( which can be anywere between 1 per month or may be 1 per quarter depending upon no of employees / demand )

Lias

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#1497069 22-Feb-2016 15:55

As a infrastructure engineer this is what I'm getting. It's not terrible but it could definitely be better. I'm of the opinion that employers should be paying minimum wage per hour they expect you to be on call.

$45 per weeknight (4:30pm-8am)
$80 per weekend day (24 hours)
$60 per call for any call between 10pm and 6am
$30 per hour (in 15 minute increments) for any call that takes a reasonable amount of time.

All subject to normal PAYE etc.

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maxeon

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#1497083 22-Feb-2016 16:11

sep11guy:

maxeon:

I get paid 600 per week (before tax) for just being on-call plus hourly rate paid for any actual calls received and dealt with.

is that 600 per week for 52 weeks, or is it 600 per week for the week you are actually on call ( which can be anywere between 1 per month or may be 1 per quarter depending upon no of employees / demand )

It is 600 per week for the week I am actually on-call for. It could be 12 weeks in a year generally or more if I choose to take other people weeks from my team.

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#1497085 22-Feb-2016 16:18

Lias: I'm of the opinion that employers should be paying minimum wage per hour they expect you to be on call.

Currently you are being paid for what you are doing normally (eating dinner, sleeping, watching TV) as an allowance for the possibility of an interruption. If you were being paid minimum wage, you the employer would require some real work for the money.

When I worked for a major corporate 10ish years ago I was getting about 5% of my equivalent hourly rate per hour for being on call and time and a half when a call came in.

I'm a fan of 'work an hour, get paid an hour' and as a small employer these days then is how I engage my team. A friend of mine works for one of NZ's most recognisable large brands (well in the top 20 anyway) and his 1-in-3 weeks on call is 'built into his salary'. He says it doesn't feel right.

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Dynamic

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#1497086 22-Feb-2016 16:20

maxeon: ...or more if I choose to take other people weeks from my team.

Hmmmm... if there were't too many calls, I'd be volunteering to take on a few more of those. :)

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geekbhaji

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#1497089 22-Feb-2016 16:24

Dynamic:

and his 1-in-3 weeks on call is 'built into his salary'. He says it doesn't feel right.

It doesn't feel right to me too. If there is added responsibility then there should be added payment too

Salary is for normal work arrangement i.e 40 hours usually. If someone needs to wake up at 3am after working for whole day, then that sacrifice of sleep should be well rewarded, I would say more than usual hourly rate, same applies to weekend work.

and being available/blocking your time - could be a lump sum.

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richrdh18

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#1497549 23-Feb-2016 08:44

I work for a large organisation, with a large nation wide enterprise network. Our on call is build into the new employment contract (how much of this is for on call, no one can tell me). I am on the new contract so don't get paid to be on call but expected to respond and be onsite within an hour. My two other colleagues are on older contracts and get paid approx $120 a week when on call. Kind of not a level playing field. For the pittance they pay us, I don't believe on putting my life on hold when on call unless they were paying reasonably then I would make sure i was available. We are on call approx 1 week out of 3.

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.

geekbhaji

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#1497552 23-Feb-2016 08:58

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 ?

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andrew027

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#1497598 23-Feb-2016 09:54

I haven't been in a position where I've been on call for over 30 years, so I can't advise on suitable rates, but thought I'd share how it used to work with one previous employer, who I considered to be pretty generous at the time.

We worked three shifts, 24 hours a day, five days a week. The team who worked day shift were on call for the weekend (so once every three weeks) and each team had two people who could perform on call duties (so I'd be on once every six weeks, but would often take the other guy's weekends as he didn't like doing it and I appreciated the money).

For each day we got:
1. a fixed "on call allowance", equivalent to about two hours' pay for me, whether you got called or not, and
2. a minimum of four hours' pay if we were called in, or time worked (rounded up to the next half hour) if there longer than four hours in a day
Saturdays at time and a half, Sundays and public holidays at double time - no days off in lieu back then.

For each call-out (you could sometimes be called two or three times a day) we got:
3. mileage allowance or reimbursement of taxi fare.

If you were there for longer than four hours on any one call-out:
4. meal allowance.

1 and 2 were taxable, 3 and 4 were not. And of course there were no cell phones back then, so you had to stay home all weekend waiting for your landline to ring.

Edited as combined paragraph marks and bulleted lists made the spacing huge.

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#1497602 23-Feb-2016 09:58

£20 an hour min 3 hours, on call every 5th weekend. Plus mobile (6S). My last job in NZ there was no on call pay as such, but once again I got a mobile and contract paid for, so that saved me $40-50 a month, but you were well with in your rights to not answer the phone.

Lias

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#1497604 23-Feb-2016 10:00

Dynamic:

Lias: I'm of the opinion that employers should be paying minimum wage per hour they expect you to be on call.

Currently you are being paid for what you are doing normally (eating dinner, sleeping, watching TV) as an allowance for the possibility of an interruption. If you were being paid minimum wage, you the employer would require some real work for the money.

But I can't do what I want to do. I can't drink, I can't be out of cellphone range, I have to be able to be able to be connected to work within X minutes, etc. Sure I'm not doing my "full" job and don't expect to get my (far greater than minimum wage) normal rate, but I think when on call restricts my ability to do the things I want, I should get paid minimum wage for it.

xpd

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#1497605 23-Feb-2016 10:02

At my last job we were asked to be available "after hours and weekends" for supporting some of the upper management team. We asked what we were getting in return.... nothing was the first answer. Obviously we said no, and they came back and said we'd be paid our usual hourly rate for the time we were on call. Said no again, what if we want to go out for the night but also have to sit around "just in case" - lose social life. So back it went again, and management didnt know what else to offer.... so I got asked to ask around (think I asked on here actually) and find out what others were getting for on-call rates etc. General consensus was extra $5-10k a year wasnt unreasonable depending on the actual hours they wanted covered.

Was shot down immediately, think they were hoping to get someone for cheap, but when it comes down to it, it can be a huge interruption to your social life etc, and my friends are worth more to me after hours than work is.

XPD / Gavin

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#1497613 23-Feb-2016 10:12

xpd:

At my last job we were asked to be available "after hours and weekends" for supporting some of the upper management team. We asked what we were getting in return.... nothing was the first answer. Obviously we said no, and they came back and said we'd be paid...

This certainly sounds unreasonable. If you are on call, it should be for a defined period and there should be some compensation.

For me as a small IT business owner, I just have to suck it up. My small team currently has their nights and weekends fairly work-free, but eventually the responsibility will be shared and some extra money will change hands. (It won't be minimum wage.)

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