IT worker question

[imported_rudy311poo]

and if so, how are you compensated?

 

[buck]

Not anymore, thank god. When I did, it was overtime and we got a bonus check each week (the individual on call).
Our call volume at the time wasn't that bad, but man did it suck.

*edit*
This was at a previous job.

 

[vi edit]

I'm in a call rotation. Depending on the filled positions on my team the pager rotates around every 3 weeks to 6 weeks. You carry it for a week. 24/7 coverage.

I receive no additional compensation. It's built into the job description as an expectation.

I'm salaried if that matters.

 

[imported_rudy311poo]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
I'm in a call rotation. Depending on the filled positions on my team the pager rotates around every 3 weeks to 6 weeks. You carry it for a week. 24/7 coverage.

I receive no additional compensation. It's built into the job description as an expectation.

I'm salaried if that matters.

This would be similar except my "team" is two people. The coverage previously did not have to be 24/7, but will be soon.
Its not in my current job description, but it soon may be. I am trying to figure out a fair way of being compensated when i am "on call"

 

[kgokal]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
I'm in a call rotation. Depending on the filled positions on my team the pager rotates around every 3 weeks to 6 weeks. You carry it for a week. 24/7 coverage.

I receive no additional compensation. It's built into the job description as an expectation.

I'm salaried if that matters.

Same here...

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: rudy311poo
and if so, how are you compensated?

We're in a rotation that is primary oncall, secondary oncall, 5 weeks in between, rinse, repeat.

We get halftime for times we are actually working outside our normal core hours.

so, if i get paged at midnight and work from midnight to 8 am, i get halftime for those 8 hours. I'm also able to get my sleep in (usually around 4-5 hours) before i have to show up for the next day and its not counted against me.

 

[Danman]

Yep, all of the time. Not compensated for it, it's part of my salary and job responsibility.

 

[FoBoT]

depends on how you look at it
officially, i am not currently in a position where it has been officially defined that i am on call ever

unofficially, i am on call 24/7/365 as i have duties that no one else can perform , so in a true emergency, i would have to do stuff. my boss has my personal cell phone and knows he can call me anytime if needed. he very rarely calls me

i am not specifically compensated differently for this, however last year i got a promotion/raise, which unofficially to me was my payback for above/beyond the call of putting in voluntary overtime for the past few years etc, so for now, i am ok with no extra compensation for being available as needed

 

[Mr Pickles]

We're expect to deal with high priority issues outside of the office at any time. It was explained to me when I took the job. I am salary.

 

[imported_rudy311poo]

I am paid hourly, which seems to not be the norm...

1. Should i be paid even if i am not called? or just paid when there is a call?
2. How should i be paid. Overtime? Flat Rate? % of salary?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Yes, 15% more for the time im on call

 

[Joemonkey]

Every Monday night and every 4th or 5th weekend or so. My compensation is a cellular based PCMCIA broadband card that I get to use when I'm on call, that's it

 

[altonb1]

i currently am on primary call about 4 weeks a year as the primary person and am backup for an additional 4 weeks. Basically, every 13-15 weeks depending on staffing, with a primary rotation one week, and a back-up rotation the next.

Compensation works like this: If we have to respond, we get paid minimum of 15 minutes. however, on weekends, our time system automatically rounds to a minimum 4 hours. Saturdays are 1.5x, and sundays are double-time. We also have night premiums that kick in after 8pm, but that only gets you an extra $1.10/hr, i think ABOVE the standard rate. ie. 2x salary, +1.10/hr, not salary + 1.10, then doubled. Of course, I am in an hourly position thanks to the FSLA and no longer salary.

Other places I have worked have given comp time.

Most places do NOT give any extra pay/time off if you are not contacted during your on-call period. So...if you are on-call, but do not get paged for anything, you get nothing.

 

[pstylesss]

Originally posted by: rudy311poo
I am paid hourly, which seems to not be the norm...

1. Should i be paid even if i am not called? or just paid when there is a call?
2. How should i be paid. Overtime? Flat Rate? % of salary?

I will be paid a flat rate of $250 per month to carry my blackberry (they call it beeper pay) and essentially be on call 24/7. If I'm called in to work I get overtime, plus two hours, if its a call-back its double time plus two hours.

 

[Wapp]

I'm on-call 24/7 for anything and that comes with the job but there is also a rotating on-call phone that I get for a week once every three months. They just changed the system to allow us to bill an extra 8 hours for that week regardless if the phone rings or not. If the phone does ring it is an automatic hour billed even for a 15 minute call. <3 Gov't contracting.

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
I'm in a call rotation. Depending on the filled positions on my team the pager rotates around every 3 weeks to 6 weeks. You carry it for a week. 24/7 coverage.

I receive no additional compensation. It's built into the job description as an expectation.

I'm salaried if that matters.

Same, except we do get a half day comp time that can be used the week after oncall (And only the week after) as a bit of a extra for doing on call.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: rudy311poo
I am paid hourly, which seems to not be the norm...

1. Should i be paid even if i am not called? or just paid when there is a call?
2. How should i be paid. Overtime? Flat Rate? % of salary?

Well here's the way I look at it. If you are on call, even if you don't actually get called, you are somewhat limited in what plans you can make and what you can do on your personal time. Maybe you were planning on going to a party or BBQ and knocking a few back. . .maybe you were just planning on going out of town or something for the weekend. If being on call limits your ability to live your life in your free time however you see fit, then why should you not expect at least some portion of normal compensation for that?

Personally, I am a salaried employee. Our business model is driven by "utilization" and to some degree our performance metrics are based on it too. Basically utilization means a percentage of hours worked out of total number of available business hours in a year. Each person has a "utilization target" percentage they are expected to meet each year. (Actually we have 2 targets. . .Total utilization (including non-billable for stuff like administrative tasks and overhead, bid and proposal work. . .stuff that contributes to business but is not billable) and billable utilization (includes only billable hours, the one that really matters). As a salaried employee, I can understand if they can't give me "overtime pay" for being on call. But in lieu of that I'd settle for at least a little bit of credit toward my utilization target when I am on call. But they don't even give us that. We are usually told when we are on call but we don't get to bill any time that counts toward our utilization target unless we are actually called. Which basically means if on call I can't go anywhere or do anything that would prevent me from being able to perform my expected job duties on a moments notice.

 

[Cal166]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
I'm in a call rotation. Depending on the filled positions on my team the pager rotates around every 3 weeks to 6 weeks. You carry it for a week. 24/7 coverage.

I receive no additional compensation. It's built into the job description as an expectation.

I'm salaried if that matters.

Pretty much the same.

 

[daveshel]

Not only am I on call and not compensated by virtue of the 'professional' exepmtion to the wage-hour law, but I have to carry a cell phone on which I'm not allowed to make any personal calls.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: daveshel
Not only am I on call and not compensated by virtue of the 'professional' exepmtion to the wage-hour law, but I have to carry a cell phone on which I'm not allowed to make any personal calls.

That sucks....they should at least let you make personal calls up to your monthly minute limit. See if they will start letting you expense your personal cell up to an equal amount of minutes for what they have on the work phone.

 

[compman25]

On call 24/7. Salaried. No extra pay.

 

[nakedfrog]

1 week per month, they kick in $25/mo for my cell phone bill (and more if necessary, but I'd have to prove I used more than $25 worth of minutes).

 

[Platypus]

Thankfully I don't do that bullshit anymore but when I did it was on call 24/7 with no extra pay or compensation.

 

[Rage187]

I carry it 7 days a week 24 hour coverage. I got a bump in pay up front and get over time for any calls worked. I'm also salaried but not exempt.

 

[lokiju]

Yes.

How am I compensated?

I get to keep my job.

But I'm in charge of all the remote offices broadband and VPN connections which aren't used after hours.

The biggest issue it causes is when offices on the West Coast have an issue since I'm on the East coast, they somehow always call when I'm making or about to eat dinner.

I guess my compensation could be considered that I get somewhat new gadgets to use/play with such as a new Black Berry, Laptop, Desktop, Aircard, etc...

Also my boss is very flexible with me leaving early or coming in late if I need to take care of any personal stuff, which helps a lot.