Madmac

Just throwing this out to see what the procedures in industry are over here:

My employer is trying to introduce an on call process for IT technicians consisting of:

Being available for 1 week out of 4, Monday through Sunday, from 7am until 11pm (including weekends).

Carrying a company on call cell phone and being "mentally and physically available to answer support requests.".

Try to resolve the issue over the phone or escalate it to the supervisor or enter it into helpdesk software for further investigation or drive to the remote site to resolve the issue in person.

For this, the compensation would consist of 3 hours per week at the standard rate for that employee. If an onsite visit was necessary then depending on the day it would be paid at the overtime rate applicable for that day (e.g., 1.5 on a Saturday) only for time worked over the initial 3 hr payment.

Mileage would only be paid from the County line to the remote site and back. Travel outside the county line would not be paid.

I don't have an opinion on this yet as it's only a proposal but was just wondering if anyone here works an IT on call system? Could you give me a comparison with the one I've described just so I can get an idea?

I worked one back home but it's far different from what's been proposed here.

Ta for the flak and help in advance.

ann m

I have no idea on procedures Madmac, but I guess a starting point would be 'how likely is a call out?'. What procedures are in place for out of hours stuff at the moment?

Are you likely to get a phone call every night of the week when you are on call? In which case, 3 hours standard pay (even though you techies earn shed loads per hour ) would not be fair, in my humble opinion.

However, if the likelihood is a possible call, or an occasional call once a week, then a few hours pay for not getting drunk at home might be compensation enough?

Is it extremely likely to have to go to the remote site, or is it more likely that most issues can be fixed 'at home' by whatever means necessary?

Yeah - good luck with this one! A friend in the UK was on-call every other week, but was very fairly compensated - especially with end-of-year bonus'.

G586

So that is being completely at the beck and call of any customer for 112 hours in the week, 1 week out of 4?

And they want to pay you for an extra 3 hours a week?

If they pay you a fortune anyway and no one rings when you are oncall, I could just about hack that. If I ended up working practically all that time that week, I would be preparing my resume!!

But then I'm not an IT contractor and my 16 hours a week in may last job was too much for me!

My friend does oncall - it severely restricts her drinking for that week.

Madmac

Thanks for the thoughts. No opinion as of yet as to whether it's fair or not. Just wanted to see other procedures in Canada.

Shed loads per hour - ha ha ha ha ha . It would be funny if it weren't so pitiful an amount. I get paid waaaaaay less than I did back home but that's not the point.

Ta.

Madmac

Oh I am desperately looking for another job and the Resume is doing the rounds as we speak.

No, I get paid a less than average wage for the sector (good benefits though) so compensation would be similarly less than average.

No - it won't be restricting me in the slightest. The responses may be a bit unintelligible though.

Danny B

I am on-call between 5pm - 8am Monday - Friday and 48hrs over the weekend. I get 1hrs regular pay for every 6hrs of being on-call, this is roughly 20hrs of extra pay per week just for being on standby.

When I get called I can claim 2hrs pay regardless of how long the call took, obviously if it took 3hrs to fix then I'd claim 3 hrs.

HTH

G586

she operates a gamma ray so best not done under the influence.

still, if you had to drive to go on site?

Madmac

Perfect - thanks.

G77

Sounds a bit stingy to me - when I was an engineer, I used to get paid anywhere between £150 and £250 per week on call, plus overtime from the minute the phone rings....

Madmac

Welcome to Canada and it's employment practises.

Even the ESA (Employment Standards Agency) told me on the phone that employers can hand you an on call phone and as long as you're out of your workplace, expect you to answer calls for nought!

Bonkers, but then everything happens for a reason and maybe this is my reason to get my ass into gear and leave?

G77

I hear Australia is nice....

mandymoochops

Sorry can't be much help Mac, I just agree with some of the comments on here that if a call out is unlikely then swallow it - if not then to be honest that package sounds like it stinks.

We have to be on 24/7 call for the bank but get compensated very well per call out - even if we just have to go in and check the premises over due to suspicious report - but I've only ever been called out twice in one day and earned a tidy sum for that!!!!

Madmac

He he - I wonder what their call out compensation package is?

Ah no, trust me. There will be a flood of calls as the contact cards have already been sent out and human nature being what it is, users will always pass the buck to the techie.

I think it really boils down to taking responsibility for your employment conditions , and what you are prepared to tolerate, into your own hands in Canada - possibly much more than the UK. So therefore: if you don't like it, leave for something better.

I'd like to hear dbd's slant on this from the other side?? - Where are you????

Almost Canadian

I'm sure he would expect the employee to pay the employer for the kudos of having a company cell

JonboyE

I don't know anything about the hours that are paid in the support business, but I would say b*ll*cks to that.

If my employer expects me to use my vehicle so that they can earn money I expect them to pay me for every kilometer I travel.

An employer is not going to reimburse travel from home to your regular office, but Revenue Canada consider that 52 cents per kilometer for the first 4.000kms driven is reasonable compensation for driving to and from a site. Nothing about county lines there. It is a bit of cheek from your employer IMO.