Out of hours support

[Homer-Simpson]

Does anyone here support their business 24/7 on a rota or have you previously? I am interested to know what is deemed the normal payment for OOH support/what happens when you take a phone call/do you get overtime straight away?

[Ashen]

I get paid in angel tears.

[GroovYF]

Not 24/7... but being on call is hourly rate for x amount of hours required.
Taking/requiring a phone call is 1.5 hourly rate, and if it necessitates coming into office is double time.

[Homer-Simpson]

Originally Posted by GroovYF

Not 24/7... but being on call is hourly rate for x amount of hours required.
Taking/requiring a phone call is 1.5 hourly rate, and if it necessitates coming into office is double time.

What type of support do you offer? What is your job role?

[GroovYF]

Systems Engineer, so looking after backend servers basically.
Very, very infrequently get called though these days.

[Homer-Simpson]

Originally Posted by GroovYF

Systems Engineer, so looking after backend servers basically.
Very, very infrequently get called though these days.

Thank you

[Minty]

I used to work nights when I was in retail. We used to complain that other people working nights were getting time and a half, but we werent.

[Scrobbs]

We used to get a hourly rate for simply being 'on call' (overnight say), then a callout payment plus time and half while actually out.

[burundi]

We get sweet fuck all and have to be on call about 1 week in every 3. it's going to come to a head as it's getting out of hand quite frankly.

[Nomad]

generally even being available on call is deemed to be payable, if you have to stay in a fit state and able to drive/work at a moments notice then it can impact your plans and should be paid unless you accepted a contract where it states otherwise.

On call, say 1.33, actually doing something 1.5, weekend would be x2. Seen same rates for hourly contractors also though it's preferable to be in the situation where you charge a half day just for thinking about work and get multiples on those too.

[Hapless]

In my previous job we used to get about £1.80 an hour outside of work hours (i.e 16 hrs per day, 24 hrs at the weekend) then £12 if you were called out, even if it was a yes/no answer on the phone that took a minute. If you worked over an hour it was 20p a minute.

As industry standards went I don't think it was particularly generous but some places don't pay at all & it depended on what discipline you were on call for i.e people in coding teams were on call for years, (literally, adding about £10-12k to their salary) without getting called but us mugs in the technical support teams would often get 6+ calls a week, usually at three in the morning.

I don't miss it, getting paged out of bed to fix someone elses error for about a £5 after tax wasn't my idea of the glamorous IT lifestyle.

[Stuie]

I used to work at a garage and got 1.3 * wage for any antisocial hours.

I now work as a complaints advisor and would expect at least 1.5 * wage for a call centre scenario for any antisocial hours.

probably not what you're looking for but I'd expect a premium whatever the job.

[Sid]

Around 2002 I was on standby one week in three. I got a £15 a night and £45 for a Saturday and Sunday. If I had to attend site, I'd get 4 hours lieu time.

[gil]

Originally Posted by Scrobbs

We used to get a hourly rate for simply being 'on call' (overnight say), then a callout payment plus time and half while actually out.

Something like this.

[jimbobaggies]

Last time I was on call out I was paid something like £80/month for a 1 week in four rota to cover weekend nights. If I resolved an issue over the phone I was paid for a minimum of two hours off the bat at 1.5 x hourly rate Sat or 2 x hourly rate on Sun. If I went into work I would get the same + any extra hours worked.

[Laz]

When I worked in the NHS I used to get a flat fee per hour for out of hour support (can't remember how much) then a lump sum per call (~£50) Cue me unplugging network cables in A&E during the colder months.

Currently my company has a few 'other side of the world' clients, and it's just 'expected' to be able to pitch in here and there, until we get offices set up in those geographies. Loads of balls I say.

[Goody]

God you IT cunts dont half moan about having to do some excessively well paid work.

[Nomad]

it's difficult stuff see

[burundi]

Requires specialist knowledge and shit, not just anyone can instruct you to turn it off and on again you know.

[Norphy]

Whether you're well paid or not, I don't think expecting to be paid when you're working outside of your contracted hours is an especially unreasonable thing to expect...

[Nomad]

yep, depends on the contract you signed originally homer, if they expected there to be a high amount of out-of-hours work they might have stuck in some caveat that minimises the amount they will have to pay out, or if they didn't expect it and mention it in there, free reign to go request your own terms...

[Bleh]

I did for a small company. The arrangement was £20 per day on cover and a minimum of 2 hours pay for an actual call. The rate was always time and a half.

[Laz]

Originally Posted by Nomad

yep, depends on the contract you signed originally homer, if they expected there to be a high amount of out-of-hours work they might have stuck in some caveat that minimises the amount they will have to pay out, or if they didn't expect it and mention it in there, free reign to go request your own terms...

I always get the 'and any other responsibilities deemed necessary' thrown in my face when I moan about doing OOH shit. I'd like to know what exactly is covered by a caveat like that. Does sucking off my boss count? I mean what's the point of having the rest of the contract at all. Just have a blank page with 'What ever we ask you to do', would probably cover it.

[Nomad]

t&c will cover x hours a day or week, o.o.h is on top. 'any other' stuff means 'annoying admin to do with your job' and similar role related stuff which you can't really refuse during your standard hours, they can't request you to go work in the canteen if you are normally a welder or in accounts or even take up travelling around the country if you took an office based role, o.o.h is not covered under 'any other stuff as that is out of your mutually agreed hours.

[Big D]

I've had 5% "Disturbance allowance" since 1998 to support SAP 1 week in 4 out of hours. Don't get anything if they actually call, but system is quite stable and usually only get called once in a 2 week cover period, if that.

Funny thing is, the system is that complex, that if there is actually anything above "can you change my SAP password please" then I have to call someone else anyway

[Eja Cool8]

I worked in a factory, constant nights, for a month shy of ten years, shift allowance worked out roughly 40% on top of my basic.

Was fine until they closed the fucking place down and moved the work to Peurto Rico

[Ferg]

I did 24/7 second line technical support... I got 1.5x pay for every hour worked out of hours, 2x at the weekends. 10 minutes would be an hour, an hour and 10 minutes would be 2 hours.

There was also £8000 per year shared between the people in the rota. It was a 1 in 2 rota for a while, which was nice.

[Bilb]

I used to be on call one week in 4. As I was the team-lead, I used to volunteer for Christmas and New Year duty. It paid extra for the bank holidays, but also meant that my team could enjoy themselves and have a few drinks without worry of being called in.

It used to pay an "On Call" allowance, for you to be available at all hours. Plus if we had to respond to any incident, that was chargeable. Then if we needed to attend site, we had mileage expenses and overtime rate onsite.

[GLoBaL ChiLLaGe]

I provide OOH support on a weekly rota basis to our 24x7 clients and get paid a fair amount to do so. In the (unlikely) event I get called out, I also get paid 1.5 or 2x. I've been called out....three times this year?? It allows me to buy toys without the missus knowing!

[DizMatt]

I used to work for teh OOH services for universities called NorMAN