On-Call Compensation (or lack of)

[NetworkEngineer]

I think you find that £500 is pretty poor when you compare to what lots of public sector workers such as engineers, social workers, etc get for being on call.

Your £500 is for a week - have a look at what their daily on call rates are.

That's exactly my point, it is not easy to get hold of this information.

What are example daily rates? You know my salary, as posted above, is there a formula commonly used?

I am permanent, and I do not feel providing a contracting-style formula that I found in an old forum post will be workable in the long term or accepted by the business.

[NetworkEngineer]

Without some kind of a one-on/one-off rota system, this kind of shift system is unsustainable in the long run - your marriage and family life will suffer when your wife eventually points out that she married you, not your job.

Google 'servitude' to discover when the last time this type of employment/ownership was successful.

Find another job.

Hi Cojak,

I am to participate once every four or five weeks in the rota system, so it is sustainable, but only for the right amount of money. £500 is not enough in my opinion relative to my current salary.

[cojak]

Hi Cojak,

I am to participate once every four or five weeks in the rota system, so it is sustainable, but only for the right amount of money. £500 is not enough in my opinion relative to my current salary.

Fair enough ski...

[jmo21]

Doing a very rudimentary calculation.

£47,000 p/a

say 46 weeks actual worked.

= you earn £205 / day.

so for 7 days £1435 - that's what I'd lead, as you're on call presumably from 6pm - say 8am, and 24 hours on Sat and Sun.

[nomadd]

Scrub that! no amount of money is enough its not worth it all your gonna be doing is waiting for the phone to ring, if it was contract you could see the end of it but permie you could be doing it for years and don't forget when the monkey who is doing next week is on his holidays someone has to fill in for their week

Depends. With mobile phones these days it can be pretty flexible. Mind you, I've always quoted such insane "standby" rates and "per call" rates to my clients they've always replied with, "Forget it...we'll find someone cheaper."

I'd want the £500 the OP is getting just as the standby element; then a decent hourly rate on top of that. Each call over 5 minutes rounded up to the nearest hour. That's what the contractors who do on-call at my current gig do.

[Sockpuppet]

There small issue here of the OP not being a contractor.

[NetworkEngineer]

The OP (me) is indeed no longer a contractor, for now.

Company provide mobile phone, data-card, and home broadband if required. These are necessary to do the day to day job though, so I do not see these as a benefit.

Mobile data is still mostly 2G GSM in my area, and if you have ever tried to login to equipment connected over VSAT, using GPRS, you will know this is not particularly viable.

Thanks for all the comments, keep any rate-estimates coming in Helpful indeed.

[Old Greg]

I think you find that £500 is pretty poor when you compare to what lots of public sector workers such as engineers, social workers, etc get for being on call.

Your £500 is for a week - have a look at what their daily on call rates are.

NHS employees get a 4.5% salary enhancement for being on-call 1 in 4, plus payment for any time worked. 9.5% for 1 in 3 or more often.

[Wanderer]

I am to participate once every four or five weeks in the rota system, so it is sustainable, but only for the right amount of money. £500 is not enough in my opinion relative to my current salary.

I think that £500 is quite generous. It's about twice what the permies (on similar salaries to you) get where I work at the moment. It's hard to compare without knowing if you also get paid overtime/TOIL, how often you get called out and if it's phone work or if you have to carry a laptop with you at all times.

But really, if you don't want to be on call then just tell them you don't want to do it any more. If you earn £47k and the juniors are getting paid half that then they are on ~£100/day so the call-out is a week's pay to them. I'm sure they will be more than happy to take the £500 quid, so don't come moaning to us.

[MarillionFan]

I think that £500 is quite generous. It's about twice what the permies (on similar salaries to you) get where I work at the moment. It's hard to compare without knowing if you also get paid overtime/TOIL, how often you get called out and if it's phone work or if you have to carry a laptop with you at all times.

But really, if you don't want to be on call then just tell them you don't want to do it any more. If you earn £47k and the juniors are getting paid half that then they are on ~£100/day so the call-out is a week's pay to them. I'm sure they will be more than happy to take the £500 quid, so don't come moaning to us.

No it's not generous, it's a pain in the ass.

Effectively for a payment of a £500 before tax (£300 extra after per month) the OP has to spend a week in which he may get called out at any point in 24 hours x 7 days. So not being able to have a drink, or having to shoot off from a party or being called up at 3am in the morning, get dressed and rush off.

Effectively that extra payment works out at an extra £70 per day to be on call out.

From a contract perspective, contractors normally get paid a 'on call fee' and then if called out 'charge a call out fee'. So this is dependent on whether this call out is part of your normal work/contract.

Personally, you should have the option to take it or not. If you do take it, the flat rate I would be going for £150 per day just to be on call, but would be asking for a call out fee as well. So if you call me out at 3am in the morning, you're paying. Up to you how you organise that.