UKC

Hi,

In the middle of setting up a standby system at work so our customers can get support 24/7. Intending to pay people a fixed rate for weeks where they are on call to cover the hassle of having to make sure they always have phone signal, being woken in the middle of the night etc. They aren't likely to need to leave the house, but would be paid overtime if they have to go out to site.

Trying to get a better idea of what the going rate is for this kind of standby. It's a semi-skilled role, people on standby paid 18-28K, hard to say how often they're going to get disturbed as we've not offered the service before, but I would guess at least a couple of calls a night, generally before midnight. Want to set the payment at a level where it seems appealing, but also have to keep an eye on budget.

Input from the UKC collective conscience much appreciated.

In reply to Sam W:

We Pay out on call operational support guys and girls just shy of £100 per day This covers 6am until Midnight.
The full time base we pay is higher at £38k but its a skilled niech support roll.

We stopped combining the roll with people who worked for us 9-5 because if they got disturbed a couple of times in the night they were generally rubbish at work the next day. Our support guys average about 1.7 out of hours calls a day. Our average time to resolution for a call is usually a couple of hours (we only get called when things get really messed up operationally)

Most of our out of hours support is now done my stay at home Mums and Dads who appreciate the flexibility. and as a business this approach has helped us retain staff who we would have otherwise lost and we now have some of our most skilled people in tech support, which our customer really appreciate.

At the end of the day you probably have a good idea of who in your team would take this on, think about what a reasonable hourly rate would be for the number of calls you expect.

All The Best

James

In reply to Sam W:
As they're technically at work, I think pay them at their overtime rate, plus don't forget double time and a day off in lieu for Bank Holidays?

In reply to james wardle:

Thanks, that's really useful. I'm new in my role (3 weeks), so still very much getting a feel for the company and its customers, but have to get the standby system sorted asap. It's going to have to be staffed by 9-5ers at the moment, although I was wondering about getting somebody working 2pm-11pm from home, concerned about keeping them motivated if they're not part of the office, do you find this a problem?

Dave the Rave

Thanks for the helpful suggestion, I'm going to put it forward to the management team, no doubt they'll approve at which point I will put myself on permanent standby.

In reply to Sam W:

I get a flat 1.5% of base salary, for a 1:3 weeks roster with internal cover. No additional for attending site, and be able to attend within 20 minutes from 6am-10pm (40mins from 10pm to 6am when on call).

I get calls most nights but rarely have to attend in person.

HTH

b

In reply to Sam W:

Working from home depends very much on the personality. out of the 1000 people in the company probably 200+ work mostly from home. Works well for older members of staff, and people who are motivated by getting the job done rather than working set hours.

In reply to Sam W:

I get around 200 quid for the week on standby as well as overtime if I have to go out and sometimes a 50 quid bonus depending how happy the customer was/how much of a balls ache it was. My basic is 20, but that's for a 37 hour week and most weeks I do 55.

Oh my area is anywhere south of Manchester apart from London. That includes Wales and depending on who's f*cked what up sometimes Scotland as well.

In reply to Sam W:

I've done standby fo years, right pain in the 'arris TBH. Used to just get a fiver per night. Now £35 + pence Mon- Thur. £75+ pence Fri-Sun plus overtime rate for hours worked. That's 24 hr cover 8am till 8am.

In reply to Sam W:

Where I work we get £30 a day for being on-call and then if we are called out we get paid time and a half Monday to Friday and double time Saturday and Sunday (and bank holidays), tripple time for Christmas Day. We have to be available within an hour, and the first hour is always payed in full, so if we work 10 minutes we still get the hours pay.

It is worth keeping in mind if someone finishes work at at 5pm, and gets called out before 4am, they should not be in work until 11 hours after the call out (11 hour continual rest).

In reply to Sam W:

In my industry the going rate wage wise is 25 to 30k, standby money is around £150 a week with a minimum of 4 hours if you get called out.
I am too tight to pay that so myself and my Co Director cover all the callous.
Its not worth us paying out the best part of 8k per year when we only get called out once or twice a month and with me being tee total as well it's not difficult.

In reply to Sam W:

I worked for a transport company where we would be on call from 11am Monday until 8am the following Monday, on a 1/3 week rota. The job required us to reorganise logistics whilst on call, no matter what time. However, we did not get any extra pay. My contract stated that I would work 37.5hours a week, and work hours would vary, dependant on demands. On the flip side within a 3 week rota we would work Monday to Friday (week 1-which would be Monday to Saturday during the busy months), Monday to Thursday (week 2) and Monday to Monday on call (Monday to Saturday in the office, Week 3).

Owen

In reply to Sam W:

Thanks for all the replies, helped me come to a reasonable figure, seems to have gone down well so far.

In reply to Sam W:

Sam

Can't really comment on remuneration - I'm a vet and it's just expected that we do on call (as I'm doing tonight, hence why I'm on here whilst waiting for the phone to ring), without any additional pay arrangements.

But you do also need to pay attention to hours and the absolute hash that is the Directive. On-call is something that isn't properly accounted for, and you may need to ask your employees to opt out - as we generally do - particularly if it gets busy in the nights.

In reply to Martin not maisie:
The working time directive is a good thing, that is designed to protect employees from unscrupulous employers?

In reply to Dave the Rave:

Yes, it is. Unfortunately, it's not sure what to do with on-call time. Are you working? Are you technically not working? Do you only count the actual contact hours? This is why a lot of professions and industries find it easier to opt out.

To be fair, most jobs requiring on-call are well above the bottom of the ladder. The primary beneficiaries of the WTD are likely to be low-paid, unskilled workers at risk of long, continuous working hours. Being available at daft o'clock is a slightly different issue.

In reply to Sam W:

I'm an analytical chemist, working in a team of up to 16, standard salary £14.5k-22 within the team. Our standby/call out pays at £93.50 weekly, (monday-monday, 24hrs a day). Pays 1.5 time on call outs plus £11 for remaining after work, £16.50 from home between 6am and 8pm (6pm on weekends), £33.50 from home between 8pm (6pm weekends), also an extra £16.50 if remaining after midnight (10pm weekends). We think it's underpaid given the skillset required, but then we think we're underpaid in general. Also we have to apply the working time directive ensuring 11 clear hours between leaving work on OT and starting the next shift, so someone finishing a call out at 12 midnight won't be in till 11am.