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Most Tech Workers Would Ignore a Call From Their Boss Outside Work Hours (zdnet.com)
In this age of instant communication, there is pressure on employees to be "switched on" all hours of the day. But do we really have the mental attitude to totally disconnect from work? From a report: A new study by UK-based HandsetExpert has revealed that almost two out of three tech workers would ignore an out-of-hours call from the boss. It surveyed 1,850 mobile device users in the UK to find out how we deal with the pressures of being an "always-on" society. This number might be the roll-up of various reasons -- from being on the toilet, in the bath, or in other compromising situations. The survey showed different behaviours from different job roles. Healthcare professionals seem to be most connected to their place of work. They were the least likely to cancel any calls from their boss, with only 42.5 percent stating they would not pick up the call. At the other end of the scale, real estate agents -- who already work some of the longest hours in the industry -- are least likely to respond. Almost three out of four workers (72.6 percent) in that industry sector would not respond to calls from their boss.
I ignore calls from my boss during work hours.
Trolling is a art,
I know my boss respects my private life and work balance, so if he's calling me then it must be something dire.
With healthcare, there are literally lives on the line. "Did you give Mrs. Abernathy her heart medication or is the lack of entry in the chart an oversight? I'm calling cause I need to give it to her in the next 2 minutes if you forgot"
With real estate people: it's not the boss who buys the property and it takes quite a long time for a sale with all the bureaucracy. There is just no real urgency.
IT worker: for some it can be important cause the server might fall down and the downtime might be very expensive. E.g. some Amazon AWS downtime or maybe a nuclear power plant. But most IT workers work cupholder replacements or such, there it doesn't really matter.
Healthcare: if you ignore a call, people can actually be harmed or die.
I.T. outside of nuclear power plants and healthcare: if you ignore a call, people might not be able to use the latest fart app for two hours.
In one instance, selfless dedication is appropriate, in the other, less so. Also, was the 2 out of 3 number for techies for the US or the UK?
Half the time it's because he wants to hang out and have a beer.
When I was a steelworker (USWA) I got paid triple time if called in during holidays and vacations, and double time if called in during time off. If I was on call, I got paid 50 percent during that time period.
If you want us there, pay us.
Simple.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Is it possible that some studies are done purely to spark discussions on places like this and otherwise serve no purpose and provide no value at all?
I was 2 hours out of town on a Sunday at a friend's birthday party and my boss calls. He demands I come in and work on an issue that he believes I caused. And berates me for 5 minutes on the phone after I refused with the reason being that I'm out of town.
When I get into work Monday, I get reamed out further and put on a PIP (performance improvement plan). I was never told I was "on-call" for that weekend. And later on Monday, once I finally got to look at the problem. I discovered someone committed changes without running it through the mandatory integration process.
Those changes conflicted with my weeks old change and causes numerous test failures. In short, not my fault. Not even my responsibility to diagnose what went wrong. Needless to say I was out there quickly due to the PIP and my total dickishness with telling everyone at work I've been wrongly accused of such bullshit and how poorly the management handled it.
(not posting as AC, because you know who you are)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
When I was a sysadmin, my systems were set up to page/text me when a problem occurred. If it was ultimately something that had a business impact (like having to keep a system down outside a maintenance window), I was the one calling my boss at 2 am... He always took those calls from me as he knew I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important and I needed input or had to give him a heads up.
In the best of situations, it works both ways and the boss doesn't call you unless it's important and you're really needed. You both know the other will answer and you can count on each other to do what's needed to get the job done and also not abuse that trust or relationship. Less optimal situations may require that you find another job.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Had so many employees not seen it all before, they wouldn't be so eager to jump ship when they smell fire.
Here's a tip: your company views you as a replaceable asset. You should view them the same way, unless you want to get a nasty surprise one day.
True story: in my last position, my entire department essentially stopped talking to me because I told key opinion makers that I suspected our department was getting cut due to too few investments and a lack of direction and interest from the stakeholders. I was told no way, the CEO loves us, and perhaps I didn't fit the culture. 6 months later, pink slips.
If you think your company cares about you, you're a fucking sucker that bought HR boilerplate bullshit.
Same here. My boss wouldn't call without a darn good reason. In addition, if the shit hits the fan I'd MUCH rather fix it than have someone else TRY to fix it and leave me with a much bigger mess to clean up in the morning.
I've told my boss PLEASE call (or message) me because it's much easier for me to spend 10 minutes properly diagnosing a problem and fixing it, rather than try to figure out wtf all a co-worker did while randomly trying this and that at random hoping to make the problem go away.
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Heck, even my FORMER my boss, as I was leaving that job, I told them several times - you'll probably run into one or two situations where you have this choice:
A) you spend five hours trying to figure out what Ray did
B) I spend five minutes answering their email, answering their question
I'd much rather me spend 5 minutes answering their question than they spend 5 hours trying to figure it out without asking me.
Of course the old employer left me on as a "hourly employee" at a high rate of $xxx/hour, just in case they needed a couple hours of my time. At well over $100/hour, I'm happy to leave open the possibility of doing a little work for them. Even giving them a few minutes of my time for free.
As it turned out, I think they had one five-minute question for me, and once I asked them to send me a copy of a bit of code I'd written for them because it was a good example of a concept I wanted to demonstrate.
I'm self-employed, and after hours, unless I'm expecting a call, if I'm in the middle of something, chances are very good I'll let the call go to voicemail. Part of the reason I'm self-employed was to wrest control of my professional and personal life from employers that would take advantage of me at any opportunity.
I've been that guy on-call, and that's a different story. You know what you're signing on for when you take on that responsibility. I'm talking about situations where I'm expected to answer the call for "all hands on deck" without any additional compensation or consideration. Now, if I spend time on your system, you get billed, as it should be.
*** *** You're just jealous 'cause the voices talk to me... ***