I'm a contractor. No-pay=No-work.
I was once an employee and got screwed being on-call. Eventually I told my boss's boss where I'd place the beeper in relation to his anatomy. So they then paid me under the counter by authorising all sorts of weird things as expenses. This saved having to deal with contract lawyers, unions and (above all) the HR department.
Generally I really hate being on call. I've done it on-and-off for 14 years and that's too much.
I do support my own stuff but rarely get called. I'm not perfect but am very careful as a DBA. From bitter experience lotsa of on-call activity indicates the site is out-of-control. It's one of the things I ask about at interviews and I have turned down a job on the basis they could find someone else to do 40 hours on-call in addition to a normal job.
If I am forced to do on-call I want a heap of cash.
The last two places I reluctantly did this, 2 huge utilities, it was an ad hoc arrangement with the line managers.
Technically I'm not on call at now. IT costed 24x7, which includes operators and all the people from various areas being available and being called. They put it to business and the business died with a leg in the air. So, while they are really in effect 24x7, they take a risk. The outsourcing the company has started addresses, although not for my DBA area which is outside the scope of the outsourcing (thank you Gartner).
Basically we are available on an informal "catch us if you can" basis so we can turn off if needed. In practice we do sometimes get called. When I bill, I describe what happened to my boss and say what I've put on my timesheet and he say agrees or asks me to add more or (rarely) take off some.
From experience, formalising this sort of thing may not be in your interest as you are expected to meet the SLA defined under all circumstances. If it's informal they have no comeback. It can also raise political problems if, say, permanent staff don't get paid for being on-call.
My first negotiating position on on-call is "No. Not at any price." I really mean this in a sense as I detested being on-call at a large oil company. Certainly I would not do on-call if I was the only one on call for something as it's an untenable position.
Best deal reached: Availability 1 billable hour per weekday and two for Saturday/Sunday and a 2 hour flag fall plus arranged working on weekends at double rates.
I take a more moderate tack for major development drops or changes I wrote, as opposed to being on-call for the daily grind:- unless you have these every 2nd day or every week (which is another problem in itself) - you have to be reasonable without being a complete walk-over.
Finally, in the words of an old Scottish friend: 1 hour minimum for a call, 2 hours for a stupid call and 4 hours for a f**king stupid call.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a contractor. No-pay=No-work. I was once an employee and got screwed being on-call. Eventually I told my boss's boss where I'd place the beeper in relation to his anatomy. So they then paid me under the counter by authorising all sorts of weird things as expenses. This saved having to deal with contract lawyers, unions and (above all) the HR department. Generally I really hate being on call. I've done it on-and-off for 14 years and that's too much. I do support my own stuff but rarely get called. I'm not perfect but am very careful as a DBA. From bitter experience lotsa of on-call activity indicates the site is out-of-control. It's one of the things I ask about at interviews and I have turned down a job on the basis they could find someone else to do 40 hours on-call in addition to a normal job. If I am forced to do on-call I want a heap of cash. The last two places I reluctantly did this, 2 huge utilities, it was an ad hoc arrangement with the line managers. Technically I'm not on call at now. IT costed 24x7, which includes operators and all the people from various areas being available and being called. They put it to business and the business died with a leg in the air. So, while they are really in effect 24x7, they take a risk. The outsourcing the company has started addresses, although not for my DBA area which is outside the scope of the outsourcing (thank you Gartner). Basically we are available on an informal "catch us if you can" basis so we can turn off if needed. In practice we do sometimes get called. When I bill, I describe what happened to my boss and say what I've put on my timesheet and he say agrees or asks me to add more or (rarely) take off some. From experience, formalising this sort of thing may not be in your interest as you are expected to meet the SLA defined under all circumstances. If it's informal they have no comeback. It can also raise political problems if, say, permanent staff don't get paid for being on-call. My first negotiating position on on-call is "No. Not at any price." I really mean this in a sense as I detested being on-call at a large oil company. Certainly I would not do on-call if I was the only one on call for something as it's an untenable position. Best deal reached: Availability 1 billable hour per weekday and two for Saturday/Sunday and a 2 hour flag fall plus arranged working on weekends at double rates. I take a more moderate tack for major development drops or changes I wrote, as opposed to being on-call for the daily grind:- unless you have these every 2nd day or every week (which is another problem in itself) - you have to be reasonable without being a complete walk-over. Finally, in the words of an old Scottish friend: 1 hour minimum for a call, 2 hours for a stupid call and 4 hours for a f**king stupid call.