IT on call - What does everyone get paid

Associate
Joined
12 Sep 2019
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1
So me and my colleague participate in an on call rota at work. We do 1 week on and 1 week off so half the month each. When on call we must be reachable on the phone and must reply back to a call within 15 minutes and start fixing the problem within 1 hour. We get calls 24/7 and these range from P1 issues to password resets of cctv monitoring staff.
Overall we get something like 1 to 3 calls a week, 95% of the time these are passwords or similar. Obviously you just have to have your laptop with you all the time and be within signal range

Just wondered what everyone else gets paid. We get 25 for a weekday and 50 for a weekend. This includes first 2 calls or first hour which ever is first. Then overtime rate. Is this fair in today’s market?
 
Don
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18 Oct 2002
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Notts
Wont put £ numbers

but its calculated in terms of hours pay

Mon- Thurs pay 4 hrs per night

Fri night 5.6 hrs

Weekend day 9-9 8.4 hrs

Bank hol and weekend days of a bank hol 13.2 hrs

Xmas day and NY day have a higher rate

Call out is 1.25x in week, 1.35 weekend and 1.7 bank hol weekend (higher xmas and NY)


IMO our on call rates are OK but the call out rates are poor

if you are getting a total of 225 for a week that sounds really bad, for a normal week (not bank hol) ours pays just over 40 hrs pay


I would never do a 1 in 2 though
 
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Soldato
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10 Oct 2005
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Nottingham
When I used to do it a few years ago I got £256/week plus 1.5x for any call out Mon-Sat and 2x for any call out Sun or Bank Hols (major bank holidays also gave time off in leau as well).
That was up to 4 weeks in 4 on call for to long a while (fortunately with very very few callouts).

Current job, after 10 years not on call, is 10% of annual salary for standby plus various overtime payments if called out. Roughly 1 week in 3.
 
Associate
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453
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Stoke
We get £350 a week covering 5pm-8am mon thurs and 5pm fri-8am monday. Flat rate for no calls or many calls. If up all night with an issue can take the hours back the following day.
 
Don
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Notts
don't forget if your on call is compulsory then they have to pay you your weekly average of on call and call out when on holiday, some companies seem to try and get away with this
 
Associate
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2 Aug 2009
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UK
£23 per session during the week, 2 x £23 on Sat/Sun. Session payments are a flat rate for being available.

Then additionally 1.5x my hourly rate for any call I take, 2x my hourly rate on Sundays and bank holidays.

Averaging 1 week of on-call per month works out anything from £750-£1300 depending on how busy I am.
 
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Don
Joined
17 May 2004
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12,763
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Telford, Shropshire
I haven't done on-call for a few years now (5-6);

But when I did, I worked on a rota of once every 5 weeks. it worked out at 250 a week (all night and all weekend), so from Monday 6pm to the following Monday 8am. As this was a number of years ago, I would expect that to go up;

At the time, I wasn't on a great wage (circa mid 25-30); so having it once every 5 weeks equated to roughly £2500 extra a year; Any call outs received which meant you had to go on site (no remote access - government contract) you'd also get overtime paid at the normal rate.

I did this for around 6-7 years I think; The only reason i did it for that length of time is that you'd rarely ever get a call out; the only time the phone would ring would be for a potential major issue - I used to look after a number of directories and high profile pieces of software for 100,000+ users; all were HA, so any issues were generally bigger issues affecting either a Datacentre, or the Network - very rarely would there be a service affecting issue.

It was basically free money. But obviously there was a life balance issue, as you couldn't go anywhere, couldn't really do anything during the week you were on call. I lived roughly 5-10 minutes from the office.

I also got stitched up the vast majority of major holidays (see Christmas) as i was the only member on the team without kids. But obviously prices went up around holidays. (2x call out, increase of on call money - but wasn't a huge amount extra - can't recall figures)
 
Soldato
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West sussex
works out at around at around £500/week before tax for on-call and anything on top when called out but that varies. As example, in the last year I got called out twice.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2004
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3,792
Mine is 9.6% of my salary and I am on 1 in 3. We can claim overtime which is paid at 1.5x standard rate if we get calls and have to do anything. This is purely for P1 (or P2 if the urgency is deemd high) issues though. If someone has simply forgotten their password, tough.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jun 2011
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6,012
I dont work in IT but do have call out cover, am on call 1 in 4,

from 4pm till 8am (end of working day to start of new) and 24h at the weekend i get £1.50 an hour for being on call and time and a half door to door if i get called double time if its a bank holiday.

Tbh, getting paid to sit at home and just not drink and have phone on isnt too bad i spose. Just finishes my on call week and got called out 3 times, twice at the weekend and once Monday night.
 
Associate
Joined
26 Jul 2007
Posts
939
About £190 for a week oncall then 1.5x time spent. I would say average 5 calls a week but can be anything from a few hours a week to 30+ in bad weeks.
 
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