On-call pay

doug_10

Have to be on-call a few nights and one weekend per month.

Weekend on-call is from Friday 5 pm to Monday 7 am.

We get $30 for carrying the beeper this length of time (62 hours), even if we don't get called out. Time and a half for any calls we go on.

Is this low? High? Average?

Just an informal survey, thanks for any and all responses!

[Deleted User]

on call pay

Thats a good way to get rid of a good tech if you ask me!

Bob_9

What then do you propose for keeping a good tech?

lchmb

week at a time

The company I work for pay's $92 for the week. Call start's on Monday and end's the following Monday..

Bill Nye

Better

than most, worse than some. But it never enough is it ? A necessary evil and part of the job.

Many very good people leave the service side and go to construction because of on call. I left a year ago because my office manager beat me out of a lousy $90 . She didn't want to pay overtime for sunday because of a blizzard on monday.

Now I work 7 - 3:30 m-f and once in a while on sat. No beeper, No on call! More money.

I got nothing during the week, $25 for the entire weekend. Overtime only after 40 hrs. Was on call every other day and every other weekend. Burn out.

doug_10

thinking

of leaving too.

But I guess I should stop whining. Similar experiences, your's sounds worse.

Ken D.

On call

The places I have worked, on call ranged from 0 to $60. Two outfits including the $60 one we would get scores of calls after hours. Where we did not have to go out on all, we still had to call the customer back which I understand. But I would have literally 8 or more hours over 7 days on the phone that I did not get paid for not to mention that I could not go any where or do any thing because I was tethered to the phone. Neither company had cell phones and neither would reimburse you if you used yours.The service business does take a commitment, but too often that commitment is a one way street. This is one reason why good mechanics move on.

Paul Mitchell_2

On call pay

tough subject. I was at a shop 15 years ago that had the best deal I have ever heard of. We would get one extra paycheck per month plus 10.00 per call. You were required to be on call every fourth night, had a partner to split calls. 8 guys were on call. So you never had an entire weekend. Best deal I have ever heard of.

As for our company now we pay overtime or double depending on the day. No stand by pay. Other perks are involved that don't apply to being on call but make it more bearable for all of us. Myself and my partner rotate the on call even with the guys.

Alan_6

on call


Company's dont care how much time you spend, sorting through there calls. All they care about is the calls you run, and collect for.

sootmonkey

Call pay

Im on every 6th weekend and every 6th day. Winter rates 13.00 a day mtwtf. 26.00 a day Sat. & Sun. Service calls only in winter, no oil run out calls. Number of calls per night varies with temps. 20 below...better eat now. 20 above...maybe you will go out. 40 above...ahhh ...you have time for a beer. Summer time on call. 26.00 a day. 40.00 a day Sat & Sun. Service and run outs. Go to the beach, go out in the boat, what ever, tell them you will be there in 2 hours. I get paid time and .5 for every call I go on.

Bill_14

Sure lots of griping

about one of the necessary evils of the job..."have to"..."had to"..."were required"..."did not get paid"..."could not go"..."I was tethered"..."neither would reimburse"..."one way street", etc.

Why do you stay in a job that makes you miserable and is so unfair to each employee? I would want to be in a job that treated me better than that and I'm sure every other other company does a much better job than the one where I'm stuck now.

Let's try and make everybody miserable!

Bill Russell

popeye

on call pay

per your on call pay .... i get my one hours wage for being on call that day and time and a half if i go out on a call.

clammy

stand by pay

we take it for a full week friday to the following friday morning 24 hours we get paid time and a half and 140 for the week it's ok but in warm weather it seems you can't get or plan anything when you do that beeper goes off but it's better then most get but there's no blowing off the custtermers when they do call it is tough on the tech

jackchips_2

One company

I worked for, although not involved myself, would have the on call tech take the work week off and he would be on call from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and all weekend. They received their regular pay and I believe they also made time and a half when they went out.

doug_10

Thanks to all so far, keep 'em comin'!

Gosh darnit, this is still the best dang site, I think I've been away from it too long!

Anyway, seems like what I'm getting for on-call pay is about average, but I'd love to find out more.

Being on-call is not the most pleasant thing in life, and I can accept that, it does come with the territory, but if I were to quit my job, as much as I love it at times, it would be because of being on-call.

My main source of frustration is my company's refusal to try anything different, even if it would make for happier employees. I've suggested plenty of different ideas over the years, and gotten nowhere. They just don't care, which I guess is more of a company problem, than a being on-call problem.

But I've read things from you guys I hadn't even thought of, and being the optimistic guy I am (albeit often stupidly), maybe I'll try to make some of those suggestions as well.

Just gotta say thanks again for the responses, I'm certainly not the brightest or most knowledgeable guy out there, which is why I posted in the first place!

Boiler Guy

SPECIAL

I think I have a good deal when it comes to the "necessary evil". I am on call 24/7 BUT only as backup. CO pays my cell, I have full "reasonable personal use" of their vehicle 24/7, receive 1.5 rate for any chargeable time -- even if it is time spent on the phone with customers or other techs. I average 3-6 hrs per week during the winter months, virtually nothing during May to Sept. I usually cover for others on holiday only if no one else is available. Our client base is 95% commercial/industrial so we get very few after hours calls which need immediate response. Heck, I was even at one of Dan's seminars and got paid to troubleshoot by long distance!! I don't think I have anything to complain about.

clammy

on call

On another note we found that if you start on friday do the week end and then the rest of the week it,s not so bad .We used to do the whole week first then the week end and just about everybody was shot by the time the week end came .Getting the week end done first really gives you a better perspective on only having to do monday to thusday nite as a matter of fact my week starts tommorow i got this easter but in this weather it's either hit or miss nothing like the real winter but you still have promblems espically when your out till 12 doing a install and then you start all those calls that came in after 4;30 sometimes it really streaches your limits if i had it my way it would strickly install but i kinda love that unknown challenge good luck and peace

Ken D.

Bill Russell

Bill, In answer to your question, we don't stay- we just move on. PS- The customers get excellent sevice no matter who we work for.

Bill_14

Oh, okay...

Big Ed

No Standby

We don't have any stand by pay, just shifts with night diff. We have a over night ,if there is no work he sleeps . He get's paid for the whole shift too. A senior tech will always grabs the over night..

Jon_2

On Call/Standby Pay

At work, the Maint. Super. asked me if I would like a new laptop for home. Reason for me having it, so I could correct the building control system without me coming into work. I said "Sure I will take it, but what about the Stand-By Pay? I offered instead of taking the Stand-By pay that is 20% of my salary, I will just take every Friday off with pay" I never got the laptop, as you can well guess. So I still get 4 hours pay for every call-in. 99% of the call-ins could have been corrected by the laptop at home and they would save money as they have been paying me appox. 40% of my gross for off duty service calls. Who is stupid?

Darin Cook_2

Say Hi to Tom!!!

If this is the Mark I think it is, working for CBI, I know you are in a losing battle. The only reason you get $10.00 a night for call and get a third week of vacation after five years is because of me. I got sick of people crying and assembled people together after hours and asked them what they wanted. I then presented these demands to the company in a after hours meeting. No threat of strike or retaliation was made, just a synapsis of what people said would make them happy. A other demand was a handbook of company policy and rules, that it turns out their lawyer said not to provide, because it would hold them accountable. Now you see as the years go bye, the family has torn itself apart. Which is what happened years earlier to the original Bros. Tip of the day, find a new company or push it. There is no one to replace you out there. They are lucky to be able to find people who will show up every day, better yet if you do not have a bowl stuck in your mouth going to the job. Now you know why most of the long timers at the company went to the union.

[Deleted User]

on call

Union rates for on call are 1 hour pay for Monday through Friday and 4 hours pay for Saturday and Sunday each giving you 13 hours pay for the week. Holidays are also 4 hours. If you go out after hours, you get time and one half Mon-Sat, double time on Sunday and holidays. Last company I worked for I had 62 hours overtime in 1 week. (BLOOD MONEY).
I quit and work now for a company that has maybe 2 emergency calls a month. You get on call about every 6 weeks.

Matt_18

on-call

our on call isn't bad: I have one week day a week(no xtra pay except when I go out, which in time a half, point to point), and I have about one weekend every two months(from fri @ 5pm to mon@ 830am) for fifty bucks: calls or no calls. If I am called out, I only have to go if it is a contract customer, and then I get 1.5, point to point.

Dave_31

after hours

I work for a wholesaler and I wonder how other
wholesalers compensate there people

I get nothing for being on call
if I open the store I get one hour overtime