Is this exploitation or not?

jobbingmusician

Perfectly normal, and you will get used to it! I have often had this, and £26 is not bad for a weekend - or rather, I would caveat this. It isn't bad for any of the jobs I have held in the past. It all hinges on how often you are actually called out. Called out once or twice a year - perfectly adequate pay. Called out almost every time you hold the phone - you are giving up your weekend's freedom for £26, which is not acceptable to me.

It is likely, however, to be part of a rota with other managers, who presumably don't hate the rota enough to kick off about it, so more likely to be twice a year (or never) than twice a month!

Incidentally - being paid for the time you work is good news - I've never had this, only the facility to take time off in lieu. And we won't talk about the fact that I spent many years as Person in Control of a registered care home, where I should be called 24/7/365 in the case of any serious incident......

PS They will probably provide an on call phone, which you have to carry wherever you are when you are on call. Alternatively the incoming calls may be diverted to your personal phone, which you have to have with you, and on, over the weekends concerned.

motorguy

star2sparkle wrote: »

Thank you MonkeyDr, it is actually as you say. I have rung them and from what I can gather (though the person I rang is making absolutely sure) is that if you do receive a call, it actually means you have to go into the centre/office so you will get paid the extra. It isn't actually just being at home, waiting for calls as such and just being paid a shift allowance. So a call means...go in. However, you have to be available for that whole time and if you don't get a call...you just get the shift allowance. She did say, though, that you can go out and about, so I suppose that is good? Not really sure about this...

So its as per i originally said - an on call allowance, and a payment for hours worked.

When i've been on call i just go about my normal plans - if i was say, out shopping i'd just go from there to work if i was called in. Round at my folks and got a call - leave from there. Watching TV and get a call - leave from there. Simples.

Noone is suggesting you put your life on hold for 8 hours for £26.

agrinnall

The important thing is the requirement to attend within 30 minutes, so that means you are limited in where you can go while you're on call. You also can't have a Saturday lunchtime session in the pub, and if you go to the cinema or a football match you have to be prepared to leave and lose the money you paid.

star2sparkle

Thank you Agrinnall. Yes, that is true and something that needs to be considered. I really wouldn't be able to go far and so in some ways, I suppose it is a little like putting your life on hold up to a point.

motorguy

agrinnall wrote: »

The important thing is the requirement to attend within 30 minutes, so that means you are limited in where you can go while you're on call. You also can't have a Saturday lunchtime session in the pub, and if you go to the cinema or a football match you have to be prepared to leave and lose the money you paid.

You can do all of those things - as long as they are within 30 mins of work.

O/P if you are the type to sit beside your phone and put your life on hold, then the role is not for you.

If you are happy to get up and go about your day as normal, on the proviso you might get called away to a call, no probs.

I did on call for years. It rarely limited my activities.

agrinnall

motorguy wrote: »

You can do all of those things - as long as they are within 30 mins of work.

I said you can do the cinema and football match as long as you are happy to leave part way through, and you can go to the pub, but what you can't do (and expect to keep the job) is have a skinful.

Like you I did oncall for over 20 years and it didn't stop me doing things, but it clearly places some limits on what you can do, and there were quite a few occasions where I had to leave social activities, often at some financial cost.

annandale

It's not exploitation. It's an on call allowance. And if you get given a mobile you don't have to sit at home.

Once every two weeks isn't excessive. I've worked in jobs where I was on call every other week.

Manxman_in_exile

OP - sorry, but I'm confused.

Are you saying that this "on call" work is the only element of your job? So you don't have a regular 9 to 5 job Monday to Friday that this on call is part of?

Apologies if I've misunderstood or am being dense.

Torry_Quine

annandale wrote: »

It's not exploitation. It's an on call allowance. And if you get given a mobile you don't have to sit at home.

Once every two weeks isn't excessive. I've worked in jobs where I was on call every other week.

Isn't that the same thing?

agrinnall

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

OP - sorry, but I'm confused.

Are you saying that this "on call" work is the only element of your job? So you don't have a regular 9 to 5 job Monday to Friday that this on call is part of?

Apologies if I've misunderstood or am being dense.

I don't think you have misunderstood, my impression is that the OP has a Monday - Friday job (or other commitments) and intends to do this on call work to earn some extra money. It's not really clear what the on call work is but from the description of confidential and sensitive calls it sounds like it could be something like emergency counselling.