on call pay - do i have a legit gripe?

[martinss01]

in 06 my dept. consisted of two other techs and myself. we provide 24/7 365 support and.... well, used to receive on call pay for doing so. in 06 i made a little over 12k in on call pay. sounds nice on the outside, but in that time i worked 5 100 hr weeks. because of the rotation and staffing we each got 1 weekend off a month, the rest of the time we worked sat and sun in addition to working through the week (typically 60-80 hrs per week). we would get paged between 4 and 12 times per night between the hours of midnight and 6am. not to mention we all lost 1+ weeks of vacation because we didn't have the time to take it. gotta love use it or loose it.

in 07 the company finally upped our staff to 6. i received my normal piss poor raise and lost half my on call time. seemed a good deal to me as i at least got out of some of the on call shit. but in the end i recorded a little over a 3k net loss in pay.

so as of 07 im down 3k. i just walked out of my review getting an 8 out of a possible 10 and received my merit increase for the year. Well, the company has decided to handle on call a little differently. instead of paying us to carry the phone, they have decided to simply increase our pay instead. sounds great right? well, the raise sure does. i got 6k total. the problem is, when you factor in that i made over 6k on call last year you start to realize not only is my 6k raise not all that great considering. but according to the bottom line i didn't get a raise at all. in fact, i will make a further 2100 dollars LESS this year than i did in 07.

all of this comes together to the tune of a little over 5k reduction in pay over 2 years. im doing the same work, and compared to 07 the same amount of work, for significantly less pay even with a 6k raise. granted that does help me in some ways. bonuses are based on salary and on call pay doesn't factor in. not to mention that i can use this in salary negotiations elsewhere. its also true that you should never count on call pay as part of your actual salary. however, at the end of the month when i go to pay my bills, im still 5k per year short when compared to 2 yrs ago NOT counting inflation over that time period. so how pissed and or happy would you be under the circumstances?

 

[FCollinsBuckeye]

Comparing this year w/ '06, it sounds like you've got twice as much 'free time' where you're not tethered to the on-call phone. There's real value in that - get a second job.



Seriously though, I s'pose you could put the math down on paper and discuss it with your supervisor to demonstrate that you've actually taken a pay cut. Not sure if that'll get you anywhere though. You may be better off posting some Dilbert cartoons. :p

 

[BuckeyeRyn]

Sure, you are entitled to a gripe but you are also entitled to finding a new job...

 

[martinss01]

Comparing this year w/ '06, it sounds like you've got twice as much 'free time' where you're not tethered to the on-call phone. There's real value in that - get a second job.

actually theres no need to say this jokingly. its a very valid point.
i completely agree and acknowledge that things are far better than they were in 06 which is why i mentioned it. however, things are expected to be no better in 08 than they were in 07 yet im dealing with what amounts to yet another pay decrease.

i probably should have mentioned that just because im not on call doesn't mean im not working. which is why they are rolling our on call pay into our salaries to begin with. im still averaging about 60 hrs a week. not to mention that march 1st is my bday, im not on call, but i will be working from 9pm to 6am on a software deploy. last week i got woke up at 8am on sunday (again, not on call nor expected to work) to take over on a deploy that didn't go well. this was in no way planned. i put in roughly 10 hrs that day. believe me when i tell you i could go on and on and on.

Seriously though, I s'pose you could put the math down on paper and discuss it with your supervisor to demonstrate that you've actually taken a pay cut. Not sure if that'll get you anywhere though. You may be better off posting some Dilbert cartoons. :p

that is my thinking and i have already done so. its just this is still a little fresh. so i just wanted to make sure i wasn't going off half cocked. not that such things ever happen...

Sure, you are entitled to a gripe but you are also entitled to finding a new job...

that definitely hasn't been ruled out. i just finished my second interview with another dept. which i have worked for in the past. im 98% sure i will be receiving an offer. i interviewed last week with another company which im pretty confident about and i have another interview next week. the problem is, i really like the people i work with and what i do. my issue is the pay and the environment in which i have to do it. id really like to influence some change in this group rather than abandon it. i just want to make sure i have a legit complaint before i start raising hell. :tongue2:

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

You said you were down 3k in '07 from '06 because of the cutback in on-call pay...you didn't get a raise from '06 to '07? Or did the drop in on-call more than negate the raise you got?

It seems they were paying you good on-call pay because you were getting hammered during your "off time" and had little off time to begin with. They cut back on your overall pay solely because you weren't getting bent over as much.

I also get on-call pay and it comes out to almost the same amount per year you were getting in '06...furtunately for me I rarely get called so it's more of a bonus. Still, it's money I'm accustomed to, so if they were to for some reason reduce or terminate it, they'd better offset that with a salary increase or they can find a replacement for me.

Back to you, if you really enjoy your co-workers, once you get the offer from the other department and/or from the other company, give your current management an ultimatum. Tell them you want as much as you'd have been paid had you kept your full on-call pay along with all the raises you recieved. It would probably be significantly cheaper for them to concede that than to have to go out and hire, and possibly train, your replacement. The most they can do is dent it, and then you can move on to your other offers.

 

[BrutuStrength]

One of the big things I'd push for, would be to ge extra time off, especially for working non-scheduled work events.

Perhaps you should discuss with your boss how many hours a week you are expected to work. For example, in my previous job my boss stated I was expected to work of 40-45 hours a week. If there were times that I exceeded those hours, then I could take some additional time off to offset the extra hours I worked.

So in your scenario, when you end up working a 60 hour week because you had to work on an off day to fix someone's elses mistakes, then you should be able to get some time off for your effort. Otherwise, take your new salary increase and use it to negotiate even more money from a new employer.

 

[martinss01]

You said you were down 3k in '07 from '06 because of the cutback in on-call pay...you didn't get a raise from '06 to '07? Or did the drop in on-call more than negate the raise you got?

i did get a raise from 06 to 07. unfortunately as you guessed, the drop in the amount of time i was on call negated that raise by -3k.

It seems they were paying you good on-call pay because you were getting hammered during your "off time" and had little off time to begin with. They cut back on your overall pay solely because you weren't getting bent over as much.

its not so much that they actively sought to cut back on my pay per say. rather a function of a % based raise vrs. a decreased amount of time spent on call. this year on call has been rolled into base salary. i don't think it was done maliciously. rather i think on call pay was not calculated properly when applied to my salary as everything here is % based. unfortunately for me, this has happened 2 years in a row. im averaging a net -2.5K raise every year. this occurring once is an aberration, twice is a pattern. patterns of this nature do not please me.

I also get on-call pay and it comes out to almost the same amount per year you were getting in '06...furtunately for me I rarely get called so it's more of a bonus. Still, it's money I'm accustomed to, so if they were to for some reason reduce or terminate it, they'd better offset that with a salary increase or they can find a replacement for me.

thats the direction im considering. 12k a yr on call... no pages.. wouldn't happen to be hiring would you?

 

[sandgk]

Three rules to live by when you are martinss01's age:

1 - Never work where you are unhappy

2 - Never work where you are under appreciated

3 - Keep your options (and eyes and ears) open

You are relatively young martinss01, so I'd apply those rules. If they don't give enough of a shit about what you do for them then get of their pot.

 

[Gatorubet]

Obama will know!







Seriously, you sound like you are handling things right. You need to look at a happy work environment as an asset as valuable as money. The cost in lost sleep, fatigue, stress and resulting physical illness and/or therapy is piss poor compensation for a few thousand dollars more in salary. Also, the health and retirement 401k treatment of your company (don't know how good) in many cases can offset getting more $$$ as salary at a place with crappy benefits. You need to weigh that too if you or your family have any health issues. It can be a significant cost.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

...unfortunately for me, this has happened 2 years in a row. im averaging a net -2.5K raise every year. this occurring once is an aberration, twice is a pattern. patterns of this nature do not please me.

I'd suggest that unless you get a decent raise to the positive this year, bail and bail fast. Hopefully with the other potential offers you have in the works, you'll be able to either leverage your current employer for a significant positive raise or get that amount from your new employer.

thats the direction im considering. 12k a yr on call... no pages.. wouldn't happen to be hiring would you?

Sorry, I'm not in a position to make that decision. Then again, I'd get a nice $5k referral bonus if I were...

 

[Basebuck]

What kind of tech support are you in? Are most of your calls log in and spend 5 hours troubleshooting or are they talk someone through a problem in 5 minutes?

 

[martinss01]

i talked to my manager last night and she agreed that this needs to be addressed. so basically people will talk a bit and do very little. begin the job search it does.

thanks everyone for your responses, i really appreciate it. :)

 

[BuckeyeInTheBoro]

i talked to my manager last night and she agreed that this needs to be addressed. so basically people will talk a bit and do very little. begin the job search it does.

thanks everyone for your responses, i really appreciate it. :)

Ask your employer about going contract and billing by the hour. Explain the savings they'll have in benefit costs, etc. and do all your math based on a 40 hour week to determine your hourly rate.

If they go for it, you will either only have to work 40 hours/wk or you'll get paid for your time. You can buy benefits way cheaper than they'll estimate their cost of benefits to be.

It's a long shot, but... it's been done!

 

[gbearbuck]

losing 2.5k per year stinks... gaining 20 hours of your life back each week is well worth it imo.... I'd trade 5k a year for 20 extra hours a week in a heartbeat...