**Need serious advice, please:** I’m facing a d...
Need serious advice, please: I’m facing a dilemma. Initially, I wasn’t on-call, but now I’m being pulled into it because two engineers complained about being the only ones on-call. For the record, this was not hired as an on-call position though the nature of the position is changing. Earlier this year, when I was onboarded, I explained to my manager that I have personal observance commitments, meaning I need to leave early on Fridays and be offline on Saturdays. I didn’t get this in writing, but I’ve been following this schedule without any issues so far. I’m not sure if my manager remembers our conversation.
I remember hearing that if your job wasn’t on-call when you were hired but later becomes on-call, it’s recommended to renegotiate your salary. I need advice on how to approach this.
The on-call rotation is just starting to be reviewed by my superior, so I want to address this sooner rather than later. There are so many moving parts right now. I really need some help navigating this situation. Thank you!
13 Replies
Thread automatically created by Miyu in #🤔｜questions
rare-sapphire•5mo ago
It's "recommended" but you're very unlikely to succeed especially if you're a w2 salaried worker.
There were three times in my career where there were "perks" to on-call which later got eliminated down the line when the company wanted to save some money.
Here's the thing, if you're a salaried worker, it doesn't matter what the "job descrition" can entail because it can always change.
And i really don't mean this as a "hey there's nothing you can do", it's to put the perspective on what the reality can look like.
If you're a dev or in product, on-call isn't that bad, but it's very reflective of how mature your environment is. the hope is with more people on call, it encourages the team to write better code or to write better practices and documentations to make the on-call life easier
There's a technical reason for this too -- if there were only 2 engineers on-call, but they're maintaining code that other people write, that's also not fair to them. as well
sunny-green•5mo ago
This is a general security role.
rare-sapphire•5mo ago
got it.
that being said though it really doesn't hurt to increase the salary
usually i've seen 12k (1k/month, basically) extra
sunny-green•5mo ago
@totaldev thank you so muchh.
That comes out to $28.55 an hour, which is significantly less than my regular rate of almost $50/hr. Is it not worth asking for my regular rate? On-call seems to be "on-demand," where you’re only called in if pinged.
Additionally, I am basically exempt from on-call duties per my agreement with my manager. So, it sounds like the critical path forward is:
1. Non-negotiable: I may need to find another job if they don't accept my refusal of Friday/Saturday on-call gently.
2. Accept Sunday on-call if forced to: Negotiate my salary in exchange for this rotation.
3. Alternative Suggestion: One other engineer suggested not being in the office for certain days if called in for an on-call incident.
I appreciate any advice or suggestions on how to navigate this situation. Thank you!
rare-sapphire•5mo ago
all three can work
because at the end of the day
if you're a w2 salaried worker, they can ask/demand for on-call without extra pay
I am basically exempt from on-call duties per my agreement with my managerVerbal or written?
sunny-green•5mo ago
I am w2 and it has been verbal since week 1.
😰
Should I contact my manager, tell him I'd like it in writing and HR to put a note on my account after? What should the process be? Or discuss the on-call piece first, then escalate to that?
you're literally the best totaldev, I can't say how much I appreciate youu
rare-sapphire•5mo ago
hmm
tell him I'd like it in writing and HR to put a note on my account after?You can, just expect that this can be denied as well the thing with verbal is anything can change they can tell you you're 5 days remote now but company mandate RTO in 5 months
sunny-green•5mo ago
I don't know if this changes anything but it's a religious obligation for the Sat/Fri piece.
rare-sapphire•5mo ago
this is important to note
yes, push for no on call
or oncall only during work hours and if out of work hours, no office
sunny-green•5mo ago
great, so you're saying that I should ask for a meeting ahead of time about this or wait until it starts to be something that materializes a little more?
nothings materialized yet maybe I'm overthinking but I'm sure it will cause the manager said he'd start getting more info from other folks in another team
what are your J titles?
I do oncall at both of my Js
It's really not a big deal
And I have the same Friday/Saturday thing
I've never had a problem with that at either of these jobs or any job in the past. There's always some kind of accommodation that can be made
@Miyu