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Question

My contract of employment says that I may have to work outside "normal" office hours as dictated by the needs of work. Just as in my previous places I perceived this to be more like "Monday to Friday after close of business - outside 'normal' office hours" rather than "outside 'normal' office hours, sometimes this includes weekends".

As it turned out when I joined, the company has developed a few sites that expect high traffic on weekends. This means that they need a developer in place in case something happens.

The good thing is we don't have a support rota, rather they ask for volunteers to do the supporting. This means that I can stay off it for weeks before someone offers twice and start making me feel bad that they ~~have~~ elect to spend some hours of their precious weekend doing support. So no, it's not compulsory but I'm trying to volunteer just as little as possible to be fair for the other developers and not cause friction among coworkers.

You get extra pay for this although I prefer time off in lieu these days. I don't think that'd go down well as it's probably cheaper for the company to pay you extra than lose man-hours during business hours.

What do you think would be the best way to avoid volunteering for weekend on-call altogether or at least offer once every other month just to look good? I already bust my backside all week. Some have families as well, I don't.

Area of work: IT/software development

How many people in the pool of volunteer? How many slots need to be filled in a weekend? — Oct 20 '13 at 11:49
as dictated by the needs of work - In other words, always. — user10483, Oct 21 '13 at 14:29
During the meeting where the boss says: I need a volunteer to be on-call. be the first to say Not it. — Oct 21 '13 at 14:43

score 7 · Answer 1 · 2013-10-21 13:41:21Z

The real question is that were you aware that weekend "volunteering" would be required when you joined the company? Did you ask what the phrase "working outside normal office hours" actually entailed? If not, then perhaps you should reconsider your role in the company. It raised the question of why you took the job in the first place. To me it sounds like guaranteed weekend working would have been grounds for turning down any job offer.

What you are describing is not "fair" by any stretch of the imagination. Ultimately what will happen if one (or more) member of the team isn't seen to be pulling their weight is that the weekend working will be come compulsory on a strict rota.

By volunteering as little as possible you are going to antagonise your team-mates, bring unwanted attention to yourself from your bosses and generally make the working environment less pleasant.

Days off in lieu is actually a good suggestion - your team-mates may well prefer this as well. Discuss it with them before approaching the management so that you present a united front and it's not seen as one of the team (you) trying to undermine the team in some way.

In the meantime, make sure you volunteer as much as the other guys - you never know it might turn out that with enough people volunteering the number of times each individual actually has to work weekends may well go down.

@JoeStrazzere - it's to do with expectations. Is this something he was expected to do when he joined, or something that's come about through changes in the business. — Oct 21 '13 at 13:27
I should say that I didn't ask if there will be weekend work during the interview process. I regard such a question as a "what's in it for me" type of question that we are constantly told that we must't ask on an interview. But I keep my questions to the work style or technologies used or what isn't covered by the company website and keep things like holiday/pay/our of hours work to myself. I might be wrong. — Oct 22 '13 at 23:07
What if the OP's co-workers happen to like the extra pay better than the time off? — Oct 23 '13 at 3:34

score 6 · Answer 2 · 2013-10-21 01:10:20Z

You cannot avoid it altogether. You can try, but that'll just lead to a lot of resentment amongst your teammates. I have been in situations where weekend duty was "volunteer" - what it ultimately became was the individuals who didn't have families or kids were "voluntold" to pull weekend duty more often. I was this guy for several years. I often heard "oh, alroc doesn't have kids, he's not doing anything Sunday, he can cover it." And even if I did pipe up and say "well, I did have plans already for the weekend", I'd be overridden by everyone else who had immovable plans due to kids' soccer games and the like. Several times, it got to the point where I'd spend 3 or 4 weekends in a row on weekend duty. This is not good for the team dynamic.

Your organization (this is not an issue for you to solve - it's much bigger than you) needs to get a clear definition of what is expected in this "on-call" role and what accommodations the company is willing to make. If you're in the US and salaried, exchanging time off or paying a differential can get tricky depending on where exactly you live/work.

Step 0 - Define exactly what level of "on-call" support the company requires. Response time, geographic proximity, resource availability, etc. If someone has to be logged into the VPN or in the office within 5 minutes of getting a call, that's a very different SLA than "we need you available to answer questions by phone" and require different accommodations. The former requires that I put my entire weekend on hold; the latter just means I have to keep the phone on me.

If these expectations are not clearly defined, the whole system breaks down. You need support from your direct management and any stakeholders for the websites you're supporting.

Step 1 - Having to be on-call for a weekend isn't fair to anyone who went into a job with the expectation that they would not be on-call, so you need to make it equitable. In other words, everyone shares the same amount of on-call time. Set up a rotating schedule. Individuals can't (with the exception of emergencies) completely abandon a weekend - they must trade a weekend with someone else. Set it up on a group calendar in Outlook (or what have you), put it up on a whiteboard, a paper calendar on the wall, anything.

When you create this rotating schedule, keep holidays in mind! Depending on the number of people in the rotation, the same person could end up with Thanksgiving and Christmas duty.

Step 2 - You need an on-call phone that is used by anyone needing assistance. Personal cell phones, or even individual work-provided cell phones, should not be used. For on-call support, there is one number to call and one number only. In past teams, we implemented this as a "ghost" phone extension in our office which was auto-forwarded to whoever was on-call at the time.

Step 3 - If on-call support is needed on the weekend, hold a postmortem on Monday with the whole team. Discuss what happened, how it was resolved, and most importantly how to prevent the call from happening again. Whether it's a code fix, tweaking a database to improve query performance, implementing a process to alert you before a problem happens, or just creating documentation for whoever is responsible for calling the on-call number to possibly resolve the issue without calling a developer. There are two goals here:

Reduce the need to call a developer in the first place to the point where it's only for true emergencies

Disseminate important information to everyone who will be on-call so they know how to handle the situation.

Document these meetings. Include any new troubleshooting/investigation procedures in your runbooks. Log the issues in your helpdesk and/or issue tracking system and document the steps needed for resolution.

Step 4 - Compensation. You need to have HR involved in this discussion regarding what is and isn't allowed. My HR department has told me that for salaried employees, we cannot be given "comp time". Within a week, we can "adjust the schedule" so that if someone has to work an afternoon on Sunday, they can be out of the office on Monday morning, but we can't trade Sunday for an extended weekend next month. In some jurisdictions, overtime pay is required even for salaried employees in some situations. Your mileage will vary.

If you're not salaried, it may become easier. My brother is an hourly employee (still in IT) and he gets a differential just for being on call, and if he does get a call he gets paid a minimum 2 hours even if it's a 15-minute call (if it goes past 2 hours, he gets paid the hours he works).

BrianH 4,1931423 · Answer 3 · 2013-10-23 03:18:31Z

I know this is going to seem obviously minimalist, but you might simply consider asking your supervisor/manager directly, "Say, about the weekend support, there's something I've been wondering..."

The thing is, in your job description it flat out says you might be "required" to work outside normal business hours. In other words, they are legally entitled to use this job description to dismiss you with cause if you simply refuse - it was the job you were hired for. But - this might not be the case with your workplace at all!

There are many possibilities, to wit: 1) extra work is entirely voluntary, and absolutely no more consideration is given than the extra pay they offer, 2) extra work is voluntary, but they are only just saying that to avoid having the potential bad morale of being flat-out told you are coming to work or it will be counted against your job performance (if you will still have one), 3) extra work is entirely voluntary, and nothing is counted against you if you don't volunteer, but management/HR might consider such volunteerism as a sign that a person is interested in more responsibilities, bigger projects, worthy of promotion and pay raises, etc. 4) no one cares - half the time your supervisors might not even be entirely aware of who does the volunteering because they could not care less.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with not wanting to work weekends, it's the societal norm across most modernized countries, and its silly to think there is something wrong with having a preference (even a strong one) for certain hours. Seriously, it's normal - its a sign of good mental health to have boundaries and clear preferences; in general, one should closely consider anyone who has no such opinions one way or the other about such fundamental life issues.

However, there is one undeniable fact - it is possible that promotion and pay raise opportunities tend to go towards employees who volunteer for additional assignments. But are you ok with that? If you are, then do so flagrantly. If one must sin, sin boldly! If you are fine with where you are and what your pay is, that's wonderful! Talk with your supervisor and coworkers and make sure you aren't being perceived as a freeloader by never working the weekend, get on the same page!

But seriously, anything you do will be dependent on what the reality is. It's possible that some people just want or need the extra money, and they flat-out prefer it the way that it is right now. Some people might even get annoyed that they didn't get the work and you don't even like or want it yet you are doing it; they might think, "he said he doesn't want to work the weekend or need the money, so what the heck? I could really use the money!" It's also possible that no one cares. It's also possible that they are already started to be annoyed by your lack of volunteering.

Who knows? Well, you need to find out from real people you work with, not from my hallucinatory fever-dreams! Don't do something you don't want to do because of an over-active imagination - do it for a good reason, or don't do it at all!

As for me, I've refused to work more than 20 hours at times (for good reason that, at the time, really wasn't anyone's business), and I've co-set company records for most hours worked (90+ in one week, all voluntary). And you know what - neither place fired me, and neither place heaped promotions and fancy titles on us, either.

Beggars can't be choosers - but if you aren't a beggar, be a chooser. Who the heck wants to live like a beggar, anyway?

Dunk 1,10278 · Answer 4 · 2013-10-23 14:22:33Z

I'm apparently missing the issue. They are asking for volunteers. Simply don't volunteer if you don't want to. Why are you assuming that any negative consequences will occur if you don't volunteer? Do people already gripe about others who may not volunteer? If it was required then let management own up to it and have them schedule weekends. That is the most "fair" way to do it. It is not your job to be "fair" when you don't even know what "fair" is in this scenario. Your volunteering may be depriving someone else of money that they would really like to be earning but are also trying to be "fair" in letting others earn that extra money instead.

score 1 · Answer 5 · 2013-10-21 14:43:40Z

What do you think would be the best way to avoid volunteering for
weekend on-call altogether or at least offer once every other month
just to look good?

The best way depends on what you want to happen here.

You could just refrain from volunteering altogether. The upside is that you end up not working weekends at all. The downside is that your co-workers may resent you, and you boss may mentally put this in the "negative" column, come review time.

You could decide to volunteer once every other month. The upside is that your lazy weekend afternoons are only disturbed minimally. Depending on how many others must share the weekend work burden, they may still resent you, and your boss may still conclude that you aren't handling your fair share.

You could decide to volunteer as often as everyone else does. The upside is that your coworkers won't resent you and your boss will feel like you are fitting in well. The downside is that your lazy weekend afternoons will be somewhat curtailed.

You could decide to volunteer more often than your coworkers with families. The upside is that your coworkers may really appreciate it. Your boss may reward you financially at the next review time, and you will be compensated for the extra days you work anyway. The downside is even fewer lazy weekend afternoons.

I generally believe in doing business as business is done. I find that makes for a far better work environment with my coworkers and boss. That means, I'd try to fit in with the pattern everyone else is held to with regard to weekend work. And if I decided that was overly burdensome on my lifestyle, I'd look to work elsewhere, and make sure I understood what I was getting into during the interview process. But your mileage may vary.

I prefer time off in lieu these days. I don't think that'd go down
well as it's probably cheaper for the company to pay you extra than
lose man-hours during business hours.

Hmm. For software development, I'd challenge that assumption. In my experience, it's usually a lot cheaper to give people time off rather than extra pay. The exception is when you need to need to hire more people to back-fill for those having time off.

In my shop, we typically give people informal comp time off when they are forced to work weekends. For us, that work isn't a regular occurrence.

Steve 3,70611127 · Answer 6 · 2013-10-20 14:39:02Z

up vote
-1
down vote

I hope that this answer doesn't come off as a bit insulting, but I can't figure out how else to say this.

How much time is typically involved in supporting the website on the weekends? If it's more than 15 minutes or so the issue isn't being on call it's a flaw in your website; fix the issues so nobody's weekend is destroyed.

Seriously you're a software developer and you don't want to be a team player and do what's expected of nearly every software developer in the world. Either get a job developing for a company that doesn't do weekend support (good luck with that) or find another career.

answered Oct 20 '13 at 14:39

Steve

3,70611127

On your second point: The support could be delegated to a dedicated team that is expected to have weekend rotas. So yes, I could work for a company that has such a department. Also, there are people in my team who have never offered and I guess we haven't found a good way of telling them they aren't pulling their weight. Also like I said, I joined with the expectation of not doing weekend on-calls.
â€“Â Halland
Oct 20 '13 at 21:25

1

I am a team player but I also have a life outside work which I'm keen to preserve.
â€“Â Halland
Oct 20 '13 at 22:50

You have to realise that on many large systems there is not just a single flaw that can be fixed but a large user base combined with new features will result in support. The question is also about weekend support that is not strictly required or even stated in contract.
â€“Â Petter Nordlander
Oct 22 '13 at 4:26

@Petter, I've been managing websites and service delivery for over 14 years. I'm well aware of what's involved and what it takes to meet SLA. It can be a daunting task, but I've done it for many customers and clients.
â€“Â Steve
Oct 22 '13 at 19:58

@Halland:Why would not working weekends mean that someone is not pulling their weight? I seldom work overtime, while others do consistently. However, in my 40 hours I get many times more work AND or much harder tasks accomplished than they do in their 50 hour weeks. Am I not pulling my weight even though it would take a few of them to do my more routine work and good luck finding someone who can do the more difficult/specialized tasks? P.S. My not working overtime has had zero affect on my performance reviews/raises. Performance is what counts, not time in a seat.
â€“Â Dunk
Oct 23 '13 at 14:28

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score 7 · Answer 7 · 2013-10-21 13:41:21Z

The real question is that were you aware that weekend "volunteering" would be required when you joined the company? Did you ask what the phrase "working outside normal office hours" actually entailed? If not, then perhaps you should reconsider your role in the company. It raised the question of why you took the job in the first place. To me it sounds like guaranteed weekend working would have been grounds for turning down any job offer.

What you are describing is not "fair" by any stretch of the imagination. Ultimately what will happen if one (or more) member of the team isn't seen to be pulling their weight is that the weekend working will be come compulsory on a strict rota.

By volunteering as little as possible you are going to antagonise your team-mates, bring unwanted attention to yourself from your bosses and generally make the working environment less pleasant.

Days off in lieu is actually a good suggestion - your team-mates may well prefer this as well. Discuss it with them before approaching the management so that you present a united front and it's not seen as one of the team (you) trying to undermine the team in some way.

In the meantime, make sure you volunteer as much as the other guys - you never know it might turn out that with enough people volunteering the number of times each individual actually has to work weekends may well go down.

@JoeStrazzere - it's to do with expectations. Is this something he was expected to do when he joined, or something that's come about through changes in the business. — Oct 21 '13 at 13:27
I should say that I didn't ask if there will be weekend work during the interview process. I regard such a question as a "what's in it for me" type of question that we are constantly told that we must't ask on an interview. But I keep my questions to the work style or technologies used or what isn't covered by the company website and keep things like holiday/pay/our of hours work to myself. I might be wrong. — Oct 22 '13 at 23:07
What if the OP's co-workers happen to like the extra pay better than the time off? — Oct 23 '13 at 3:34

score 6 · Answer 8 · 2013-10-21 01:10:20Z