Douglas County IT has staff that are on after-hours rotation, here is a bit of
how we do it.
IT is non-union, and non-exempt (hourly) staff are the ones on call. And the
Director of course, who is generally available for escalations.
1. Our staff are "waiting to be engaged" and carrying the hot phone on their
personal time, so not considered hourly compensation. Staff do accrue 4 hours
of comp/flex time per week long (24x7) hour shift, plus any time they work for
being called in. I believe an hour per day is more common. Call in is
generally a 2 hour minimum added to the time sheet in addition to the 4 hours
of stand by. Overtime is not permitted without prior approval.
2. Virtual and physical call ins are treated the same. However, on call
staff are required to be in the area and able to be physically present if
needed x number of minutes from a call. About 90% of calls have been able to be
resolved remotely, but site access has been needed.
3. Only highly technical staff like our server admins, network admins, and
Director are on call. This is based on role and job knowledge.
* 4 hours of comp time/flex time accrued per 7 days on call. 1 week per
person per month is the general rotation. 1 person is on call at a time unless
there is escallation needed. Staff are encouraged to be flexible and trade
weeks to cover vacations, and prevent one person from being stuck with the
majority of the holidays.
* Some job descriptions include on call explicitly, but others need to
be updated to reflect role and job knowledge.
1. Calls to a specified hot phone are the alerts. I assume that if someone
was monitoring alerts/SOC/emails that would be considered "engaged to wait" and
be included as hourly work.
One note: Since IT staff on call are required to be present in the area and be
able to physiclaly report on site if needed, it can make holiday coverage a
challenge as there is no additional holiday pay type compensation and staff are
unable to travel to visit family when on call. We attempt to distribute
holidays equally to staff on call and are hopeful to add additional comp time
in the future when on call rotation has a holiday, in addition to the standard
4 hours for regular weeks.
Sincerely,
Josh Seyer
Cloud Security Manager
IT Dept. Douglas County, Oregon
Desk: (541) 440-6247 / Office: (541) 440-4330
Email: Joshua.seyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:Joshua.seyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: oagitm-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oagitm-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of
Tania Mahood
Sent: Thursday, February 29, 2024 1:48 PM
To: oagitm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [oagitm] After-hours IT support structure
Hi everyone,
How is your department handling after-hours IT support needs (automated alerts
like emergencies, outages, etc.) when it comes to employees (represented,
non-represented, salaried, non-salaried)?
1. Are employees compensated only when they respond to an alert or
compensated on a daily/hourly basis to be on call? Or are they not eligible to
receive compensation and utilize flex time instead?
* If they are compensated on a daily/hourly basis, do they receive
additional compensation if a time threshold has been hit troubleshooting an
issue?
2. What happens if they must report into a physical location to address the
issue after hours, is that compensated differently?
3. Are all IT employees on-call or only certain ones? How are employees
chosen to be on call, is it based on their job description?
* Of those employees that are designed to be on call, do they accrue
additional time management leave and/or have elevated pay grades?
* Is an on-call expectation written into all IT job descriptions?
4. How are employees being alerted for after-hour issues, is everyone
alerted at once, sequential rotation, etc.?
Thank you!
Tania Mahood | IT Director/CTO
DESCHUTES COUNTY IT
She/Her/Hers
14 NW Kearney Ave. | Bend, Oregon 97703
Tel: (541) 330-8249 | M: (541) 668-7643
