What is on-call employment?

What does being on call mean? It’s a situation where the employee isn’t actively working, but they need to be ready to work quickly if they receive a call. It’s a way to have a key team member on standby in case they’re needed due to an emergency, repair situation, fluctuation in work or situation that needs extra help or specialty skills. On-call employment is common in medical and IT settings, but it can be necessary in other fields as well.

An employee might not always be on call. They could work normal hours during a scheduled shift and also have on-call hours where they may have to come in if the situation warrants extra help. Some workplaces rotate on-call duties. This ensures they always have coverage but the same person isn’t always stuck with being on call.

Benefits of on-call work situations

On-call work is more common in some industries than others. Using an on-call work format offers several benefits for your company, including:

• Flexible coverage: When you have employees on call, you can ensure you have the coverage you need when you need it.

• Faster responses: Having employees who are ready to respond can result in faster response times. This can help you deal with an emergency quickly or serve your customers better.

• Extra pay for employees: If your on-call time comes with compensation, employees can earn extra money without actually working. Money is often a motivator for your workforce, so being on call could increase job satisfaction for some people.

Cons of on-call employees

Before you start using an on-call employment model, it’s important to look at the potential drawbacks of the arrangement. Knowing these possible issues can help you decide if it’s a good solution for your workplace. Some cons include:

• Costs: You might have to pay on-call employees for their time, even if they don’t get called in to work. The rules vary depending on the details of the on-call period. If your on-call employees are entitled to pay, you have additional costs for running your business.

• Limitations: Being on call often requires the employee to respond within a certain amount of time. This can limit your employees’ activities when they’re not technically at work on the off chance they have to respond. This can be frustrating or affect employee happiness.

• Work-life balance: It can be challenging for individuals to have a flexible personal life when they’re on call. This can disrupt theirwork-life balance and could cause employees to feel stressed or overwhelmed. It could lead to a higher turnover rate if staff members decide they don’t want to be on call.

• Unplanned overtime: When employees are compensated for on-call time, you could end up with overtime expenses that you didn’t plan for. This could increase your costs even more.

Managing on-call employment well

If an on-call employment model works well in your industry, the following tips can help you manage the working arrangements well.

• Make on-call work clear: When you hire an employee who will work on call at least occasionally, it can be helpful to make sure they understand this before accepting the job offer. This can avoid conflict in the future and help candidates decide if the position is a good fit for them.

• Define on-call requirements: Employees should understand what’s expected of them while they’re on call. This includes expectations such as staying within a certain range of the office or responding within a specific time frame.

• Establish protocols: It’s also important for everyone to understand what warrants an on-call employee coming into work. Have specific guidelines so it’s clear when to call an on-call worker, and ensure everyone follows those procedures.

• Balance the on-call workload: If possible, share the on-call duties among employees. This helps distribute the responsibility fairly and prevent employee burnout.

• Have backups in place: The point of having someone on call is that they’re ready to respond quickly, but sometimes issues pop up that are out of their control. Your on-call employee might have their own emergency that prevents them from responding. Having a backup plan can minimize the disruption at work.

• Adjust on-call protocols to fit your business: On-call employment doesn’t look the same for every organization. Use other companies as a model, but fine-tune your policies to make it work for you and your employees.

• Get feedback: Your on-call schedule might work well for you, but it also needs to work for your employees. Checking in with them regularly and getting feedback on their on-call duties can help you determine if the schedule is working for them. Use this feedback to adjust how you handle on-call work if necessary.

FAQs about on-call employment

What is the difference between on-call and part-time employment?

Part-time employment includes scheduled shifts that are less than full time. The employee reports to work during those scheduled shifts. On-call work means the employee may or may not have to report to the workplace. They’re available if needed, but they’re not required to be actively working during the shift.

How do you create an on-call schedule?

Determine when you need on-call coverage and what duties you need covered. Identify employees who can handle the workload, should they be needed. Set the hours for each on-call shift and assign people to those shifts. Rotating the on-call duties is common. For instance, if you have weekend on-call staff, you might rotate so each weekend has different on-call employees. Each team member might only have to be on call every other week or once per month.