I’m in Europe, and work for an American company. After a few issues in production, they tried to implement an on-call requirement for employees to check the alerts during their out of work hours (5am to 10pm or something stupid like that). I just reminded them that my country has the “Right to disconnect” law, which protects us from having to work outside our required hours.
They changed it to volunteer basis. I refuse to volunteer (because my off time is my time).
When I was younger, I also though I’d be cool to work in America, but once you learn a bit about their conditions, it’s a big nope.
Much better lifestyle in small cities with an average salary in EU and the 23 days vacation + 13 - 14 bank holidays. Mental health checks out. 😄
About the Prod on calls, even if you “volunteer”, depending on the country and kind of job, they have to paid those “on call” hours even if there’s no calls at the end, and if there’s work required, the pay is higher.
I’m like you, I wouldn’t exchange my free time no matter what. 🤘
Years ago now I was asked to be on call for a week, 24/7 outside working hours. I was told it would be paid. Being naive I thought I’d be paid at my normal rate.
Turns out the on call rate was based on the likelihood of being called and this project was deemed to be low, after tax I got less than £10 extra for the whole week. It was something like 14 pence an hour.
They had a whole load of restrictions on my life as well, couldn’t be more than an hour from the office, couldn’t be drunk, had to answer the phone within a minute at all times and be able to get on my laptop within 5 minutes.
Refused to do it again after that first week and they ended up having to pay a contractor £400/week instead.
Were you in the UK? if so they robbed you. They need to pay at least minimum wage in the UK even for on call. You are also allowed rest breaks. What they did was unbelievably criminal. Hell if that overtime included times where you were asleep and you were still on call they still need to pay you the National minimum wage for those hours as well.
Only part that wasn’t illegal is the extra restrictions, as you are still working so you can’t exactly treat it as a day off.
sounds like illegal indeed, you could’ve sue them to the work administration or whatever there is in the UK (I’ve worked there, but never had any issues on the working department… there’s so little unemployment that if you’re unhappy just go somewhere else 🤷♀️)
Yep, Western Europe, Spain more precisely. 23 days holidays but at least in my sector it is counting that the working days are Monday - Friday (meaning that you don’t need to include Saturdays in the counting).
Then 13 - 14 bank holidays.
And then in my sector an extra 2 days for “personal matters”, like going to the doctor or bank or paperwork appointment.
I keep saying “in my sector” as I work in a normal office job, but teachers or other jobs may have more or differently distributed
It’s amazing that I work for a large European company in America and am forced to accept calls or come into the plant 24/7.
It’s almost like it has to come from a government to make corporations behave.
I have colleagues that have their out of offices set to “I’ll be available by cell or email” or somesuch. Mine doesn’t say anything, and I don’t check it unless I want to. My vacation time is MY time.
Either the government does it or you join a union. I am a member of a large construction trade union and it’s written into our contract that we cannot be denied time off and can’t be forced to be available during off hours or made to work overtime.
The catch is that if you want to advance in the company it really helps if you can make a little extra effort. You absolutely will never be penalized for sticking to the minimum requirements, but you also will never move up into management, which is perfectly fine with a lot of people.
I work in tech, in a datacenter, and godamn this whole industry needs to be unionized.
Between all the servers/etc serviced from the hot aisle (which is constantly more than 100F), no structured cabling anywhere, and a lack of sane standards that actually serve a purpose…
Yeah I should get a different job
Yes. It totally has to come from the government. No way companies alone will do any good for their employees and respect their time.
Take the 6 or 8 can holder plastic thingy (that turtles and fishes always get tangled up). In the EU, it is forbidden to use them. So, companies like Coca cola don’t implement them. But in the US, there are no laws stating that, so they continue selling with that shit.
Without the government backing them, employees are just numbers in sheets for companies. Nothing more.
A few years back, a company where a friend of mine worked was bought up by an american company. I do not know why they didn’t do their research beforehand, but the new american owners announced they would be expecting the newly bought company to adopt an american work culture. Almost everyone quit. My friend is a programmer. He got a new job offer almost before he was out of the door.
I’m in Europe, and work for an American company. After a few issues in production, they tried to implement an on-call requirement for employees to check the alerts during their out of work hours (5am to 10pm or something stupid like that). I just reminded them that my country has the “Right to disconnect” law, which protects us from having to work outside our required hours.
They changed it to volunteer basis. I refuse to volunteer (because my off time is my time).
When I was younger, I also though I’d be cool to work in America, but once you learn a bit about their conditions, it’s a big nope. Much better lifestyle in small cities with an average salary in EU and the 23 days vacation + 13 - 14 bank holidays. Mental health checks out. 😄
About the Prod on calls, even if you “volunteer”, depending on the country and kind of job, they have to paid those “on call” hours even if there’s no calls at the end, and if there’s work required, the pay is higher.
I’m like you, I wouldn’t exchange my free time no matter what. 🤘
Years ago now I was asked to be on call for a week, 24/7 outside working hours. I was told it would be paid. Being naive I thought I’d be paid at my normal rate.
Turns out the on call rate was based on the likelihood of being called and this project was deemed to be low, after tax I got less than £10 extra for the whole week. It was something like 14 pence an hour.
They had a whole load of restrictions on my life as well, couldn’t be more than an hour from the office, couldn’t be drunk, had to answer the phone within a minute at all times and be able to get on my laptop within 5 minutes.
Refused to do it again after that first week and they ended up having to pay a contractor £400/week instead.
Were you in the UK? if so they robbed you. They need to pay at least minimum wage in the UK even for on call. You are also allowed rest breaks. What they did was unbelievably criminal. Hell if that overtime included times where you were asleep and you were still on call they still need to pay you the National minimum wage for those hours as well.
Only part that wasn’t illegal is the extra restrictions, as you are still working so you can’t exactly treat it as a day off.
sounds like illegal indeed, you could’ve sue them to the work administration or whatever there is in the UK (I’ve worked there, but never had any issues on the working department… there’s so little unemployment that if you’re unhappy just go somewhere else 🤷♀️)
Western Europe? 28 vacation + 15 holidays(including NY) here.
Edit: typo
Yep, Western Europe, Spain more precisely. 23 days holidays but at least in my sector it is counting that the working days are Monday - Friday (meaning that you don’t need to include Saturdays in the counting).
Then 13 - 14 bank holidays. And then in my sector an extra 2 days for “personal matters”, like going to the doctor or bank or paperwork appointment.
I keep saying “in my sector” as I work in a normal office job, but teachers or other jobs may have more or differently distributed
Ah. 31 calendar day of vacation. Then you have more.
It’s amazing that I work for a large European company in America and am forced to accept calls or come into the plant 24/7.
It’s almost like it has to come from a government to make corporations behave.
I have colleagues that have their out of offices set to “I’ll be available by cell or email” or somesuch. Mine doesn’t say anything, and I don’t check it unless I want to. My vacation time is MY time.
Either the government does it or you join a union. I am a member of a large construction trade union and it’s written into our contract that we cannot be denied time off and can’t be forced to be available during off hours or made to work overtime.
The catch is that if you want to advance in the company it really helps if you can make a little extra effort. You absolutely will never be penalized for sticking to the minimum requirements, but you also will never move up into management, which is perfectly fine with a lot of people.
I work in tech, in a datacenter, and godamn this whole industry needs to be unionized. Between all the servers/etc serviced from the hot aisle (which is constantly more than 100F), no structured cabling anywhere, and a lack of sane standards that actually serve a purpose… Yeah I should get a different job
Or start union. Or join one.
Not defending them, but I assume it’s the American bosses implementing what they think is normal.
If a company wants to keep policy in other companies it has to make it very clear to each branch otherwise they will forget or not care.
Yes. It totally has to come from the government. No way companies alone will do any good for their employees and respect their time.
Take the 6 or 8 can holder plastic thingy (that turtles and fishes always get tangled up). In the EU, it is forbidden to use them. So, companies like Coca cola don’t implement them. But in the US, there are no laws stating that, so they continue selling with that shit.
Without the government backing them, employees are just numbers in sheets for companies. Nothing more.
Was there any extra compensation offered for the added duty?
No, or at least not initially.
When I brought up the “Right to disconnect”, I also asked about overtime. They said it won’t be compensated, but they’ll think about it in the future.
Regardless, unless its really well compensated, I don’t plan on doing it. I’m not really pressed for money, so I value free time over money.
Le fameux droit à la déconnexion, je suis content qu’ils aient vite légiféré sur ça
A few years back, a company where a friend of mine worked was bought up by an american company. I do not know why they didn’t do their research beforehand, but the new american owners announced they would be expecting the newly bought company to adopt an american work culture. Almost everyone quit. My friend is a programmer. He got a new job offer almost before he was out of the door.