Managing on-call time

The concept of on-call is common in many industries. Generally, an employee is required to be on standby, acting as on-demand ad-hoc staffing for unplanned labor needs. Employees can be on-call for specific start and end times during a day, or can be considered on-call for an entire day (24 hours). On-call is typically scheduled.

While on-call, the employee may or may not receive calls or requests to perform work. As with regular work, an employee can request to not take the on-call duty due to personal reasons (sick time, unplanned time off, personal emergency, etc.). Employees can also be responsible for their regularly scheduled shifts, while being on-call at the same time.

Example: On-call not concurrent with scheduled work

In this example, an employee is scheduled to be on-call after their regular shift:

  • Scheduled work: 9:00 to 17:00
  • Planned on-call: 17:00 to 20:00

Example: On-call concurrent with scheduled work

In this example, an employee is scheduled to be on-call at the same time as their regular shift:

  • Scheduled work: 9:00 to 17:00
  • Planned on-call: 00:00 to 0:00

Example: On-call with unplanned work (recall)

In this example, an employee is called into work while on-call:

  • Planned on-call: 17:00 to 1:00
  • Recalled work: 20:00 to 23:00