4 ms·

It is literally... not... the definition of labor. Labor would be doing work on your employer's products and systems, not _being available to do so_.

• devoutsalsa 4y ago
  It’s maybe not technically labor, but it’s definitely work to be inconvenienced. Last time I was on call, I had to change my lifestyle pretty significantly so that I could drag around a laptop and maintain internet connectivity. Hiking? Nope. Driving through dead zones? Nope. Going to the movies? Not really. Bike riding? Maybe, if you can hear your phone, haul around a heavy laptop, and stick to areas with phone reception. Being on call is work. Call it labor or don’t, I don’t care about the semantics. Work is work.
  • Morgawr 4y ago
    That's why you are being paid for it. Just not your full/standard/normal rate because you are not fully working. You're just available to work in case of emergencies.
    • waynesonfire 4y ago
      does the rate go up to 1x when there is an issue, and you are then "fully working" ?
      • Morgawr 4y ago
        Does your salary normally go up in busy (non-overtime) periods during the day? Or do you, maybe, get paid a general smoothened out curve based on the average for your work expectations over a certain period of time? You get bonuses, raises, promotions based on how well you perform your job as your salary gets adjusted (ideally at least) according to that (+ end of year bonuses, stock/options, etc). This all also contributes to your total compensation including oncall (which is based on your normal work rates). Usually how it worked in my team at least, if someone had a tougher-than-usual shift (lots of alerts, large scale incidents, etc) we'd get some extra "rest time" (unofficially) or we'd be told to just take some time off in lieu, etc (on top of your oncall pay already) at discretion of your manager. On the other hand if your team's oncall stats (pager alerts, SLOs metrics, etc) were bad over a long period of time with a lowering trend, you'd have to restructure the way you approach/monitor your system and deal with releases and change management practices because something clearly isn't working. This is all encoded in the principles[0] of what it means to be a good SRE and design good systems and is already taken in consideration as part of your stipend. [0] - https://sre.google/sre-book/part-II-principles/ https://sre.google/sre-book/part-II-principles/
        • waynesonfire 4y ago
          > "rest time" (unofficially) ... at discretion of your manager. you know what this sounds like, a wonderful opportunity to exercise some privilege at the managers discretion.
  • ajkjk 4y ago
    I only replied to the parent because they said that it was 'literally the definition of labor', which is absurd.
• ornornor 4y ago
  Look at it this way: if you’re on vacation but have to carry a pager, monitor it 24/7, and be able to respond in 5–15 min, are you really on vacation? No, you’re working. Same as when I’m stuck on a bit of code and I’m looking through the window or taking a walk to think the problem through: I’m working and get paid for it. Why should being on call and it’s mental + physical (being sober, within arm reach of your computer) burdens be any different?
  • Morgawr 4y ago
    > are you really on vacation? No Correct > you’re working. Incorrect Regardless, people *are* getting paid for their oncall availability. Just not at a full rate (or 150% which would be even larger).
• heavyset_go 4y ago
  Funny how other countries' labor laws treat on call duty as overtime that's rewarded with time and a half pay or more, with bonuses, as well.