Working Out of Hours
This documents explains why we may be called upon to support work out of hours, what you can expect, and how you will be compensated.
Why should we perform work out of hours?
Operations Engineering does not offer a 24/7 service. However, we recognise that support may be needed outside of regular conditional hours under exceptional circumstances. These reasons may arise due to:
- contractual service levels
- minimising impact on critical services
- agreed on change windows with Business
The team has permission to reject proposals for out-of-hours work and can reject a request if suitable resources cannot be provided.
What time boundaries should be established?
We should always negotiate for work to take place within working hours.
Where that is not possible, our hours of exceptional working would be between 6:00 and 9:00 or 18:00 and 22:00. We should expect two weeks’ notice for requests for out of hours working.
All requests must be supported by a schedule agreed upon by all parties. That schedule should include any time required for rollback.
How long should we be working on an out-of-hours request?
60 minutes.
How often can a team member expect to work out of hours?
Once per fortnight.
How should an individual be compensated?
Time in lieu at a rate of 1.5x for agreed time (rounded up), i.e. agreed 1 hour support would reward 1.5 hours in lieu.
Time in lieu at a rate of 2x for time outside of agreed hours (rounded up), i.e. working an additional hour on top of one hour of agreed support, would reward 3.5 hours in lieu (1.5 hrs for an agreed hour + 2 hrs for the unplanned hour)
Unplanned time should include waiting around time.
Example 1: Schedule as planned
We have a request for support for some DNS OOH work for 30 mins on a Saturday. The work takes 15 mins. No further work is required.
Time of in lieu = 1.5 x 15 mins = 23 mins
Example 2: Additional work outside of agreed schedule
We have a request for support for some DNS OOH work for 30 mins on a Saturday between 12:00 and 12:30. The work takes 15 mins.
An issue occurs that requires the engineer to attend an unplanned call outside the original change window and roll-back a change that takes 30 mins.
Time of in lieu = 1.5 x 15 mins (agreed time) + 2 x 30 mins (extra time) = 1 hour 15 mins
Example 3: Additional work outside of agreed schedule
We have a request for support for some DNS OOH work for 30 mins on a Saturday. The work takes 15 mins.
We are later notified that related work isn’t going well and the Engineer needs to attend unplanned calls outside the original change window. Call takes 15 mins. The plan is that a rollback may be required in the next 2 hours so Engineer needs to be available.
3 hours later a call comes in to rollback the change, which takes an additional 15 mins.
Time of in lieu = 1.5 x 15 mins (agreed time) + 2 x 210 mins (extra time - calls, implementation and waiting time) = 7 hour 23 mins