Not getting paid for worked time...

[Newbabynewhouse]

Views on this situation people please...

If you work on computers, let's say a call centre.. and you are paid at an hourly rate from 8.30am until 6pm.. Is it unreasonable for the employer to expect you to be sat logged in ready to go at 8.28am and then log out at 6.02pm every day? .... (so you are always "ready" for a call 🙄

@Newbabynewhouse

Just the one break, sometimes an hour sometimes half an hour..

I'm not sure how much I earn per hour has to do with it really does it? @AlexaShutUp ?

So what you're saying there is, if I was only paid £15 per hour, then my employers are allowed to take over 17 hours of free work from me?

It just isn't the kind of attitude that I would expect from someone in a professional salaried role.

You would have a point if you were talking about hours and hours of extra work but you're not. Also, assuming that it's a five day week, it's more like 15.5 hours, not 17. Seeing as minutes are so important to you.

I work in a call centre.
We're expected to be ready to be logged in for the start time so loaded up computer etc but only log in when you're supposed to start.
Which is fair enough

When I was at a craft retail store you were expected to be on the floor at the front of the shop ready to take over the till on the dot of shift handover.

This meant getting to work at least 10/15 min early as the staff room where your stuff got locked away, was at the back of the store up 2 flights of stairs. Worst thing was watching the next shift walk into the store on the dot of "start time"... there was always a pedant... because you wouldn't be able to leave until they got to the till.

I work in a contact centre but salaried for 40hrs a week
We are expected to be logged in and available at our start time and to log off 30 seconds after finish just in case a call is stuck in the queue
Realistically we all arrived 10-15 mins before to make a brew and log on, logging in to all the systems can take about 5 mins

Oh for actual calls - we can log into the phone system a few mins before but we are to click available at start time so you don't get calls before
Yes you can get stuck on a call, it happens bit not often and no, we don't get OT for it

[quote Newbabynewhouse]@Goldi321

Its 4 minutes every day though...? Adds up to around £300 per year...[/quote]
Imagine thinking like this.

I can't imagine being in a job where I clock-watched so obsessively.

If you are expected to take calls from 9am, then surely its common sense to be available and ready to take that call at 9am? So you log on beforehand.

6pm is an odd one as what if you pick up a call at 5.59 and the call takes 20mins to handle?

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

If you are expected to take calls from 9am, then surely its common sense to be available and ready to take that call at 9am? So you log on beforehand.

6pm is an odd one as what if you pick up a call at 5.59 and the call takes 20mins to handle?

I would say it's the opposite You're ready and waiting to log on at 9 at your desk and you log on at 9 But yes you can't log off until your finish time even if that might mean getting a call the minute before (Always been that way here where I work - also in call centre)

@EarringsandLipstick I clock watch but that's because we have to you get used to timing your breaks and lunch to the second and never ever being late!

4 minutes!

[quote Newbabynewhouse]@Goldi321

Its 4 minutes every day though...? Adds up to around £300 per year...[/quote]
Conversely if you sat down at your desk at 9am then turned on your computer and logged in you would be overpaid by several hundred pounds a year.

Why can't you be logged on but not take calls till 8.30? I couldn't get worked up about this 2 mins is nothing. I work in a hospital where we have to be changed and checked in on department for 8.30 so we need to give ourselves at least 10-15 mins before hand but then we finish at 5 and still have to go and get changed so we actually leave at 5.15ish. You're being pretty pathetic

It’s odd that it’s possible to take four calls between 8.58 and 9 yet the calls that come in at 5.59 take 15-20 minutes?

Don’t pick up a call until 9am OP and your issue has halved!

As a teacher working many hours of unpaid overtime constantly, with a HCP DH doing the same, if I only worked 4 minutes overtime a day I'd be over the moon.

@Isabellabasil

As a teacher working many hours of unpaid overtime constantly, with a HCP DH doing the same, if I only worked 4 minutes overtime a day I'd be over the moon.

I imagine that many people share this perspective!

I worked in childcare we were supposed to get 30mins a day break and probably took a break 5 times in 5 years, we ate our dinner with the children. moaning over 4 minutes is a joke.

you say you could take 4 calls in 2 minutes then say you could be on a call at 6 for 15 minutes?

Yes. We expect staff to be ready to go at 8.30 and log off at 6pm,unless a call is in place 8n which case you finish it

Otherwise how can they open up l8nes at 8.30 am if no one is there?

@saltedcaramelanything

See that's the thing... no we arnt allowed to log off at 6.. it all gets watched ... we have to stay until 6.02 even if not on a call, then if a call comes through at 6.01 and last for 15 -20 mins we have to stay and don't get paid more or the time back.. this is the issue

@Walkerbean16

Yes.. the call times vary greatly... why is that hard to believe?

Presumably based on the £300 comment you get paid circa £18 an hour.

That means depending if you're contracted for 35-40 hours a week, you earn somewhere between £32k and £37k. Certainly where I live that salary puts you in a fairly high earner bracket (£45k is top 10% where I live) and involves meeting business needs. I get paid more than that now, but used to put up with a decent chunk of overtime for that pay. I guess I might have been fussier if I had had no prospect of progression, but equally I would imagine most people spend more than 4 minutes a day getting a cup of tea etc. Maybe that doesn't apply in a call centre, I don't know?

Not sure I made myself as clear as I could've? Our work times on contract are 8.30 until 6 ... these are the hours we are paid for ..we would always make sure we were sat down, logged in and ready for 8.30 in this case...but we are told we have to be logged in ready and taking calls at 8.28.. it's all logged on a system and we get bollocked if we log in at say 8.29... why though when we are contracted and paid from 8.30... we're not late for our job?

We finish at 6pm... but if we are sat even with no call at 6pm or 6.01, we cannot log off... this adds up to over 17 hours of free work for the company over a period of a year... that's without working any overtime (overtime also works the same) ohhh and cherry on top, we have to be at our desks 10 mins early from lunch and make cups of tea for the team.. HAVE to, not expected through good manners

Its the principle really.. not the fact im losing 4 mins every day

Do you think you spend four minutes of your work day using the bathroom?

@Gladioli23

I see your point, really I do... I understand what people are saying and of course I would stay extra if needed bla bla... but the point is, we are told off if not sat down logged in at 8.28, it doesn't seem right they class you as late even though it's not your contracted hours and are penalised if you log off at 6pm or on at 8.30