To not go to sleep while working on call out of hours?

[Icecreamsalltheway]

I work as a in the UK press office for a major theme park resort in Orlando as a press/PR/publicity manager. We have a rota (1 night at a time) for the out of hours on call officer for media enquiries that need urgent attention. We usually get around 2 calls an hour and 5 emails an hour to the office during the night. Some of them don't really need urgent attention and could wait until office hours but the on call officer is "not allowed to ignore any enquiry that comes through to the office while they are on call". Aibu to just stay up all night while I'm on call?

It depends whether you are expected to be awake, or if sleeping is allowed? Are there any other guidelines? On call is different to working a night shift in terms of guidance and contract usually.

Isn’t that the point?

It sounds like you aren't really on call, but working, just with less to do. If emails have to be responded to then you have to stay awake surely?

How could you possibly be unreasonable?

Do you have to answer the 2 calls per hour?
If so it must be impossible to sleep, and this is not an on call, but a working hours shift.

@isabellerossignol

How could you possibly be unreasonable?

I think that says it all

Unless there's a major disaster and British tourists (and there can't be any right now!) have been killed on a ride or abducted by aliens, I can't imagine that there's anything that couldn't wait until morning. Couldn't you get up early and catch up with e-mails etc before you hand over to the day shift?

OP I work in a press office and do on call through the night with a similar workload to you. I sleep, put the phone under my pillow on vibrate and when I get a email or call it vibrates the whole pillow and mattress and wakes me up. If I get a media enquiry that needs to be looked into further/investigated I just lie in bed and deal with it all through my mobile phone and laptop (only if necessary)

@katy1213

Theme parks in Orlando are open. The OP may have media enquiries in regards to incidents that have occurred at the park, even if they don't involve British tourists. The OP also probably has to work a day shift too after being on call all night, I have to and I work in a similar job.

How could you go to sleep properly anyway? You would be waking up all the time.

Doesn't on call mean to be available at any time? Aren't you being paid for this?

If yes to both then of course you should stay awake

I used to do a similar job. I had my phone on loud and the press office email inbox had an automatic reply giving the on call number for urgent enquiries. Anyone on call knew they could sleep as they would be woken up by the phone if it was actually urgent.
Sounds like it's worth a chat with your manager about what's expected of you?
If you were in my team and staying up all night (as well as working the normal office hours) I'd worry you'd be too tired to respond to enquiries properly.

If you're expected to deal without delay with seven communications per hour, when do you imagine you might sleep?

You get 2 calls and 5 emails per hour? To my mind, that’s not on call. That is a night shift. On call is being available in the event of one incident maybe happening during out of hours. It’s for infrequent, unpredictable things, not a regular influx of 7 actionable items per hour every night.

Depends. When I'm oncall (different sort of job) I'm working the daytime before and after. So I need to try to get some sleep. Are you also working the day, or are you just on the night, when this happens? If just on the night stay awake, if on for 24 hours or longer, obviously try to get some sleep.

What does your contract say? Are you required to answer immediately? If so, you can’t sleep through the night. But I can’t imagine you are expected to stay awake all night waiting for an email or call. It’s a press office, not an organ transplant unit. No one will die if you don’t respond immediately. It’s not that urgent or important. If you are expected to stay awake all night I assume you get the hours off in return to comply with the working hours directive.

@Icecreamsalltheway surely you should ask your employer? I would have thought it would be clear from them whether you should be asleep on the job or not?

Have you opted out of the working time directive? If you haven't you should have 11 hours of uninterrupted rest in a 24 hour period ( not necessarily overnight). If you have opted out then you don't have to have the rest period.
Many, many roles have overnight on call, different individuals have different ways of managing. Do what suits you best it doesn't matter if it is what anyone else would do.
I work on call, we have certain commitments within our on call between midnight and 1 am, some of my colleagues like to stay up till they have met those, me I like to go to bed be then get back up again - horse for courses.

Have you opted out of the working time directive? If you haven't you should have 11 hours of uninterrupted rest in a 24 hour period ( not necessarily overnight). If you have opted out then you don't have to have the rest period.
Many, many roles have overnight on call, different individuals have different ways of managing. Do what suits you best it doesn't matter if it is what anyone else would do.
I work on call, we have certain commitments within our on call between midnight and 1 am, some of my colleagues like to stay up till they have met those, me I like to go to bed be then get back up again - horse for courses.

I used to work in an industry where we were on call 24/7. People would call me in an emergency though you didn't have to check emails overnight.

If you're on a rota and expected to answer emails then you'll have to stay awake checking emails surely?

Yes I'd agree, is it classed as a night shift and you're off the next day, or are you just allocated to do out of hours responses alongside your normal job? If its a night shift, you'll need to stay awake, but if not, then surely a loud phone and getting up of its really important is sufficient?

I'm also fascinated to know what people need to know about an Orlando theme park through the night at a rate of 2 calls and 5 emails an hour!!

Doesn't on call mean to be available at any time? Aren't you being paid for this?

If yes to both then of course you should stay awake

In my previous job I had an call commitment. We did one week in 6 each - yes, I was available at any time but I wasn't expected to go without sleep! I just put the phone on loud so I could hear it.

And my on-call payment was £19 per session, with extra if I was actually called in. Even if it was a 24 hr on-call, I wouldn't stay up all night so I could feel like I'd earned my supplement

OP I wouldn't be able to sleep and make sense of answering such regular queries. I'd be a mess if I was dropping in and out of sleep, so in your case I would stay up. But, I'd check if you actually must answer emails as they come in or if they can wait until say 6am, leaving you with just the phone calls to worry about.

I agree this is a night shift, not on call. I hope you are being paid appropriately

To me expecting two phone calls and 5 emails an hour means no you can’t sleep. That seems more like a night shift.

Surely being on call suggest you’re available in emergencies only. My DH does on calls for his job and most times never gets called in (he works in a hospital), but if he does then he can be gone most of the night but then gets that time back the next day because of the 11 hour rule.