Am I in the wrong regarding rota or my company?

[Angelaanaconda10]

I work for a home care company and I know they are often short staffed.
I only recently started and was told it would always be alternate weekends only and that the rota would be done a week in advance.

I received this week’s rota a week ago and since I worked last weekend I had this weekend off.

I was phoned yesterday by the company to explain that they had put a couple of calls on me for Sunday evening which was a bit frustrating but at least I had some notice, didn’t have any for today though.

Anyway last night I did a bar shift to earn extra money and got in at 5am. I woke up to calls at 8am from my job asking why I had not attended 7am morning calls. I looked at my rota and saw that at 5pm last night the company had added calls on for 7am-11am this morning.

I have had to throw some clothes on unshowered and get a taxi to get there, the clients have been informed but I feel really unfair on them.

I feel awful for not checking last night but I think it’s bad practice of the company to add calls so last minute and not notify, and it goes against what they were saying re rota and scheduling. My boyfriend says if they keep doing that to look for another company.

In my first week there I had 4 calls asking to do overtime, said yes to 3 of them but they have us working 7 days a week often.

No, I don't think you are in the wrong. Personally, I wouldn't want to be in a job where you are expected to drop everything at the drop of a hat, if they haven't asked you first.

If it's happening at the start it's just going to keep happening.

Yes it makes me feel like I can’t make any plans or take on any work anywhere else in case they put extra hours on.

They really need to be confirming you can do the shifts rather than just adding you in with no follow up, and you need to tell them this. When you're not at work, it's not up to you to continually check the rota on the off chance they've scheduled you with no discussion!

Is there anything in your contract or whatever that says about notice for overtime?

Is the way they are scheduling you breaking the Working Time Directive?

It’s a shame as I like the work, the clients are great but they can’t expect us to be free 7 days a week.

Doesn't sound like a good company

This is unacceptable. How are you meant to make plans?

If this is how they operate then I would leave

I would change your job. The company is working on a shoestring and they don’t appear to have enough staff to cover every shift - let alone if anyone goes sick or takes annual leave. The more you leap at every call, the more they will take advantage of you.

You are entitled to an uninterrupted 48 hours off work every fortnight
www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work

They also have to give you reasonable notice of changes to your working hours. It may also be a breach of your contract depending on what they say about changes to working hours.

I would ring ACAS for advice.

I’d tell them that you’re not always able to work at short notice as you have other commitments (be deliberately vague here) and ask what the procedure is for confirming the shifts so that they’re not putting you on for calls you don’t know about or that you’re not able to do.

It sounds like it’s not very well organised sadly.

You shouldn’t be expected to check whether they’ve ‘added’ appointments to your rota - they should be contacting you and specifically asking if you are available for overtime. I’d start looking elsewhere.

What is the work? Is it saving lives or the typical corporate bullshit where they think they are saving lives?

Totally unacceptable and I wouldn't have gone in. It's astounding how these companies think that people can survive on their poor wages and that they have no life outside work.

The company are taking the piss and it will get worse if you keep giving in to them. 14 hours notice for a shift (most of which was nighttime) is no where near acceptable. And they didn't even give you the notice!

OP they're taking the mickey. Home care jobs for experienced carers are plentiful right now you won't struggle to get one. I would speak to them on Monday, tell them that with immediate effect you won't be working your weekend off as standard and once they have provided you with a rota seven days in advance it's their responsibility to inform you that overtime is available, and you will confirm with them what (if any) you can do. Follow it up by email and stick to it

There is a reason they are short staffed.

I worked for a home care company over 20 years ago. They had form for this. It became the norm for staff who were called in the evening to work that night or next morning to say "Oh sorry I've had a drink, so I can't drive." I was once called when I was away on holiday, they wanted me to work that evening, I told them it would take me 8 hours to get there. In the end we all said if they were going to call us at last minute to cover calls , then they would have to pay us to be 'on call'. You are NOT obliged to cover calls at such short notice, unless you are being paid to sit by the phone and await instructions.

Just say no. What can they do? Fire you? You’re happy to look elsewhere anyway.

That's not on - adding extra shifts on your weekend off the night before with calling you to check you were able to do them.

I would send an email stating such and seriously consider quitting if they do it again

Thanks everyone, I arrived to a lady this morning who’s over 100 years old with dementia, she was soiled and panicking. Now I’m late to a double up call as a result.
They can’t expect people to work 7 days a week and when I had my interview I told them clearly that I needed to have 2 days off a week. I will need to be very firm with them and if not lol on for something else

If they need you to work last minute, they should be phoning you to check it’s okay rather than just pressuring you check the rota constantly and you are free to do the calls. It’s also really unfair to the clients

I've done this type of work and I'd nip this in the bud immediately. they won't want to lose a good worker so don't worry about that. Tell them you are Available to work every other weekend as set out in your contract and you can only work the clients/ times set out in the rota that you got a week in advance. Anything extra they will need to phone and check that you are available but you have other commitments so it will not be guaranteed.

Ask them to clarify the process of them putting calls on your rota and you confirming that you are available to make those calls.

If the terms do not sound reasonable then remind them of what they offered in the interview. If they have breached the operating guidelines, point this out. And going forward, only accept the calls/shifts you can reasonably make or want to do.

If the procedure is that calls will be placed on the rota before 5pm and you have until 6pm to accept then that could work, especially if you can decline then it is up to you to decline on your weekends off.

It sounds like they are managing the rota badly and letting their clients down. It must have been horrible to turn up to an elderly distressed woman today. Not nice for her or you.

Thanks everyone I’m going to be very firm with them, apparently they have form for this. Some clients were understandably not happy at all that I was 2 hours late, if I explain that it just sounds like I’m making excuses.

@Ugzbugz saving lives or not, this is appalling treatment.
I'm front line NHS, there are staff shortages and people get sick when they're supposed to be working. Last minute rota changes are done by calling and talking to an individual, asking if they can come in and then offering extra pay/time off at another time. Saying No is acceptable, though pressure may be applied (depending on how important finding cover is), you can still say no.
Its not done by changing the rota hours before without telling the individuals involved.