New on call duties being imposed

[Sonofagun]

I Work for a small company with just a handful of full time staff (me and two others) and a couple of part timers. About 6 months after I started (3 years ago) I was added to the "on call duty manager rota" which involved responding (if appropriate) to any telephone calls that came in out of hours (5:30pm- 8:30am and at weekends) which meant being on call one week out of every 4/5. I was not consulted on the matter and just accepted it as it wasn't and still isn't a problem. We don't get many calls and in general nothing that can't wait until back in the office.

However our boss is now stipulating that being on call includes responding to alarm activations at the office (of which there have been a few lately) which means that we could be called out in the middle of the night to attend an office where we will be a) greeted with either a false alarm or b) a masked intruder! Obviously there are health and safety issues with regard to this aspect of his request (let alone my DP would not let me go in the middle if the night) but whilst previously we could take and respond to incoming telephone calls anywhere, this new stipulation implies that whilst on call we need to be available to come into the office at any time which will obviously restrict what we can and can't do during our free time.

No longer will I be able to indulge in that extra glass of wine of an evening in case I get an alarm call and have to drive to the office (30 mins each way) . No longer would I be able to scoot off down the coast on a whim for a last minute day out as I'd need to be able to get back to the office if required.

I am not contracted to do any of this (and I don't believe anyone else is) and we have never been consulted and whilst there has been no mention of any additional remuneration for the inconvenience my main issue is the erosion of my personal free time, I simply don't want to give up any more of my precious family time to work.

Do you think I am within my rights to say no, that I am not prepared to do this? Does anyone work for a small company and can advise on how they manage this type of situation?

Are they paying you extra for this?

Nope!

They are taking the piss!

If you refused to do it, there wouldnt be anything that they could do

What annoys me most is his expectations and assumption that we're all going to do whatever is asked for the good of the company. I've worked for small companies before and never been expected to come out to the office alarm or give up a week of my free time every month. Generally the boss has taken care if it themselves.

Just say you're not prepared to do it because it's not in your contract and you have other obligations during your time off. And then see what they do. I have heard of folk being asked to change hours and so on but this is just too much. It would help I think if the others refused as well.

I know the others are not happy, one for the same reasons as me and the other because they are a single parent and simply wouldn't be able to come out at night.

The boss makes it difficult and will use every trick in the book to make us feel disloyal etc. but I think I will stand my ground. I will say that I am happy to cover when the boss is on leave but other than that I am not prepared to give up one week in four.

Thanks for feedback everyone.

If you are asked to attend alarm activations you should have an SOP detailed what you should do on being made aware of an alarm activation.
Ours includes alerting advising the police that you are attending an alarm activation.

Good point. Boss is normally a stickler for SOPs but as far as I know there is nothing detailing what we are supposed to do in the case of attending an alarm activation.

Can you all stand your ground together so that he doesn't try to play you off against each other? And then you only need to share his holidays between all of you rather than discovering that you have ended up with all the holidays and others have been suckered into doing other times...

How bizarre. It costs me 300 per year to pay a company to be a keyholder, specifically so that no-one needs to respond to alarms. Surely staff morale is worth that.