Work on-call changes.

[agent_dani]

So my employer has decided an expense to cut is mobile phones assigned to individuals. They adopted a stipend policy of $35/month + $35/month if it's a data-plan device (smart phone, etc.) They then became very strict about that such that, generally speaking, senior management kept theirs but nobody below the AVC level did. Personally, that's no matter as I was going to refuse the stipend due to the public-/open-records/FOIA aspects of it - I'm not interested in having my mobile records be subject to public inspection in that way and for so many years (I'd have to maintain the records and make them available within 3 days of any request for as long as four years, including within that amount of time after the end of my employment here...)

In my department of seven people (including the boss) there were five smartphones assigned to people (I was one of the two people who never had one assigned.) All but two of these were turned in last week. Those two, both iPhones, were given new numbers and are now the primary and back-up on call devices. The pagers have been turned in and that service discontinued.

So far, I'm not exactly seeing much benefit to this plan. The only one I do see is not having to use our personal mobile devices to call in response to pages. However, the negatives strike me as larger, mostly the much lower charge life and the odds of the charging cable being lost/misplaced/left at the office when departing on Friday evening - I'm betting I'm eventually going to do this since there is only one charging cable per phone and I have no extras at home since everything I have uses either mini- or micro-USB.

Further, since the phones are not on plans with AT&T that include tethering or hotspot we can't used them with our laptops when on call and not near a data connection, which means the more rapid response claim simply isn't.

While the pagers were low and old tech, they were reliable, durable, and had great battery life - pop an AA-cell battery in every 1-2 months and they were good to go. And my experiences with paging to SMS, particularly on AT&T, are not remotely good - no pages delivered at the time of an incident then they were delivered hours to days after the fact, producing several consecutive sleepless nights.

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I'm enough of a Luddite not to possess a mobile phone- I was an early adopter way back, hated the thing and got rid and have to admit that 've felt much better ever since :o)

[agent_dani]

I think I envy you. Having one is basically a requirement at my job...it's not stated as such but they pull the 24x7 availability thing and if one cannot be reached...

Yeah, fun. I've been battling with them about the fact that I don't always answer when they call. My former manager expected that I would always answer his calls and got irate when he reached VM instead.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

I've never believed that employers should think they have the right to own you 24/7 when they pay you for say 7-10 for five days a week.

I won't let hubby take his office mobile on holiday or with us at the weekend! It goes off when he gets through the front door too! That's OUR time, not theirs.

[agent_dani]

It's pretty common here, unfortunately. My view is that they may call but I have the right to decide which calls I'm going to answer. My former manager was the sort who would call for routine project status updates at 11 P.M. or 7 A.M. In spite of his tantrums I refused to answer.

At present I'm enforcing a 40 hour work week. My management has made it clear that being salaried and exempt is, to them, to have a minimum of 40 hours worked every week so I see it as 40 maximum, too. I particularly have taken this view when I was directly told that having to work fewer than 40 hours one week could not be offset by hours over 40 the previous or next week.

FWIW, the only reason I stayed was lack of other available positions at the time.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

This might explain why I've always believed in trades unions and I've always been a member.

As my grandad (a collier) used to say: 'give them and inch and they'll take several miles while asking you to do it in your own time and providing your own tools'................

[agent_dani]

I would be a member if we could be represented by one. North Carolina effectively prohibits it via a state law which makes it illegal for the state government to negotiate with any collective bargaining unit.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Which speaks volumes about the sort of place NC must be. Being (or not being) a member of a trades union is a fundamental human right in the UK :oZ

[agent_dani]

I'd say "the US" there. NC is far from the only state with such a law.

[rleyser.livejournal.com]

Sounds like someone got excited about a shiny new toy and didn't actually think this through!

I saw your Twitter question about tethering, I don't know if you got any answers. It needs to be purchased through the mobile company, at least here in the UK it does.

[agent_dani]

That's probably at least a bit of it. Possibly a bit of a couple long-time iPhone users being unwilling to give them up yet still not thinking it through. They probably could do this far cheaper with some sort of non-smart phone.

auntysarah suggested the hotspot function. When I tapped the button for that I received a dialog box stating exactly what you said of it.