asking me to come in on day off again

sligoface

In my current job, I am required to fill out paperwork when I complete every task, it is a very important part of the job as the products can't be used until the paperwork is done and signed, so I am always very careful to complete it all. I am currently on 12 hr night shifts, one week of 5 shifts and one of two shifts alternating. I just finished the week of 5 12s,including 3 back to back 12 hr shifts over the weekend. I now have two days off, the first of which I spend catching up on sleep, however I got a text at 3 pm asking could I come in and sign a few sheets.
I'm pretty sure i filled out everything left for me to fill out on my shift so this is most likely needed because something wasn't left for me as it should have been by the higher ups who work on day shift. This is the second time in a few weeks this has happened. I don't live that far from work but don't have a car, so I would have to take a taxi in at my expense and won't be paid for the time in work either. I am at the legal EU limit on work hrs of 42 hrs avg per week.
I don't want my time off interrupted like this. I don't want to make up an excuse why I can't come in, how can i put a stop to it as for now I'm just keeping my phone off but I want to be able to communicate that I'm not willing to come in on days off to fix issues that could easily be avoided if there was better communication and instruction between the day and night shift.

who the fug

Have you kept a log of what days you have had to come in and why you have had to come in

LegacyUser

sligoface wrote: »

I'm pretty sure i filled out everything left for me to fill out on my shift so this is most likely needed because something wasn't left for me as it should have been by the higher ups who work on day shift. QUOTE]


I'd get clarification on what they are calling you in for first

tatli_lokma

Well first off, the legal limit is 48 hours per week, but is is calculated as an average over a period of time, so the odd extra few hours won't cause them to be in breach of the organisation of working time act.

How many hours were there between your official shift ending and you being called back to work? The legal minimum must be 11 hours. If not then this is where they would be in breach.

I think they are being unreasonable TBH. Fair enough, if the error is of your making, but as it is not then they are being really unfair in asking you to come in - especially as a shift worker, phoning you at 3pm would be akin to a 9-5 worker being phoned at 1 am.

You are right not to make excuses - you don't need to, as it is not you being unreasonable.

I think the best bet is for you to advise management of exactly what you say above - that in an emergency you are happy to help out, but not when it is due to lack of planning. But I think you will need to have a solution to offer, otherwise they'll think you're just whinging. So perhaps suggest a system which can be implemented to avoid these mistakes. The only other option is to ask that you be put on call and get an 'on call rate' or at least paid for the time to retun and the expense of a taxi. There is no reason why you should be expected to come to work, in what is in effect the middle of the night for you, when it can be avoided.

Good luck, hope you can sort it out.

bbam

My advice would be if possible go in and do it this time..
But then speak to your manager explaining that this practice can't continue and they need to make alternative arrangements in the future..

I worked as a middle manager in a MN for years and my boss was awful for this sort of thing... he would take a real set against people who wouldn't come in on their off days to "give a dig out". I think its real short term thinking by a manager if a work-round can't be found..

99.9% of tasks completed by shift workers will have someone on the following shift doing the same thing with the same responsibility.. I can't believe that with a little effort that a system couldn't be put in place to have a peer sign the sheets and you could co-sign when back in on your regular shifts.

Irish_Elect_Eng

A medical device company by any chance :-)

If the issue is that the document must be signed before proceeding then company should have some sort of delegation policy. They certainly will for most of the management team for financial signatures.

Perhaps you could come to an arrangement with your boss or QA that these documents could be signed by a delegate on the next shift, even if that means that you have to cross train a little. You could frame this in terms of a business process improvement to ensure that unsigned documents do not impact the production on the following shift.

Solair

I had that situation with an employer before. I was getting calls on Saturday mornings and stuff asking me about utter nonsense e.g. 'did you happen to see where I put my good pen' type stuff.

The solution that worked for me was to invest in a second mobile phone. I simply did not take calls on the number my employer had on days off / out of hours.

I don't mind the odd genuine emergency call, but when it starts to get to the stage that someone's expecting you to be 'on call', they really need to be paying for that service.

I have found over the years that if people think they can reach you easily when you're off, they'll just get lazy / disorganised and constantly call you.
There were other people in the office who would get really REALLY put out by being called outside of hours and their non-work time was respected much more so than people who were happily bending over backwards to facilitate calls at 8:30am discussing where my boss might have put her car keys on a Saturday morning!

sligoface

Thanks for the help guys, I went in and did what was asked, in fairness they offered to pay for the taxi after i told them i had no car, and were grateful for me coming in. And they also acknowledged that it was not my error. They were just under pressure to get the issue sorted asap and I don't think it will be a regular occurrence. So I didn't make a big deal out of it.

I wouldn't have minded if I wasn't already doing such heavy duty hours, especially when you are on night shifts, because getting a proper sleep during the daytime with a quick turnaround to the next shift can sometimes be impossible, as the rest of the world is awake and making whatever noise they want! When you finally get a couple off days, your first day off is spent trying to catch up on sleep and then you get one day to enjoy before going back. So having those days interrupted with work stuff is the last thing you want.

I know I'm lucky to have a job at all in the current climate, was on the dole for a year before i got this one, which isn't permanent, either. Hopefully putting in the extra effort will reflect well on me and if there's more work available I'll be kept around for a wee bit longer, and maybe then i can afford to get a car!

silentrust

Solair wrote: »

I had that situation with an employer before. I was getting calls on Saturday mornings and stuff asking me about utter nonsense e.g. 'did you happen to see where I put my good pen' type stuff.

The solution that worked for me was to invest in a second mobile phone. I simply did not take calls on the number my employer had on days off / out of hours.

I don't mind the odd genuine emergency call, but when it starts to get to the stage that someone's expecting you to be 'on call', they really need to be paying for that service.

I have found over the years that if people think they can reach you easily when you're off, they'll just get lazy / disorganised and constantly call you.
There were other people in the office who would get really REALLY put out by being called outside of hours and their non-work time was respected much more so than people who were happily bending over backwards to facilitate calls at 8:30am discussing where my boss might have put her car keys on a Saturday morning!

Good thinking Solair, I had this conversation with my last employer as I worked in a hotel doing nights so it was just me and one other guy.

She told me the number would only be used in case of emergency. I duly handed over the number but the first time she called I was away in Cork.

Cue a nasty conversation with her when I returned where apparently I should have told her how I was planning to spend my free time so she can run the hotel accordingly.

I told her that I left town fairly often and so it would probably not be best to rely on my being around. She then tried to point to provision XYZ in my contract which says I can be expected to work extra hours.

I decide to resolve the issue by being "in Cork" each time she called after that. After a couple of false starts she got the message. Believe it or not employers we have better things to do with our free time than bail you out because you've bitten off more than you can chew.

otto_26

Why can't you just reply with a message saying your not in the area like if you work in Dublin say sorry I'm down on Cork or whatever and leave it at that. You don't need to go in on your day off then

silentrust

otto_26 wrote: »

Why can't you just reply with a message saying your not in the area like if you work in Dublin say sorry I'm down on Cork or whatever and leave it at that. You don't need to go in on your day off then

Thought I just said that! :-)

otto_26

silentrust wrote: »

Thought I just said that! :-)

Just read!! I love people like you.. Take no s##t for the boss love it!!

silentrust

otto_26 wrote: »

Just read!! I love people like you.. Take no s##t for the boss love it!!

I was fired from my last job, so many times I had to bite my tongue when my boss was being unreasonable but things came to a head when she tried to summon me to a disciplinary meeting after I opened a hotel guest's door as part of my job as a Night Porter because another guest had complained her TV was on full volume and he couldn't sleep.

What's particularly upsetting is I volunteered to be alone in the hotel on Christmas Day and Boxing Day to avoid the expense of hiring a security professional to be there. If doing that gets you no mileage with your boss and they still fire you anyway, what do you have to lose? :-)