Being on call

[Erin Murray]

I recently accepted a staff position with an agency. The days I am not scheduled, I am on call, or if I have an afternoon job, I am on call in the morning, and am starting to feel like my free time isn't so free. I am wondering if any other staffers have thoughts as to how many on-call days are expected to be given to the agency?? Thanks!

[Cindy Clark]

That's kind of what it's like to be a scopist, too, Erin.  I have some reporters that only use a scopist when it is a rush, so I'm either bombed or I'm constantly checking my e-mails/messages to see if anyone is in need!  I have to force myself to NOT check for any new messages sometimes, and remind myself that it is okay to relax once in a while!

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I HATE being on call.  I want to know if I have a job and need to get ready.  I hate those frantic calls when I have to rush to throw myself together and run out of the house.  No thank you. 

I'm not saying I don't do it sometimes, but I would rather not.  I like days off.  That way, you don't get so burnt out.  This job is super demanding and you need a little down time and not always feel like you have to rush out the door.

[Erin Murray]

I am on call two to three days a week sometimes and wonder if it is okay if I only agreed to one on-call day a week. I have been working with this agency for over a year, but on staff for a few months. I don't want to come across as not willing to help them out, but at the same time, I don't feel that I should be on call every day I don't have a job.

[Judy]

Are they paying you for being on call?

[Deborah M.]

I wouldn't agree to it if it meant I couldn't take jobs from other agencies. 

[Erin Murray]

No, I'm not getting paid for being on call. I am given my job (or notification of being on call) later in the day, after I have already said no to other jobs because I need to keep myself available to them. I feel like I should be paid for being on call because I'm essentially stuck at home, waiting for an in-case situation. Don't get me wrong, I am usually at home, working, on my days off, but I would like to be able to take my dog to the park on a break like I used to be able to do. 

I just wasn't sure if that was the trade for being on staff and wanted to hear what others have to say before I ask them to stop putting me on call :)

[Erin Murray]

P.s. Judy, is it typical to be paid for being on call?

[Judy]

Erin,

When I started in this business 30+ years ago, a reporter got hired on as a "staff" reporter.  If they didn't have a job for you the next day -- and you really wanted to work -- you'd go into the office to work on transcripts b/c you'd be the first on the list for those late call-ins.  (But they were always fairly close because they really didn't cross county lines, much less cross state lines like they do now.)  I don't ever remember being paid anything for being on-call.  But things were a lot different back then.  In Orange County there were really only three agencies, and you didn't take work from another unless you severed your relationship with your first agency. The agency I worked for, the calendar gal assigned calendar sometime in the early-to-mid afternoon and you didn't get "the call" until after 4:30.

Nowadays, it's entirely different; agencies don't wait until the afternoon before to assign their calendars, and there are very few agencies that consider reporters their "staff" reporters.  Most have elaborate software programs so you can see what's going on with tomorrow's job (did it cancel?  will call back?  confirm?)  Most reporters I know work for a minimum of a couple different firms.  I've heard of some that work for up to 20 different firms.

There's one agency that I work with that does have an "on-call" category on their online worksheet, but they've never asked me to be on-call for them.

I personally think that if they're asking you to be showered and "ready" for a possible late call-in, yeah, you should get some bucks for that.  You can't go the grocery store or take your dog for a walk or even sleep in and work in your jammies until noon because you're "on-call."  If they have a late call-in, they expect you to say, "Okay, I'm out the door," not "Well, I still have half of my grocery list to get in my cart, then there's check-out, driving home, unloading the groceries..."

I think you're possibly being taken advantage of, especially if you're doing it for no remuneration.

Do they ask all of the other reporters to be on call too?  That's something else to consider.

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

Very good point Deborah and Judy.  It's your time and if you're not getting paid, well then it's up to you.  I guess being on staff, though, you're not supposed to work for anyone else.  I personally think that is a bad idea; you can get taken advantage of that way.  I did that about ten years ago with Maxene Weinberg Agency and they got really slow and I didn't have my foot in the door anywhere else.  Very scary times and I almost went bankrupt.  I'll never ever work for just one agency again. 

[Deborah M.]

Totally agree.  After having one agency go bankrupt on me, owing my $1,500 I'll never see, not to mention the money I paid for parking for two days and the money I paid my scopist, and having to repeatedly threaten another agency to FINALLY get paid what they owed me (after calling a client and verifying the copies had been paid for MONTHS ago) I don't want any one agency to owe me too much.

[Alice Clark]

I think part of the agency's job is to call and find an available reporter when they get a last minute call, not to expect their reporters to be on call without remuneration when they have no job assigned.  I can see how this would benefit the agency, but I don't see any benefit to the reporter.

[Deborah M.]

Ding, ding, ding!  That's exactly it.  If we are independent contractors, and not employees, we cannot be expected to be sitting around all day waiting for a call.  Are they guaranteeing you will work a certain number of days?  If not, I would be trying to pick up jobs from other agencies on the days they don't need you.  Most of the (many) agencies I work for do calendar very early nowadays.  If you find after a few weeks that they are consistently doing calendar too late for you to get something from someone else, you may want to reconsider what the benefits to being on staff are.