If employees have to remain available for emergencies during their free time for work, special rules apply to working hours. There are three types of on-call services:
- consignment service
- on-call service
- on-call time
Here you will find definitions of the services.
The Working Hours Act and the collective labour agreement contain special agreements about the working hours and rest periods of on-call services:
- Only use on-call services if the regular services of these periods entail serious objections to the staffing and/or operational management of the relevant departments. Scheduled shifts are preferable to on-call shifts.
- In addition, keep the call of employees during these on-call services to a minimum.
For the planners and managers, this requires extra attention, in combination with the fixed working hours. The source approach also applies here: how can the umc or the department minimize these on-call services? Which agreements with employees about scheduling on-call services are important to achieve sufficient recovery time, regularity and predictability in the schedule and a good work-life balance? Employees must be given the opportunity to make use of the 8-hour sleep-in arrangement in accordance with the collective labor agreement, after a call at night (between 00:00 and 6:00). In order to prevent the Working Hours Act from being exceeded during work, the employer, in consultation with the employees concerned, draws up a protocol describing how to act in situations that occur. This protocol may differ per umc and department. It is important to regularly (at least once every two years) evaluate the scheduling process with on-call services, in which input is requested from the employees.