UK: Support Hours Change

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I work in an infrastructure team of 6; one 1st line, three 2nd line and two 3rd line. As of a two weeks ago we have no infrastructure manager, so we are reporting to his manager/our operations manager. We have been told that there will be a new App support team of 2 and 1 extra infra member employed.

Our current shift format is:

• Early Shift: 07:30 - 16:00
• Core Hours: 08:30 - 17:00
• Late Shift: 09:30 - 18:00

We have been informed that, as the company grows (current user base: about 500), our support hours will change so that the late shift is 13:30 - 21:00. We have been told by our ops manager that we should get together and 'work something out' about how to handle this new shift. We haven't had any input from HR or from an external party (union etc.). The general consensus within the team is that nobody really is keen to work these new support hours as they impede on our personal lives. The best idea we can all agree on is some sort of on-call remote working rota for the late shift, however we have been informed that there must be a engineer on site until 21:00. We have been given 3 days notice to have an idea sent to our Ops manager which will be presented to the MD & HR. In the past 3 months, 3 people from the infra team have handed in their notice (two 3rd line, one still working their notice, and the ifra manager)

TL;DR - support hours extended by 3 hours, responsibility of working out shift that nobody wants to cover given to infra team.

My questions are:

1. Is it 'normal' or 'okay' that we have been asked to sort the shift patterns out ourselves?
2. Is the new shift reasonable? If i were applying for jobs and read that I would have to cover until 21:00, I would give this one a miss.
3. While the core hours stay the same, would the support hours changing require a change in contract? (i've not looked into this yet)
4. what could we expect if we cannot agree on a new shift pattern?
5. If we decline the responsibility, can we still refuse the proposed shift ideas?

Thanks

manpreet 2 years ago

Aside from normal or ok do you prefer if you manager just told you "Mr Brooks , from now on you work from 13-2100"

I think since the plan has to be presented to HR this is actually your opportunity to suggest how you make this work.

For example - people working after 1900 get some extra pay - a rotation (weekly/monthly) that works for you - that kind of other perks would you need (interesting projects that automate away some boring work that didn't get any management approval up to now)

You do have to realize that unless you are willing to give notice yourself this is probably done because customers want this so it most likely move forward one way or another