Question: Do you give agents paid time to log on?

Are agents expected to be logged on the phone and ready to take calls at the start of their shift or do you give them paid time to logon, if so how long?

Filed under: Open questions

20 Nov 2008

4 Answers

My work place does not pay us to log in a few minutes to prepare our workstations & log into our phones. We are to be ready & available at the beginning of our scheduled shift.

Comment by Janet — 16 Nov 2008 @ 12:16 pm

You really should give paid time to log in – particularly if you only pay minimum wage as the additional time puts you potentially in breach of the minimum wage act.

But assuming that their terminals and phones are switched on before they arrive at their desks – I reckon 1 minute or 2 at the most should be enough to cover things.

Comment by Nik Kellingley — 18 Nov 2008 @ 10:19 am

In my call centre in Canada, yes, agents are definitely expected to be logged in and ready to take calls at the start of their shift. It would be similar to servers, they are expected to be ready to take tables at the start of their shift; not to come in, then get changed…etc….

Comment by Laura — 27 Dec 2008 @ 11:18 am

Same with us, if you worked in a shop you would be expected to be on the till ready to serve when your shift starts. It shouldn’t take agents more than a couple of minutes to log in to their systems.