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 log on, if so how long?

Answer 1

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.

Contributed by: Nik Kellingley

Answer 2

Yes, we give agents 6 minutes to come in and get logged in. It takes their computers a little while to come up so to ensure that they are here and ready to go we pay the extra 6 minutes.

Contributed by: Andrew

Answer 3

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.

Contributed by: Mark Andrew

Answer 4

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….

Contributed by: Laura

Answer 5

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.

Contributed by: Janet

Author: Jo Robinson
Reviewed by: Robyn Coppell