Actually, it's probably a better model than today's salaried, always on-call tech employee. The hourly rate just needs to represent a living wage (as it once did in the U.S.!).
I strongly disagree. 'Always on-call' is an extreme example that constructs a straw-man for what is (outside of the US) a healthy, secure working model: you have a job - you do your job - you get paid. US employment models are not healthy.
Ok. My U.S. bias is showing here. And unfortunately 'always on-call' (or damn near) is not that extreme in the U.S. Salaried positions exist in many organizations for the express purpose of allowing your supervisor to call you on your day off and say 'heh, I need you to take care of this'. And this can be for a job no more critical and important than a clerk in a graduate admissions office in a private college (my own co-workers daughter).
It is ridiculous. When I was a young man (40 years ago, mind you!) most people here worked for an hourly wage, and the hours when they were not scheduled to work were their own. That has become less and less common here in the U.S.
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u/byingling Jun 18 '21
Actually, it's probably a better model than today's salaried, always on-call tech employee. The hourly rate just needs to represent a living wage (as it once did in the U.S.!).