[everforward]

Do they not do comp time? Last time I worked at a BigCo, they didn’t hand out comp time by default but didn’t fight if I asked for it.

I just pointed out that it was effectively slashing my compensation per effort, during times I especially didn’t want to work. I proposed either comp time, or bonuses amounting to overtime on our “hourly rate” (salary divided by work hours in the year).

My manager opted for comp time, because he could do that without needing to involve HR and all the pay related people. Apparently no one had ever bothered to ask about it, and had just been working nights and weekends for free.

[tacostakohashi]

To some extent - an "on call roster" or "comp time" help a bit so it's not just a 24/7 job... but even "comp time" is the kind of thing they'll not explicitly say no to (as you found), but also its not something they'd be doing as a norm, and it would make anyone asking for it seem like less of a "team player", a good candidate for the bottom of the promotion / top of the layoff list.

It just seems like a real double standard / unspoken rule of software at BigCo that it's very difficult to contain to 9-5 M-F like the other jobs, since it's salaried or exempt and they're not tracking hours. To some extent the relatively high salaries compensate for it, but it comes at a real toll over the long term compared to a true 9-5.