Simply put, an on-call schedule is a rotation of people ready to respond when things go wrong. When it’s your turn, any escalations or alerts requiring a human touch are routed to you. While there are many on-call scheduling patterns–some simple, and some complex—they all share a common goal: ensuring a designated person or team is available whenever needed.

On-call schedules are widely used in engineering to ensure someone’s ready to jump in if something breaks, but they’re valuable across many functions. From customer support to legal and communications, any department can benefit from an on-call rotation to keep things running smoothly.

Why businesses need on-call schedules

Having a designated contact

With most businesses operating 24/7, issues can arise at any hour. Whether it’s a technical outage, a PR issue, or a customer service crisis, an on-call schedule ensures the right team member is available to handle urgent matters quickly, minimizing downtime and maintaining business continuity.

Without a structured schedule, you may end up scrambling to find help in a crisis, which can extend downtime, affect revenue, and damage customer trust. A good on-call setup eliminates the need for a “hope strategy” in critical situations.

Distributing responsibility

Being on-call can be intense, and frequent pages outside work hours can impact team morale. Rotations help distribute this responsibility, balancing the load across the team and giving everyone time to recharge.

Beyond the operational benefits, fair on-call schedules are vital for managing workload and preventing burnout. By rotating responsibilities and considering team preferences, businesses can ensure that on-call duty remains sustainable, leading to better outcomes and a healthier team.

Common on-call scheduling patterns

A single-person rotation

The simplest approach is a one-person rotation, where one individual is on-call at a time. This setup works well for small teams or low-frequency incidents.

Two people on-call at once

For a bit more coverage, some teams rotate in pairs, ensuring backup and collaboration during incidents.

Rotating through pairs

A rotating pairs configuration is an on-call schedule setup where two people are assigned to be on-call simultaneously, rotating through the team in pairs. This approach provides extra coverage and allows for collaboration during incidents, ensuring that there’s always backup and a second perspective on-hand.

Primary and shadow

In this setup, experienced team members serve as the primary on-call contact, while newer members act as “shadows,” learning the ropes with support from more seasoned colleagues. It's a fantastic way to help less experienced on-callers learn on on the job, and build up a pool of experienced responders.

Follow-the-sun

Ideal for distributed teams, follow-the-sun schedules have on-call responsibilities rotate across time zones, ensuring coverage during local working hours without disrupting sleep.

Complex rotations

For larger organizations, schedules can become more intricate, involving multiple people, departments, or time blocks. While complexity can add flexibility, it's important to keep it manageable to prevent confusion and burnout.

A brief word on shift lengths

Choosing the right shift length is important, and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. When deciding on shift durations, here are some key questions to consider:

• What is our operational load? The more frequently team members are paged, the more on-call fatigue can set in. In high-load environments, shorter shift lengths might help reduce burnout.

• How much information needs to be handed over? If each shift requires a significant context handover, shorter shifts can increase the number of handovers, which may lead to gaps in communication.

• How many people are on the rotation? With a small team and short shifts, members will be on-call more frequently, which can lead to burnout. On the other hand, too many people with longer shifts can create long gaps between on-call rotations, making it harder to stay “operationally sharp.”

• What’s the team’s preference? Personal preferences are important to consider, as team buy-in plays a big role in maintaining a sustainable on-call rotation.

Finding the balance involves weighing these factors and adjusting as needed based on your team’s unique needs.

Setting up an effective on-call schedule

Creating an on-call schedule isn’t easy—you’re asking people to commit part of their non-work life to be available. Here are some tips:

1. Communicate the value of on-call: Explain why it’s essential for the business so team members understand the importance.
2. Show the impact: Use past data to set realistic expectations and reassure the team about the frequency of calls.
3. Offer compensation: Fair compensation is key, whether in time off, career growth, or financial incentives.
4. Ensure inclusivity: A blanket on-call policy is ideal, but balance it with flexibility for those who genuinely need exceptions.
5. Pick the right configuration: Choose a schedule that fits your team’s size and needs, whether it’s a follow-the-sun model, shadow rotations, or simple weekly shifts.
6. Use a reliable tool: Managing on-call schedules is easier with the right software. incident.io On-call, for example, offers flexible configurations and automated overrides to keep schedules fair and manageable.

Best practices for managing on-call shifts

• Plan for vacations: Proactively account for team members’ time off to prevent last-minute issues.
• Encourage overrides: Allow flexibility with shift swaps, so team members can take breaks or manage personal commitments.
• Monitor workload balance: Keep an eye on calls and adjust shifts to support work-life balance and prevent burnout.

Building sustainable on-call schedules

On-call scheduling isn’t just about having a roster; it’s about ensuring smooth operations and supporting the team that keeps things running. With the right approach, you can balance business needs with team well-being, achieving faster response times, happier employees, and more reliable service.

Whether you’re setting up a simple rotation or a complex multi-team schedule, this guide will help you create on-call processes that make your team effective and resilient.