Millennium overtime spells bumper pay day for IT staff

IT departments will pay staff up to five times the normal hourly rate for working over the New Year holiday.

IT departments will pay staff up to five times the normal hourly rate for working over the New Year holiday.

Staff working on New Year's Eve will grab the largest premium, with those working on New Year's Day also earning big money. One organisation has set five different levels of pay over seven payment periods.

"Anyone who's being offered less than four times their salary is being short-changed for working on this one-off occasion," said Peter Skyte, national secretary for the IT professional association of union MSF.

The National Computing Centre says almost 70 per cent of organisations will have IT staff on-site over the millennium holiday period, and it expects this figure to rise. Utilities, transport and health sector organisations are most likely to have set up a millennium work rota, with education least likely.

Many organisations have still not agreed rewards. Several say they will be paying staff fees of £50 to £250 just to be on standby. The only drawback: they have to stay sober.