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Re:Uber, losing billions, freezes engineering hires by maxaf on Saturday August 10, 2019 @11:33PM (#20666055)
This is handled the same way 24/7 availability is handled. The company employs some multiple of the employees it needs to handle regular demand during the day. Some of these employees happen to like working at night. Others like working during the day. All are required to put in some number of hours per week in order to qualify for the perks that come with full time employment.

When a spike in demand occurs, a page goes out to all employees who currently aren’t on the road requesting that all those who can do so safely proceed immediately to an area that has unfilled demand.

Re:Uber, losing billions, freezes engineering hires by dodobirdlord on Sunday August 11, 2019 @12:48AM (#20666292)
These hypothetical employees are expected to be 24/7 on-call? If they're required to have their "pager" on and respond to pages, this is unreasonable. Nobody would put up with such absurdity. If they aren't, it's also unreasonable, after all, nobody would put up with such absurdity.
Re:Uber, losing billions, freezes engineering hires by toast0 on Sunday August 11, 2019 @02:16AM (#20666623)
Put in work preferences. Would like to work hours X; is willing to be notified of opportunities for overtime hours Y. When it's a big deal time, call up everyone who seems to be legal for DOT workrules, regardless of their preferences.
Re:Uber, losing billions, freezes engineering hires by listenallyall on Sunday August 11, 2019 @03:53AM (#20666959)
Awesome. I've put in a full day of work and I'm finally chilling out with my kids playing Xbox, can't wait to "immediately" get my ass back on the road. Not exploitative at all.
Re:Uber, losing billions, freezes engineering hires by alkonaut on Sunday August 11, 2019 @06:43AM (#20667496)
So long as the pay is good enough without answering any overtime calls (ie at least minimum wage plus operating costs for 40h per week) then I don’t see the issue with some limited voluntary overtime.

The q is: can the driver play Xbox with his kid and get him a higher education, with the pager off? Then it’s an ok solution. Otherwise not.