It’s 4am, you’ve finally drifted off, and then the phone rings. It’s work calling. You have to go in.
The right to disconnect from work has been protected by law in Australia since 2024. This means most employees can refuse to answer calls from work outside their regular work hours.
But for many of us, regular work involves being “on-call”. While you’re not officially working, this “standby” mode means you need to be available to spring into action if required: to answer emails or phone calls, or do other tasks at short notice, outside regular work hours – including overnight.
This flexible kind of work can suit many people. But unfortunately sleep is often the casualty. And our research shows just knowing you might be called in is enough to disrupt your sleep, even if the call never comes.
What is on-call work?
Being on-call means you can’t fully switch off and must stay reachable and ready to work if your employer needs you.
That might mean waiting at home, staying at work, or carrying a phone or pager. If called, you might need to give advice, work remotely, or potentially travel to your workplace.
On-call work is common in emergency services, health care, utilities, retail, food service, and some gig-platform work. For example, a doctor might wait for a hospital call, or an Uber driver might stay logged into the app waiting for the next job.
Being on-call doesn’t always mean responding to an emergency. But it often requires switching quickly from personal mode to work mode. The task might be high-pressure, such as a doctor assessing a critically ill patient, where quick decisions (and errors) can have serious consequences.
In other situations, the call-out may be more routine. For example, an IT worker resetting a system remotely or a retail worker covering a last-minute sick day.
Either way, on-call workers will need to be alert, focused and ready to act with very little warning.
How does on-call work impact sleep?
If a call occurs while you are asleep, it will inevitably disrupt your sleep.
Disruptions might be worse if you are called multiple times, if they take a long time, or if your work is stressful or difficult. Overnight calls eat into the time you have available for sleep – which is particularly problematic if you can’t catch up in the morning because of work or other responsibilities.
Evidence also suggests simply knowing you are on-call is associated with worse sleep. Uncertainty seems to be the key factor – if you aren’t sure whether you will be called or if you are worried you might miss the call.
This anticipation effect isn’t limited to on-call workers. It might help to explain the “Sunday scaries” – the feeling of anxiety or dread before the work week starts, which we know can also have a negative effect on sleep.
Read more:
An unbroken night’s sleep is a myth. Here’s what good sleep looks like
Why good sleep matters
Poor sleep is not just about feeling tired the next day. It’s like trying to run your body and brain on a low battery: you still function, but everything takes more effort and mistakes are more likely.
During sleep, your brain encodes memories, regulates emotions and restores attention. It’s when your body repairs tissues and supports the immune, hormonal and cardiovascular systems.
When sleep is regularly cut short or disrupted, that nightly maintenance crew cannot finish the job. Concentration, reaction time, mood and decision-making can suffer, and everyday demands can feel much harder than they should.
Over time, poor sleep is also linked to a greater risk of accidents, mental health difficulties, weight gain, diabetes and heart disease. Sleep is one of the foundations of good health. When that foundation becomes unstable, the effects can spread into almost every part of life.
What can on-call workers do about it?
The most important thing is to prioritise sleep.
Some on-call workers report going to bed earlier than usual on nights they are on-call. This can be a great strategy to make sure they get enough sleep, even if they do receive a call later in the night.
Beyond that, making sure your bedroom is set up properly can help you get better sleep in the time that is available. You’ll sleep better if your room is cool, dark and quiet, and you avoid big meals right before bed. Limiting caffeine, nicotine and alcohol can also help.
But it shouldn’t only rest on individuals
Workers can only do so much to protect their sleep while on-call. A lot of the solution lies in how organisations design on-call work schedules.
Ideally, employers should provide enough flexibility that after busy on-call nights, workers are not also required to attend work early the following morning. Designing rosters that give workers enough time “off-call” to rest and recover is also important.
This is a rapidly evolving area of research, and we are starting a project looking at how much on-call work is “too much”. We will soon be able to provide clear guidance to help organisations better schedule on-call work. This includes how many calls, and how many nights, on-call workers should undertake at a time.
Final takeaway
On-call work is an essential part of keeping critical services running, but it can come at a cost to workers. Workers and organisations both have important roles to play in helping these critical workers to get enough sleep.
Madeline Sprajcer receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Grace Vincent does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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Author/s: Madeline Sprajcer, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, CQUniversity Australia
