Call-out
In Australian shift-work usage, a call-out is when someone is contacted at short notice and asked to come in to work, often outside their planned roster.
A call-out is when a worker is contacted at short notice and asked to come in and work, usually outside their planned roster or ordinary hours.
In Australian workplaces the term is used for urgent attendance rather than absence reporting. You hear it in maintenance, hospitality, care, events, utilities, and other operations where someone may need to come in outside the normal roster. The practical issue is whether the person can attend quickly and whether the work sits inside the rules of the relevant award, enterprise agreement, or workplace policy.
Different elsewhere: in US scheduling, a call-out commonly means the opposite — an employee notifying their manager that they cannot work a scheduled shift. In Australian usage, that would usually be described more plainly as calling in sick or reporting an absence.
Ready to simplify your team coordination?
Try Zelos for free