An increasing number of workers are now on zero-hours contracts. This means that they only work - and get paid - according to the hours they are given. Some weeks that will mean no work and, therefore, no pay. Even if they are meant to be given a week’s rota by, say, the middle of the previous week, that doesn’t always happen. Some people are even told on the Sunday evening that their next shift starts at 7.30 on Monday morning.

 

Among the employers using staff on zero-hours contracts is Buckingham Palace. Sports Direct recently got a lot of publicity when long-standing staff got free shares worth a significant sum. What they didn’t mention is that most shop floor staff are on zero-hours contracts.

 

Some people may find these contracts convenient so I don’t agree with the union leader who wants them outlawed. However, I do think the government should consider restrictions on their use. Naturally, the Tories are against any regulation. After all, not only do they consider any restrictions on employers to be, almost by definition, “a bad thing”, a person on a zero-hours contract cannot claim jobseeker’s allowance and so is kept off the unemployment figures. Also, if they work less than 20 hours in a given week, they cannot claim tax credits even though they are often paid the minimum wage or a little above it.. The Lib Dems are gradually moving towards favouring action.

 

The official estimate of the number of people on these contracts is 200,000. However, some people think the real figure is at least 500,000.

 

Should anything be done to limit employers’ powers to impose these contracts?

An increasing number of workers are now on zero-hours contracts. This means that they only work - and get paid - according to the hours they are given. Some weeks that will mean no work and, therefore, no pay. Even if they are meant to be given a week’s rota by, say, the middle of the previous week, that doesn’t always happen. Some people are even told on the Sunday evening that their next shift starts at 7.30 on Monday morning.

 

Among the employers using staff on zero-hours contracts is Buckingham Palace. Sports Direct recently got a lot of publicity when long-standing staff got free shares worth a significant sum. What they didn’t mention is that most shop floor staff are on zero-hours contracts.

 

Some people may find these contracts convenient so I don’t agree with the union leader who wants them outlawed. However, I do think the government should consider restrictions on their use. Naturally, the Tories are against any regulation. After all, not only do they consider any restrictions on employers to be, almost by definition, “a bad thing”, a person on a zero-hours contract cannot claim jobseeker’s allowance and so is kept off the unemployment figures. Also, if they work less than 20 hours in a given week, they cannot claim tax credits even though they are often paid the minimum wage or a little above it.. The Lib Dems are gradually moving towards favouring action.

 

The official estimate of the number of people on these contracts is 200,000. However, some people think the real figure is at least 500,000.

 

Should anything be done to limit employers’ powers to impose these contracts?

 

Nothing should be done at all

 

People should be thankful to have a job of any sort, it is an employers market unless you have very specialist skills

 

Start burdening business with more regulations they are less likely to take on staff

 

Nothing should be done at all

 

People should be thankful to have a job of any sort, it is an employers market unless you have very specialist skills

 

Start burdening business with more regulations they are less likely to take on staff

Why am I not surprised?

 

What sort of a job is it if you don't know what hours - if any - you are going to be asked to do from week to week? How can you plan to go away even for a few days if that might hinder your chances of further hours? If you need child care, how can you organise that at short notice? People on these contracts are just the sort of people who end up going to pay day loan companies. After all, how can you budget if you have no idea how much - if any - income you will be getting? People on low pay are often very good at managing their budget but that becomes impossible if one side of the equation (income) is unknown.

I'm on a zero hours contract doing stewarding with G4S (yay), I get my pick of events that they cover but they push it far more than I'm sure they do with fixed hours part time workers. Was supposed to start at 7 this morning at the cricket at Old Trafford, got a text two days ago to say it was put to 6:30 - and got another one as I was leaving tonight saying that the same applies for the next four days. I wouldn't be surprised if they conveniently forget that they called us in early and didn't pay us for the extra two and a half hours, so I'm minded to only turn up for the hours I know I'll be paid for.

 

Basically they're very easy to exploit, only work for some businesses and need regulation.

 

 

Why am I not surprised?

 

What sort of a job is it if you don't know what hours - if any - you are going to be asked to do from week to week? How can you plan to go away even for a few days if that might hinder your chances of further hours? If you need child care, how can you organise that at short notice? People on these contracts are just the sort of people who end up going to pay day loan companies. After all, how can you budget if you have no idea how much - if any - income you will be getting? People on low pay are often very good at managing their budget but that becomes impossible if one side of the equation (income) is unknown.

 

The main advantage for companies employing people on zero hours contracts are they do not have to pay sick pay, holiday pay, maternity pay and other stuff regular workers have to be paid that are forced on employers by the EU

 

The workplace and labour market is changing, more people self employed than ever, zero hours contracts etc

I agree they need to be regulated, but I think the flexibility suits a lot of people, especially if they don't want to work every single week. My work place pretty much does them, the hours change every week, and some staff might not even get hours. I can do 40 hours one week, then 20 the next.

 

Retail is suffering, and it's no surprise to me that most of these businesses would be retail. If people are getting zero hour contracts with bills to pay, and families to feed, well I question their own beings, it might be a job but it's also better to look at the bigger picture.

The main advantage for companies employing people on zero hours contracts are they do not have to pay sick pay, holiday pay, maternity pay and other stuff regular workers have to be paid that are forced on employers by the EU

 

The workplace and labour market is changing, more people self employed than ever, zero hours contracts etc

Which just about sums it up. Sick pay, holiday pay etc. are not a burden. They are a basic right for an employee.

Hmm, see I remember working on a zero hour contract at a restaurant and it was horrific. Could literally be bullied into working 70/80 hours per week, had no say in the matter, hardly ever got any breaks... I guess that may be a problem with the industry itself however.

Retail is suffering, and it's no surprise to me that most of these businesses would be retail. If people are getting zero hour contracts with bills to pay, and families to feed, well I question their own beings, it might be a job but it's also better to look at the bigger picture.

Which just makes a nonsense of Iain Duncan Smith's rhetoric about how it is wrong for people to be better off out of work than in work. Someone on a zero hours contract is technically in work but they could end up a lot worse off than if they were not in work.

 

Zero hours contracts are fine for people who just want to earn a little extra occasionally to supplement the income of their partner or to get some income in the university holidays but they are exploitation for anyone else.

 

At the moment someone on jobseeker's allowance cannot be forced to take a job on a zero hours contract. If the Tories win a majority at the next election, I suspect that will change.

Hmm, see I remember working on a zero hour contract at a restaurant and it was horrific. Could literally be bullied into working 70/80 hours per week, had no say in the matter, hardly ever got any breaks... I guess that may be a problem with the industry itself however.

That would be outlawed under the working hours directive if it continued for a sustained period. Of course, the Tories think the working hours directive is a terrible idea as well. They would be perfectly happy to go in to a restaurant and be served a meal cooked by a chef who had worked 60-70 hours per week for the last few months and served by someone who had worked similar hours. I would prefer a meal to have been cooked and served by someone who was still awake.

That would be outlawed under the working hours directive if it continued for a sustained period. Of course, the Tories think the working hours directive is a terrible idea as well. They would be perfectly happy to go in to a restaurant and be served a meal cooked by a chef who had worked 60-70 hours per week for the last few months and served by someone who had worked similar hours. I would prefer a meal to have been cooked and served by someone who was still awake.

Chefs at where I used to work would do 80/90+!!! I think zero contract hours can be abused and of course needs regulating.

Which just about sums it up. Sick pay, holiday pay etc. are not a burden. They are a basic right for an employee.

 

Self employed people don't get holiday pay, sick pay, maternity pay and other perks, they don't work they don't get paid same with freelancers, IT contractors etc, it is not the exclusivity of zero hour contract workers

 

 

 

 

Self employed people don't get holiday pay, sick pay, maternity pay and other perks, they don't work they don't get paid same with freelancers, IT contractors etc, it is not the exclusivity of zero hour contract workers

Moat of those people get contracts which guarantee the number of hours they will work for the term of the contract.

 

Freelancers generally get paid more than permanent staff. This is because they may be working a good deal further from home than permanent staff, thereby incurring additional expense, including extra accommodation costs. They also know that they may have periods out of work.

 

Self-employed plumbers etc also have to accept that they may have periods when they struggle to find work.

 

The difference is that they have chosen that way of working. That is very different from being forced to accept a zero hours contract.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the number of people on these contracts could be as high as a million. The latest companies to be exposed as using them in a big way are Domino's Pizza and Subway. There are also allegations that people turning up for their scheduled shift are either being sent home straight away or very soon after. In other words, many of them will be sent home before they have even had the chance to earn enough to pay for their journey to and from their supposed place of work.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the number of people on these contracts could be as high as a million. The latest companies to be exposed as using them in a big way are Domino's Pizza and Subway. There are also allegations that people turning up for their scheduled shift are either being sent home straight away or very soon after. In other words, many of them will be sent home before they have even had the chance to earn enough to pay for their journey to and from their supposed place of work.

 

Is it any different to our day though? just a fancy word for TEMPING

 

When i was in my teens i did agency work, it was not unusual to get a phone call at 4pm to say 'X company needs someone for 8pm tonight for the rest of the week'

 

We sat by the phone most days waiting for agencies to ring us with any spare shifts

Is it any different to our day though? just a fancy word for TEMPING

 

When i was in my teens i did agency work, it was not unusual to get a phone call at 4pm to say 'X company needs someone for 8pm tonight for the rest of the week'

 

We sat by the phone most days waiting for agencies to ring us with any spare shifts

But presumably that was for pin money rather than as the main wage earner. And presumably if you were called in you at least did enough work to pay your travel costs.

 

It's the one-sided nature of the arrangement that is wrong. People who decline a shift at next to no notice - whatever the reason might be - may find they are moved down the pecking order the next time shifts are assigned.

 

For some people they may be perfectly OK which is why I am not in favour of banning them. However, it is not acceptable for major employers to have most of their staff on such contracts. Tesco don't use them and nor do at least some other supermarket chains so why do Sports Direct need to use them so much? Greggs don't use them either so why do Subway and Domino's Pizza need to?

I work for a Healthcare company in HR so I issue a lot of zero hour contracts, although we call them bank agreements. We do need people working on the bank though, to cover shifts when permanent people phone in sick or if we have more beds filled than usual etc as we have SLAs to meet and so on. They do get holiday pay included in their pay (they get their base rate, plus enhancements as applicable, and then 12.07% on top of that as holiday pay) and if someone on the bank works a certain amount of hours they will be eligible for SSP... Lots of people we take on already have full time jobs and use bank as means to get extra cash and pick up experience in different healthcare sectors. I guess having a bank of staff available to help treat the ill is a bit different than having people on zero hour contracts to serve sandwiches! Healthcare is a completely different playing field to retail. I can't see any reason for retail to have zero hour contracts. I don't understand why these companies use them.

I can understand companies employing their seasonal temps on 0 hour contracts as sometimes there is no way of predicting in advance how busy you'll be or if the weather will screw you. I don't think that anyone working a non-seasonal retail position should be on a 0hr contract. Big companies know enough about their business to be able to predict sales trends and should know how many staff they need. It says a lot when all of the major supermarkets don't even consider them options.

 

There are certain ages and industries where 0hr contracts work very well. Retail is not one of them. I do however think they should be entitled to holiday pay but it should be earned on a Xhrs holiday for every Yhrs worked.

 

When I worked as a temp for Amazon (awful company to work for) I got 0.5days holiday per week worked. I was on a 40hr working week but they could send me home if there wasn't any work without paying me for the time I missed. There were many days I did a 80mile round trip for absolutely nothing.