Zero Hours Contracts.

It seems ironic that you have been successful in your job interview, to be suddenly presented with a zero hour's contract, what's that all about?

Since the introduction of zero hours contracts, there has been much debate on how they should be used and not abused, the contracts are mainly used in the service industry trades such as catering, leisure etc, the logic being that they would provide flexibility for both the employee and employer, but are they being used mainly for the benefit of the employer?

In many circles the Zero Hours Contracts are considered a thing of evil, perhaps unfairly, and the problem is that employers and employees do not understand their effective use.

Labour has come out and said that they would outlaw exploitation by employers, this follows research that showed evidence of this, and the government has also come out saying that they will conduct a consultation on how to tackle this problem.
All the evidence points to the fact that the contracts are open to abuse, and recent media attention has highlighted the problems, with one example showing how zero hours contracts have appeared to have been used to administer punishment, an example where a worker was unable to attend work and as a consequence resulted in a prolonged period without work.

What are zero hour's contracts?

It's an employment contract that will provide for a relationship between employee and employer, where there is no contract for the amount of work the employer provides, nor does it create an obligation for the employee to accept any work. The employee accepts that they will be available for work when required; the logic being, to provide flexibility for all.

The problem with this can be that employees do not know where they stand and if they have commitments such as family, mortgage etc will not know where the money is coming from week to week, you would have thought that this would create a problem, well a recent report conducted by the Chartered institute of Personal Development has suggested that employees on zero hours contracts seem to be happier that those on standard contracts.

So in the real world are they ok?

Well if you want the job you probably don't have the choice, as an example 90% of employees in McDonalds are on zero Hour contracts speak to them if possible, but employers such as Buckingham Palace, the Tate Galleries and National Trust also use the contract extensively, so they are not just confined to one sector.

The work still needs to be done and for some employees that ability to work long hours is very much a benefit, plus the additional flexibility.

What should you ask your employer?

What hours you can expect; you will need to speak to your employer and find out how they operate, what sort of notice will you receive on your working hours, week by week, day by day, also how much notice will you be given to stop work.

It seems that, while zero hour contracts are available to employers, one of the most contentious areas surrounds the notice periods employers give their employees, but all employers are different so you should seek clarity.

From an employer's perspective the contracts do provide a flexible labour market and in a lot of instances are very logical in their application to cope with fluctuating demand, it has also been argued that they are excellent in hiring students, such an arrangement can turn into permanent employment.

If you look to Europe, there is a great deal of envy that employers do not have such a contact, so it is good for the economy and business, the objective therefore is to ensure that workers are not exploited in any way, this will be the job of the government and I expect we will see some changes very soon.