RAW DEAL FOR GRADUATES DOING SHOP WORK AND WAITING TABLES
Thousands of graduates are complaining they are being ripped off by so-called ‘zero-hours’ contracts, where employers expect them to be available for shifts – but have no obligation to give them any work at all.
The contracts have become especially common in low-paid jobs in the retail and hospitality industries, where many graduates have found themselves working as they struggle to secure a well-paid graduate role where their degree is valued.
And fears are growing that Britain is developing a generation of “precarious” young workers, doing part-time or casual work because they can’t find permanent, full-time work. In these roles, they often find themselves with low pay, few rights, little protection – and no stability.
One young man, working on a zero-hours contract at McDonald’s, told Newsnight that he has different hours from one week to the next – and is sometimes given his shifts late on Sunday night for Monday morning. He said:
“Some weeks you’ll get more hours than you can work, on days that you can’t work – and some weeks you’ll be desperately looking for extra shifts because you’ve got no money. The only people who have contracted hours are the managers who are salaried – the senior ones.
“There is no law preventing zero hours contracts, but there should be. They’re not fair – they’re not right. They’re exploitative. The free market is for companies, not for us. I’m not free.”
Yet McDonald’s insisted that said the majority of their staff are employed on an hourly basis, telling Newsnight:
“This suits the majority of our employees, since they are looking for shift patterns which give them flexibility to fit paid work around study, childcare and other commitments.”
It seems that the growth of these contracts is connected to the recession, as employers seek new ways to take on staff cheaply without any commitment.
According to the Office of National Statistics, the number of people on zero hours contracts has more than doubled since 2005 – and now 161,000 people are employed in zero-hours jobs. Usually, they are classed under by data collectors as ’employed’ – even if they are doing only one or two hours’ work a week.
As the latest unemployment figures – released last week – looked suspiciously good, serious questions were being asked about the type of work that people are doing. The Evening Standard’s business editor James Ashton suggested that the true picture of employment in Britain was being obscured by the number people who are part-time or self-employed. He wrote:
“Falling unemployment, now at the lowest level in a year, doesn’t tally with a weakening economy… Economists talk about the “casualisation of the workforce”, which makes the trend sound like a permanent dress-down Friday, but it is far more serious than that…
“All the talk of rebalancing the economy has given way to fashioning a recovery at all costs. If that means jobs of any sort, fine… But part-time pay means part-time spending – hardly enough to get tills ringing for struggling retailers, who are, of course, some of the biggest employers of part-time labour…
“A recent analysis by my colleague, the economist David Blanchflower, writing in The Independent, found that the swelling ranks of the self-employed are not necessarily good news either. You might think the extra 200,000 people working for themselves represents a rebirth of the entrepreneurial spirit that Britain is craving. However, many are forcibly self-employed after being made redundant.
“One-third of that figure is part-time, mainly women, engaged in paid chores such as cleaning and childcare. Instead of striking out on their own, it looks as though they are being forced to take on menial, low- paid work in lieu of anything better. Once again, it is the quality of the job that comes under scrutiny rather than the size of the overall workforce.”
For employers, zero-hours contracts offer the best of both worlds: immediate access to labour should they need it – but no obligation to use those workers should they find they don’t. But to Graduate Fog – and many employees – zero-hours contracts seem to be a very raw deal indeed.
*HAVE YOU WORKED ON A ZERO-HOURS CONTRACT?
Or been offered one, but declined? What do you think of this kind of arrangement? Is it fair that employees are expected to be available for shifts – but that their employer has no responsibility to give them any work at all? Should zero-hours contracts be made illegal? Or is some work better than none?
I work a “Zero Contract hour” job, working with disabled students to enable them to attend university, I have had this job since 2009 and despite attending many Job interviews I am unable to get a new job since graduation in 2010.
I love my job as i like to work with people and I enjoy helping people however even with a good employer I find it very stressful and demoralizing at times.Sometimes I am lucky and have 45 + hours a week other times such as holidays,reading weeks est I have no hours at all , and for four months in the summer i am totally unemployed, leaving me either on JB or working in temp office jobs, i am extremely frustrated that despite graduating in psychology, volunteering on weekends and wanting to help vulnerable students i am stuck in a job that offers no holiday pay, no future development and wages that would make people on benefits LOL…Something needs to change.
I work for a think tank. We’re doing some research on zero hours contracts and looking to interview people who work or have worked on zero hours contracts. If you’re interested in raising the profile of this issue, please get in touch at vidhya.alakeson at resolutionfoundation.org. Thanks.
Hi all
Anyone doing a zero hours contract right now? Would you consider speaking to the fabulous Laura Kuenssberg, at the ITV News at Ten for a story on tonight’s programme? If so, please email laura.kuenssberg@ itn.co.uk ASAP!
Can be anonymous if you prefer
Thanks!
Tanya
When is a job not a job? The rise of ‘zero hours’ contracts
http://www.itv.com/news/2013-04-02/when-is-a-job-not-a-job-the-rise-of-zero-hours-contracts/
Great article by ITN’s Laura Kuenssberg
I am a barrister who has just completed a dissertation on employment contracts and how firms are or could be acting unlawfully. It suggests ways of fighting against employers who are either using zero hour contracts or are giving employees normal contracts of a few hours but working them more than the contract states, but when it comes to paying holiday pay the employer only pays the hours stipulated in the contract. This is allowed because of a case called Bamsey v Albon Engineering 2004. My paper believes the case was wrongly decided and sets out how this decision may be overturned. If you wish to have a copy in approx one month please email me on legalstuff@live.co.uk.
Hi all,
I’ve returned to the controversial subject of zero hours contracts in a new debate post on Graduate Fog…
Should I sign a zero hours contract?
https://graduatefog.co.uk/2013/2673/should-i-sign-a-zero-hours-contract/
If you still feel strongly about zero hours contracts, now’s your chance to have your say – and give advice to anyone thinking of signing one…
Thanks!
Tanya
My son who is 16 years old was taken on at the same nursing home as I work on zero contract just before Christmas he was given quite a lot of hours leading up to Christmas then in the new year he had another 12 hours work since then hes had another12 hours work and we are now in August and that’s it hes finished school and starts college in sept and is now looking for work as hes at home with nothing to do, you wouldn’t mind but he was only getting the minimum wage of 3.75 ph because of his age a complete rip off this government should stop these companies getting away with cheap labour
I left one care company because of the 0 contract hours but was reduced to no hours at all because i wouldn’t let them walk all over me, i am a middle age woman and left that company to go straight into the same thing of not worse with another care company, they have given me 4 hours work in 3 months, there has been no explanation to why i feel like im not employed by them anymore, none of my calls or emails or voicemails have been returned or answered, i think its an absolute disgrace that because of this 0 contact hours that these companies can treat you with absolutely no
respect! There should be a law to protect us.
Hi guys, seen today’s news? We’re discussing the impact here – chip in if you have a sec!
* UPDATE: 25 JUNE 2014 *
Business secretary Vince Cable has today moved to ban ‘exclusivity’ clauses in zero-hours contracts, which have tied desperate workers to one employer, even when that employer won’t guarantee them any work at all. It’s a start, but critics say the move doesn’t go far enough, as workers on zero-hours contracts are still given too little notice about when their shifts are to enable them to plan their time properly. What do you think? Is this change enough to help you — or do the rules need to be even tougher to keep employers from taking advantage?
The UK is an absolute mess.
The government wonders why people are uemployed nobody in the right mind is going to put up with this crap how the hell can you live when they keep bumping prices up but dont bump wages up enough. Surely if you have 0 hours contract its up to yourself if you take the hours or get another part-time job what are they going to do sign on when you have not got any hours one week.
I had a 6 hour contracted and that was nearly as bad i felt like i was on call 7 days a week mostly waiting for them to call me in.
“I had a 6 hour contracted and that was nearly as bad i felt like i was on call 7 days a week mostly waiting for them to call me in.”
I had the same experience with temping. Would never do it again.
I have been on a zero hours contract for the last 8 months . I have been doing the same days and same hours every week for this duration . Am i entitled to any rights as i have now been told i am no longer needed as they have got permanent people in to cover shifts but i need to stay on till the new permanent staff can start. Do i have any legal rights over this matter??
@Pat
If you’ve been doing the same days and hours for the past 8 months, then I would say you have a strong case to argue that you have an implied contract of employment for those hours.
You will definitely be considered a worker, but whether you are considered an employee is what matters.
I would recommend you speak to a solicitor, Citizen’s Advice Bureaux or (as a last resort) the Pay and Work Rights Helpline in order to determine whether you have a case. If you do, take them to a tribunal.
I have been reading up on Zero Hour Contracts because of something that I have noticed with a particular agency in a particular warehouse in Peterborough which my little brother is currently employed at (on a Zero Hours Contract).
If you think your Zero Hour Contract of Employment is bad, you should consider this. Employment agencies are all about making the most money possible without spending much, same as any business really, however they use some tactics which I’m sure are illegal. Large corporations or Employment Law solicitors will probably already know that companies are given various Tax Reliefs for simply having a certain amount of employees on the books, and I’m convinced that this is what the agency that I am talking about is doing. The reason I think this is as follows (keep in mind this is not an isolated incident, and both me and my younger brother have fallen victim to this before through the same company).
He was on JSA, and was FORCED by his advisor to apply for agency work with Blue Arrow at the DHL Debenhams warehouse in Peterborough. He applied, got the job, and went for training. We have both worked there before so the training and induction was easy enough for him. Since completing his training he has been given 1 shift in 2 weeks so far, and just been told that there is yet another week where they have no work for him. However they are still continuing with the recruitment process, his friend has literally just started training there today.
I am convinced that they are hiring people on zero hour contracts JUST to claim the tax relief from having a large number of employees on the books. When I worked there I was informed by the management staff OF DEBENHAMS THEMSELVES that I was going to be taken on to work directly for the company. TWICE! And both times after I was given the application forms I was sacked by the agency (first with Single Resource, then with Blue Arrow) without even a last shift, it was a case of get home after that shift, start filling out application forms, receive text saying that they cannot give me any more shifts.
My brothers Job Centre advisor told him to sign straight off after his first week of training, not allowing him to sign until he receives his first wage (which you are actually advised to do under JSA Policy, especially when on low or zero hour contracts) and actually told him that technically it would be benefit fraud for him to keep signing on. He has yet to receive any pay for his training AND his one and only shift. I’m considering trying to take the legal route to expose this issue, but wouldn’t have a clue where to begin and have actually been advised by Citizens Advice that it would cost more money than it is worth to begin legal proceedings.
You think random shift patterns and occasional no-work weeks are bad? Consider not even being paid for work you’ve done, and having your name used to give a company tax reliefs while your sitting at home with no money, no work, and needing to go back to the Job Centre to try to explain all this where we are almost certain he will be called a liar and treated like a criminal (has happened to me on many occasion). They tried forcing me to work there too, but luckily for me I know my rights and I’m a very fast thinker so was able to argue that it violates my right to Free Choice of Employment, and Just and Favourable Working Conditions. I’m thinking about starting a blog to publicise my experience with questionable employment practices, it might help a few people out…
@David
Thanks for your comment. I’m keen to hear more – I’ve just emailed you so look out for the message, in case it’s been sent to your Spam by accident?
Thanks again
Tanya de Grunwald
Founder, Graduate Fog
I need help i got a zero hour contract i work all over xmas thinking i wood get double time but this morning i come to find out i dont get any extra is this law now