0/short hour contracts

[Pienaar's gloves]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/argos-homebase-tesco-exploit-workers-3630972

I was just wondering what our opinions are on employers that dish out these contracts that guarantee their employees very little in terms of hours and holiday pay and expect a huge degree of flexibility.

I currently work in such a job whilst I study at uni and it doesn't bother me greatly at the moment, however in the year I spent between college and university to earn money I was often frustrated by my four hour contract meaning that some weeks I would work close to thirty hours and in others I would work closer to ten hours. It made my income fluctuate every month by quite some margin, and this must be a total pain for the majority of people who rely more heavily upon their job than I have done.

Or is it an ace way of helping part-time workers and keeping more people in work?

 

[Minimeister]

Working for the NHS they are great. The only people on them are people who are working elsewhere so do it for the extra cash while our wards get cover by using our own staff and not having to pay agency. I find the whole debate of 'are they a good thing or not' strange because in some cases they will be but in others not.

 

[Blue Cheese]

they are disgraceful, a sham and abhorrent. they expect people to basically be on 24hr call, they should be illegal an absolute fecking disgrace. I have first hand experience on how these can effect peoples day to day life and it's not fair. If you sign a contract you should know fundamentally 2 things...

1. Your wage

2. Your contracted hours without overtime.

i think they are a disgrace.

 

[Azzurri]

Depends whether employers abuse them or not really.



EDIT: And they generally do, to be honest.

 

[Blue Cheese]

Depends whether employers abuse them or not really.

so would you think that kind of system would be abused or not? not even open for debate of course it's abused, stands to reason tax n all that.

 

[Azzurri]

so would you think that kind of system would be abused or not? not even open for debate of course it's abused, stands to reason tax n all that.

Aye, I edited my post before that reply.

 

[Blue Cheese]

Aye, I edited my post before that reply.

haha I just noticed

 

[Kurt.]

My daughter, turned 16 in march ... She got herself a waitressing job for the summer now her exams have finished..... She gets a few shifts a week to be fair but the place she works at can phone up at anytime and call her in.... Other times she might not have work for weeks.... Swings and roundabouts really but a person should really be guaranteed a minimum number of hours work a week.

 

[Pienaar's gloves]

I tend to agree with the views expressed that they are negative. It is nigh upon impossible to plan your finances without an idea of how much money you can expect at the end of the month.

I am sometimes expected at ridiculous times and often for shifts that are so short that it was barely worth my paying for transport.

By the same token, a friend of mine from uni relies on her 0 hour contract at a convenience store because her commitments change from week to week. She would struggle to hold down a four hour contract during the weeks she is in placement and the 0 hour contract keeps her in a job.

 

[Tramps_mate]

My daughter, turned 16 in march ... She got herself a waitressing job for the summer now her exams have finished..... She gets a few shifts a week to be fair but the place she works at can phone up at anytime and call her in.... Other times she might not have work for weeks.... Swings and roundabouts really but a person should really be guaranteed a minimum number of hours work a week.

She is, she's guaranteed 0 hours per week. It sucks but that's how it goes.

0 hour contracts help companies massively. It's hard with seasonal trade patterns. Busy, then people get hours, quiet then it saves massive salary costs.

It needs to be juggled. Staff are un certain of hours, or a business wastes a fortune on wages when trade is low. I know it helped me with cost saving. BUT I do think 0 hours should be limited to only part time staff doing less than 15 hours a week, and maybe only under a certain age. But then again, do you say if you don't like it then don't take the job? But then it might be the only job available!

The only way it'll change, they will enforce mandatory hours being guaranteed but they will still only guarantee like 4 hours a week, so nothing will change really..

 

[roydo]

They can be great for both parties, IF they are used properly. Sadly, it appears that the dice is too much loaded in one direction in many cases.

Perhaps the old practice of having staff on "stand-by", coupled with a guaranteed number of hours/shifts would work a bit better. But like any employer/employee relationship, it has to a fair balance to both.

 

[Tramps_mate]

Yes, I tried to give all part timers the same hours if I had to reduce them periodically. I explained reasons and most were ok. I also however gave hours priority to full timers. Knowing part timers lived at home with parents and full timers had rents to pay etc. was it right? Who knows, but it seemed reasonable to me at the time..

 

[Baines' left foot]

Hate them. I had one at a restaurant once and it was a pain in the arse. They are very common in bar/restaurant jobs, where young people often get totally used by the employer. No breaks, no holidays, and you're expected to drop everything that you're doing in order to come in early/for another shift at a moments notice, and if you don't then you often get punished with reduced hours/shifts. Getting told to "take the rota with a pinch of salt as it changes daily" also.

 

[Titus Bramble]

I think it depends on how the employer handles it. In between finishing uni and getting a full time job, I had a 0 hour contract in a shop, as did everyone else who worked there. We were all given regular shifts but the nature of the contract meant that we could cancel (with enough notice) and there was always someone willing to cover. It worked for us, but everyone working at our place was either a student or retired looking for a bit of extra cash so weren't relying on it for rent etc. The only full timer was the boss.

 

[GwladysBlue]

I was on a zero hour contract in a pub by mine a couple of years back, it was a nightmare. I'd have a lot of hours one week and then when the weather turned bad I'd be written off for hours that I'd been promised in advance. Without calling me for a good three weeks I then got a phone call on FA Cup Final day ([Poor language removed] vs Chelsea) to see if I could come in, told them I quit. Landlady was a bitch too.