any hope zero hour contracts will end soon?

mustang121

It sounds like urine poor management of people. If a manager cannot forecast ratio of work load and number of staff required to complete.


A competent manager should be able to phone a employee in advance as to whether there is work available.


Zero-Hour contracts should be scrapped....hmm what exactly is the difference between Flexi time and Zero Hour? I thought Flexi time was used in admin type jobs when work loads altered?

moneyistooshorttomention

I guess it doesn't matter what name employers like these call things or how accurate the name is...the game is still the same.

I must admit I hadn't realised that these zero hours contracts have just got even worse. I did think that these employers at least gave advance notice of whether an employee was required or no...and not expect them to turn up for work on the off chance. I wouldn't expect to turn up on off chance even if the job was literally bang next door to my home (never mind if I had to spend time and money getting to it).

This is like something from the history books resurrected. I understand that early 20th century dockers used to have to turn up for work on the off chance and might or might not get given work that day.

How humiliating as well to be made to feel like you are begging for work. Shades of Oliver Twist "Please guv'nor give us a few hours work today...please guv" (complete with your cap in your hand presumably and a pleading look on your face).:shocked:

EDIT: I didn't know the Government had changed it from 3 "waiting days" to 7 before benefit could be claimed. Do you have a link to information on that?

anamenottaken

mustang121 wrote: »

I thought Flexi time was used in admin type jobs when work loads altered?

In my experience, flexi-time is where there are agreed hours per week. There are core hours - say 10 an to 4 pm - and where the employee has flexibility on when the remainder of their contracted hours are carried out (within, say, 8 am to 7 pm).

Denning.

sniggings wrote: »

sorry but are you really suggestion that a government, either Labour or tory have given the employee such power, as to tell the employer when they wish to work.

I think zero contracts are what they say on the tin, they can offer you zero hours any time they wish, before the rule was a contract had to state a number of hours a week the contract was for.

Zero hour contracts aren't prescribed by law, they exist because no law bans them and they serve a purpose. One of the original purposes was that it gave employees power to pick and choose when they worked. This doesn't work well in low paid jobs because employees are easily replaceable.

In more skilled jobs it works better as the employer can't always just hire someone else.

sniggings

Denning. wrote: »

Zero hour contracts aren't prescribed by law, they exist because no law bans them and they serve a purpose. One of the original purposes was that it gave employees power to pick and choose when they worked. This doesn't work well in low paid jobs because employees are easily replaceable.

In more skilled jobs it works better as the employer can't always just hire someone else.

exactly, I have just read this report http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&ved=0CFgQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parliament.uk%2Fbriefing-papers%2Fsn06553.pdf&ei=Sgy8UpWvKu7T7Aazk4B4&usg=AFQjCNE5AQCKMBjbunq0Rbzj6qLX1s2ZoA&sig2=fsJYgonyKXNSYi3U_jgfxw

it seems that they were intended for is being abused imo if the government or anyone thought they would not be abused then they are daft, yes if you listen to the government spin on zero hours then the job I was being interviewed for were misusing the term, but what is the government doing to stop that? nothing at all, which means the tax payer is footing the bill for people like me, that wants to work but doesn't want to work for emplyers that "misuse" zero hour contracts.

The government has admitted that turning down a zero hour contract is not grounds for a sanction, which is good but it also shows they se these "jobs" as not worth much.

sniggings

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

EDIT: I didn't know the Government had changed it from 3 "waiting days" to 7 before benefit could be claimed. Do you have a link to information on that?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23058853

(hope no one saw my CA link )

GothicStirling

I think zero contract hours are here to stay, sad to say.

Nebulous2

Zero hours contracts have existed for many years. They just weren't called that. I have spent most of my life working in care jobs and there have been 'relief' or 'bank' jobs as long as I can remember.

They were, and often still are, used in a way which suits both employer and employee. Students picking up shifts at evenings, holidays and weekends for instance, where they earned some money and the employer got someone to do shifts that could be difficult to fill. What you are describing doesn't make any sense to me - turning up before you know if you are going to get work? I'm more familiar with phoning a long list of relief staff to try and persuade someone to take the shift! We couldn't negotiate on the hourly rate but could be creative about adding something to make it more worthwhile, a run home when finishing late for instance.

moneyistooshorttomention

sniggings wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23058853

(hope no one saw my CA link )

Thanks.

All I can see is the BBC article.

Crikey...that 7 day thing is there then and it went "straight past my nose". Whew....having been unemployed myself, I know the idea of being expected to live on thin air for 3 days was bad enough..but a whole week:eek: If someone becomes unemployed then they are likely to be in shock anyway (my periods of unemployment were quite some time ago now...but I was certainly in shock/denial/anger at the thought that something that would "never happen to me" had indeed happened to me somehow) and I don't think I was in a fit state to even start seriously looking for jobs for the first week. I needed that benefit to start up as fast as possible to help keep me functioning whilst I got over the shock and then started applying for jobs.

moneyistooshorttomention

Nebulous2 wrote: »

Zero hours contracts have existed for many years. They just weren't called that. I have spent most of my life working in care jobs and there have been 'relief' or 'bank' jobs as long as I can remember.

They were, and often still are, used in a way which suits both employer and employee. Students picking up shifts at evenings, holidays and weekends for instance, where they earned some money and the employer got someone to do shifts that could be difficult to fill. What you are describing doesn't make any sense to me - turning up before you know if you are going to get work? I'm more familiar with phoning a long list of relief staff to try and persuade someone to take the shift! We couldn't negotiate on the hourly rate but could be creative about adding something to make it more worthwhile, a run home when finishing late for instance.

That much is true, but it would appear that the only people who did casual work in the past were casual workers and not people who expect a Proper (fixed) Job (be it part-time or full-time).

It does rather look as if a lot of Proper Job people are now also looking at these casual jobs in lieu of their Proper Jobs.

More to the point, my suspicion is that a lot of employers are getting people along to interviews on false pretences (ie by implying the job on offer is a Proper Job) and they only find out once they get there that its only casual work.