Chance for job at KFC

tomtontom

mattcanary wrote: »

How about you stop your benefits bashing for just one day?


Particularly when you have proposed that you are socialist leaning in the past.

I have encouraged the OP to claim benefits where he needs to. I assume you just revert to calling people benefit bashers when you have nothing useful to contribute?

I do wish you well with your new job, with the chip on your shoulder I fear you are going to need it.

mattcanary

tomtontom wrote: »

I have encouraged the OP to claim benefits where he needs to. I assume you just revert to calling people benefit bashers when you have nothing useful to contribute?

I do wish you well with your new job, with the chip on your shoulder I fear you are going to need it.

You haven't answered my statement about how the benefits system can't cope with people working in insecure jobs, on highly variable hours through working on a zero-based hours contract. Why should someone subject themselves to the threat of homelessness based upon this entirely possible scenario?


Out of interest, do you agree with zero hours contracts?
Do you think they should be outlawed?

topdaddy_2

topaztiger1983 wrote: »

Because the catering industry very often use ZHC's nowadays so you see that is the standard in the industry at the moment

Because its suits the employeer and employee. Business patterns arent flat in this industry. The shift patterns will reflect this.

mattcanary

topdaddy wrote: »

Because its suits the employeer and employee. Business patterns arent flat in this industry. The shift patterns will reflect this.

Doesn't suit the employee - in most cases

topdaddy_2

mattcanary wrote: »

Doesn't suit the employee - in most cases

You are speaking for a lot of people. Was there a ballot or are you self appointed?

mattcanary

topdaddy wrote: »

You are speaking for a lot of people. Was there a ballot or are you self appointed?

How can it suit employees when they don't know what they will be earning from one week to the next, with little to no control as to when and how much they will be working, nor upon the quality of their work affecting their level of pay one way or the other?


If shift patterns aren't flat, then employers should employ more people to cover peak periods, than they do to cover quieter periods (on proper hourly contracts). They can also use overtime.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

gettingready wrote: »

Seriously - biking 10 miles in cold/rain/dark? As no buses after 11:30 I assume this is quite rural so dangerous in several ways.

Cycling is perfectly safe. The OP will need to ensure he has lights on the bike and wears high-viz but seriously - there is no harm in cycling on country roads in the dark (and you are making quite an assumption that the whole journey is in the dark).

Cold - cycling will warm a person up and rain - wear waterproofs.

But then - some people would rather make excuses than work for a living

EDIT: Congrats on taking the job. I started cycling about three months ago to travel to and from work and I love it. I've recently done a 40 mile cycle for pleasure and am applying for the London - Brighton. You might find you're developing a brand new hobby

suki1964

mattcanary wrote: »

How can it suit employees when they don't know what they will be earning from one week to the next, with little to no control as to when and how much they will be working, nor upon the quality of their work affecting their level of pay one way or the other?


If shift patterns aren't flat, then employers should employ more people to cover peak periods, than they do to cover quieter periods (on proper hourly contracts). They can also use overtime.

As I've replied on this thread before as a zero hour employee in the catering industry I feel I can answer

Catering is not only extremely heavy work, it's also very poorly paid. It's near on impossible to get good staff who are prepared to take a job that will only be for a few hours a week. So most employers work with the minimum staff required to manage the quiet hours and months,increasing their hours as required during the busy times.

This means in an establishment such as where I work no one is laid off at the end of the season, there will always be hours somewhere, covering holidays and sickness, being called in to cater for big parties etc

The only members of our kitchen staff that is on guaranteed hours is the head chef and head kitchen porter, myself and the other chef are on zero hours (as are the dishwashers) This week we are getting plenty of hours as we will next week. My employers are happy that they have reliable trustworthy staff to cover the extra needed hours and can afford to pay slightly higher wages and be able to give bonuses as well as pay our stamp,sick and holiday pay. But they cannot afford to be paying staff to be in work when there is not enough work for them.

Yes our hours may slack off in October/November , but then we start the Christmas period and it's all hands to the deck till the middle of Jan

In catering you really do need the attitude that you make it while it's going. You take whatever shifts are offered and whatever stations are needing covering

mattcanary

suki1964 wrote: »

As I've replied on this thread before as a zero hour employee in the catering industry I feel I can answer

Catering is not only extremely heavy work, it's also very poorly paid. It's near on impossible to get good staff who are prepared to take a job that will only be for a few hours a week. So most employers work with the minimum staff required to manage the quiet hours and months,increasing their hours as required during the busy times.

This means in an establishment such as where I work no one is laid off at the end of the season, there will always be hours somewhere, covering holidays and sickness, being called in to cater for big parties etc

The only members of our kitchen staff that is on guaranteed hours is the head chef and head kitchen porter, myself and the other chef are on zero hours (as are the dishwashers) This week we are getting plenty of hours as we will next week. My employers are happy that they have reliable trustworthy staff to cover the extra needed hours and can afford to pay slightly higher wages and be able to give bonuses as well as pay our stamp,sick and holiday pay. But they cannot afford to be paying staff to be in work when there is not enough work for them.

Yes our hours may slack off in October/November , but then we start the Christmas period and it's all hands to the deck till the middle of Jan

In catering you really do need the attitude that you make it while it's going. You take whatever shifts are offered and whatever stations are needing covering

Perhaps it suits you.


But surely if the company paid a better rate (if only on temporary contracts), then they would get more interest from people to do the work? Or are the company's profit margins too low?


Perhaps it is a sad indictment of society and everyone wanting to pay as little as they can get away with for everything.


But I can't see this as a very good way to ear a living? Nor is it very good if a company is scraping by in this manner.


How many hours do you normally work a week at the moment?
Or even in such a busy period, does the number of hours you work each week vary considerably?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

mattcanary wrote: »

Perhaps it suits you.


But surely if the company paid a better rate (if only on temporary contracts), then they would get more interest from people to do the work? Or are the company's profit margins too low?


Perhaps it is a sad indictment of society and everyone wanting to pay as little as they can get away with for everything.


But I can't see this as a very good way to ear a living? Nor is it very good if a company is scraping by in this manner.


How many hours do you normally work a week at the moment?
Or even in such a busy period, does the number of hours you work each week vary considerably?

You clearly know Sweet Fanny Adams about business if you think companies that utilise ZHC's are "scraping by". Nor if you think people wanting to get away with paying as little as possible is a bad thing.

Do you volunteer money out of your pay every week/month to HMRC? No. Nor do I. I want to minimise my financial liability. So do companies. Nowt wrong with that.

The OP has found a job in an economically depressed part of the country, and a few on here try to knock him back and tell him not to take if because it's a ZHC. Good on him. The benefits system is there (as it is designed to) to support him if he can't get enough working hours to support him.

What the job offer does do is get him out there, improving his self esteem and maybe just getting himself noticed. My first job was a ZHC in a call centre. It wasn't great but it was work. I stuck at it and swore it was my "foot in the door" moment. I'm now doing well for myself in a recognised profession earning a hell of a lot more than I did in my first job. And I couldn't have done any of it if I'd turned it down because a ZHC wasn't good enough for me.

Shame on you for knocking the OP for trying to better himself.