What is Zero Hour Contracts?

A zero hour contract basically refers to non-legal casual agreements between an employer and an employee. In general terms, zero hour contracts don’t have any guaranteed hours of work, but when any work or assignment arises, the employer can assign a zero hour contract to the employee. Regardless the hours of contract, the employee is entitled to receive the National Minimum Wage.

A zero hour contract can sometimes be devastating for any employee’s progression of their career.  Zero-hours contracts do not guarantee a minimum number of hours – meaning the worker is effectively “on call” to work as and when they’re needed. The work offered is unstable with no long-term guarantee of hours or future employment. And this can be a major challenge to career progression.

It's been contended that zero-hours contracts are utilized generally by those in full-time instruction alongside semi-retirees. Yet, figures show that over 23% of individuals on zero-hours contracts have worked for their manager for over five years

No Training or Development for the Employees

Zero-hours contracts are not planned in view of preparing and improvement in light of the fact that the labourers are viewed as impermanent – required just when essential. So the chances to take on additional obligations – which are applicable for any profession movement – are not made accessible to labourers.

Those on zero-hours contract are frequently given insignificant preparing and some are approached to pay for their preparation themselves. This absence of preparing and improvement confines the sorts of occupations labourers can do and restricts their decisions. So independent of the time span an individual has been working with a business, they gain no headway, as clarified by one individual we met:

According to the UK Government The number of people working on a zero-hours contract has increased by 358% since 2012 – and represents almost 3% of the UK workforce.

Benefits for the employees pursuing a zero hour contract.

Zero hours contracts are helpful where work requests are irregular or where there is definitely not a consistent interest for staff. Zero hours agreements can likewise give a degree of adaptability to the person, which permits them to work around different responsibilities like examination or childcare

For example, seasonal demands such as leisure, restaurants or hotel industry, when the season is good and the demand is massive, companies look to hire more employees to meet the demands hence people pursuing the zero hour contract has a handful of job opportunities in their sight.

Wedding venues, bars or restaurants sometimes have special demands and they can’t meet the expectations, employees get a lot of zero hour contracts and it can be a win-win situation for both the parties.

Contracts provided by the employer should be clear and easy to understand, the complications and implications of the contract and what it means to them. More information can be found on Employment contract guideline. Those who wants to work on zero hour contract, employers must provide clear insight of what their job responsibilities and duties would be, as they might be a student, a mother or someone has another job. Giving clear instructions and hours can be very crucial for them.

Taking zero hour contracts can provide amazing benefits to individuals who want to get a foot on the door of a company that they dreamt of working on. Making you known to an environment before considering whether they want to work with people or the working environment, it provides them a healthy time and place to consider about their future. They can make the most of their flexible hours and can judge their future by themselves. It is also a very good chance to know their colleagues and management before committing to their full time career.

Another upsides of zero hour contracts could be that, as there are no set hours, one can pick extra busy hours as they become available, so if one needs extra money for whatever reasons such a medical care or tuition fees, one can pick up busy hours at any retail and earn some extra money, or work twice the hours can earn more money than they previous month.

All in all, saying all this, like everything in this world has a black and white side to it. Just like zero hour contracts has negative impacts on one’s career, but it can also enhance and help one individual to have a clear insight of their future or about their company, earn some extra money during the busy seasons and can think with a clear head whether he wants to work their permanently or not.