CIPD issues guidance on ‘unfairly demonised’ zero-hours contracts
26 November 2013
The zero-hour employment contract has been “unfairly demonised”, finds the CIPD, although it still notes concerns over the matter and has issued guidance on their use.
Tue, 26 Nov 2013The zero-hour employment contract has been “unfairly demonised”, finds the CIPD, although it still notes concerns over the matter and has issued guidance on their use.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s report, ‘Zero-hours contracts: myth and reality’, which surveyed 2,500 workers and 1,000 employers, saw 60% of workers on zero-hours contracts satisfied with their job, against 59% across the workforce.
And the organisation also says its survey confirms as correct its suggestion made in August that around 1m people in the UK were employed on these contracts.
CIPD chief executive officer Peter Cheese says: “The emphasis should be on improving management practice and enforcing existing regulation first, rather than bringing in new legislation which would be extremely hard to do without unintended consequences.
Recruitment & Employment Confederation director of policy Tom Hadley agrees with this ‘no regulation’ approach, saying: “The focus for government must be to ensure that workers have the right skills and awareness to progress within the jobs market – whatever the type of contract they are on.”
Cheese adds: “The reality of today’s globally competitive economy and increasingly complex and age diverse workforce is that flexibility is here to stay.”
However, the CIPD does identify areas of poor practice, albeit sometimes only in isolation. There is confusion among staff and employers as to their rights, while one in five zero-hours workers say they are penalised for not being available to work.
Together with law firm Lewis Silkin, the CIPD has published new guidance on legal matters around zero-hours working. And it has made recommendations including:
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s report, ‘Zero-hours contracts: myth and reality’, which surveyed 2,500 workers and 1,000 employers, saw 60% of workers on zero-hours contracts satisfied with their job, against 59% across the workforce.
And the organisation also says its survey confirms as correct its suggestion made in August that around 1m people in the UK were employed on these contracts.
CIPD chief executive officer Peter Cheese says: “The emphasis should be on improving management practice and enforcing existing regulation first, rather than bringing in new legislation which would be extremely hard to do without unintended consequences.
Recruitment & Employment Confederation director of policy Tom Hadley agrees with this ‘no regulation’ approach, saying: “The focus for government must be to ensure that workers have the right skills and awareness to progress within the jobs market – whatever the type of contract they are on.”
Cheese adds: “The reality of today’s globally competitive economy and increasingly complex and age diverse workforce is that flexibility is here to stay.”
However, the CIPD does identify areas of poor practice, albeit sometimes only in isolation. There is confusion among staff and employers as to their rights, while one in five zero-hours workers say they are penalised for not being available to work.
Together with law firm Lewis Silkin, the CIPD has published new guidance on legal matters around zero-hours working. And it has made recommendations including:
- Firms should examine and regularly review the appropriateness of zero-hours contracts are for the nature of their work – something recently done by Allied Healthcare
- Unless there is a clear business reason, firm’s should not restrict staff from working for other companies
- Workers should be compensated for travel and paid for an hour if their work is cancelled at the last minute
- Pay equity between zero-hours and other staff when doing equivalent work. Zero-hours pay is lower than for other staff according to one in five of these staff and one in 10 employers
- Line managers should be trained to understand the particulars of the zero-hour employment relationship
- Separately, HR leader Norman Pickavance is also undertaking a study of the controversial contracts, commissioned by the Labour party.
