I spent the morning in Beckenham itself yesterday taking lunch with friends in Café Nero. In the evening we visited Hayes and then Shortlands. One person asked me about zero hours contracts and I have been asked about them several times over the last few days. Such working arrangements exist where an employer has discretion to vary employees’ working hours from full-time to nothing – thus the term zero hours contracts. At first sight I disliked the thought of zero hours contracts but I don’t think it is that simple.
When I investigated them further and to my surprise I discovered that several people I know well, students, have zero hours contracts. They get some paid employment, some experience and do not have to do it if studies are in the way. Their employer gets the flexibility to pull in staff when demand requires it and not to have to pay for them full-time. Another friend of mine, who was a head teacher, has told me that he could not have run his school without using supply teachers who are technically on zero hours contracts too. So such arrangements may suit some people although, obviously, not all.
Despite the apparent hullabaloo on the subject only about 2 per cent of the British workforce is actually on zero hours contracts. What worries me is the Labour Party’s insistence that zero hours contracts should end. To be honest I don’t see how, particularly in such industries as hospitality and tourism, where demand waxes and wanes depending on what is happening and the seasons. If zero hours contracts were abolished would a whole swathe of jobs go with them? I suspect they might; maybe better the devil we know and can reform a bit!