Zero Hours Contract

A question about : Zero Hours Contract

Not sure that this is in the right place, but here goes anyway.....There is a possibility that when I take early retirement in April, that I may be offered a Zero hours contract.....these type of contracts don't appear to be very popular, but would suit me.....are there any pitfalls involved......the idea of flexible working appeals to me, and the extra cash will come in handy........any opinions welcome.......Jack

Best answers:

• They're not popular with some parts of the media because they perceive companies to be exploiting workers. With fewer hours you may have fewer employment rights and benefits than if you had a proper contract with set hours and a number of paid holidays and getting paid when sick etc. If your hours are fixed at zero and you have to be available for the work, and are not adequately compensated for that, then there is a potential to feel you're being exploited or taken advantage of. You would want to read the contract carefully to see what you're signing up to.
  That does not in itself mean that being able to work mutually agreed hours from week to week was somehow a bad idea or flawed. As you say, it's money you might not otherwise have, and the arrangement might suit you down to a tee.
  However, in terms of your rights and expectations you would want to weigh up what it means to be 'flexible working' on a contract that doesn't guarantee any hours, versus a part time contract for a fixed number of hours where you can get occasional overtime on top and be flexible about which specific hours you work. Different types of employment contracts can be different beasts and may come with different levels of financial reward, certainty, not to mention different levels of respect amongst the 'proper' permanent fulltime/ parttime workforce.
  Quote:
• O.k Thanks for that, perhaps someone can move this to the employment board......Zero hours would actually suit me, but I can see that for full-time employees then it would not be so appealing, as there would be no set hours, and probably no hours at all during slack times......I was going to go part time, but the nature of the job is such that it is on an ''as and when'' basis........Jack