Zero-Hour Contracts

Britain had become one the world’s most profitable countries with spending increased by 20% during this period– even though the economic growth remained at just 3%.

The UK economy is constantly changing for various reasons such as improvement in medicine and increased globalisation leading to people living longer and the UK economy becoming more diverse culturally. Whether or not it provides an opportunity or a threat to a business will largely depend upon how the management of the business decides to attempt to change because of the change of the demographics.

The performance of the UK economy depends very much on the level of Aggregate demand within the economy. AD=C+I+G+(X-M). The UK economy can be judged by a number of key indicators mainly sustainable economic growth, low inflation (target 2%), a surplus on the

The recent job growth is impressive with an increase in 3.4% though the unemployment rate is still at 10% (U.S. average is 5.2%). With this recent increase, there is

These legislative standards provide a baseline that employers and employees cannot contract out of. A provision of an employment contract that provides for less generous treatment than that provided by applicable employment standards legislation will be unenforceable. The common law may entitle employees to more generous treatment than that provided under applicable

Workers will also work to the terms of a contract, they will usually carry out the work personally. Workers will include casual work, agency work, freelance work and seasonal work. Workers are entitled to some employment rights including, national minimum wage, holiday pay, protection against unlawful discrimination, the right not to be treated less favourably if they work part-time. See point 2 Appendix

I think that the United States could go to the six hour work day. People in the past have done it and it was a huge success. During the Industrial Revolution people had to work 11-12 hours each day with little pay. Later on in the 1900s, Henry Ford changed the work hours for his employees and they showed great amounts of success. Ford doubled their pay and they did the work 2 times faster and more efficiently.

Modernisation of the British economy was one of the key priorities for the Labour government. By 1964, it was widely accepted that Britain was lagging behind other countries such as West Germany and Japan. Britain’s economy seemed to be trapped in the cycle of “stop-go”, with

This paper focuses on the effect that temporary employment such as zero hour contracts have on the wellbeing of employees, it gives a brief definition of what a zero hour contract is, and how they have changed throughout the years eg how they were used in previous years before being called zero hour contracts, why the use of zero hour contracts is on the rise in the UK business market, and investigates the benefits and detriments of these contracts in regards to employees, it will also look at the financial benefits to the employers who use these contracts, and the type of culture that surrounds the employees who are employed on these contracts, It will also investigate what the

The United Kingdom is an island nation off the coast of the continent of Europe. The nation is comprised of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The Country has a total area of 93,628 square miles. The total a total population of the United Kingdom in 2015 was 65,092,000 people, which is comparable to its neighbor France. A majority of the population are located in urban areas, only 17% of the population live in rural areas. The average life expectancy for its citizens is 80 years (“United Kingdom” Encyclopedia). The nation has had a long journey after World War 2. During in which the government owned and operates many different companies. The United Kingdom’s economy was recovering a sluggish pace. In the 1970s the UK joined the European Economic Community which has assisted them in getting them to where they are now. In addition the election of Margaret Thatcher as the prime minister in 1979, who ushered in capitalist polices which have shaped the United Kingdom’s modern economy. Arguably without Margaret Thatcher’s polices and admission in the European Economic Community the United Kingdom may still be trying to recover from World War 2.

This paper focuses on the effect that temporary employment such as zero hour contracts have on the wellbeing of employees, it gives a brief definition of what a zero hour contract is, and how they have changed throughout the years eg how they were used in previous years before being called zero hour contracts, why the use of zero hour contracts is on the rise in the UK business market, and investigates the benefits and detriments of these contracts in regards to employees, it will also look at the financial benefits to the employers who use these contracts, and the type of culture that surrounds the employees who are employed on these contracts, It will also investigate

The “Great Recession” is commonly used to explain the massive economic contraction that occurred in the United States during the fourth quarter of 2007. However, the actions of the United States spanned to other nations, leaving massive effect on the global economy. One nation that took on serious financial burden during this recession was the United Kingdom. This nation first faced the effects of the Great Recession beginning in the first quarter of 2008. Overall, the initial mass effects on the nation can be attributed to the nation’s reliance on the financial sector. In fact, after partially stabilizing in 2009, the country struggled with a double-dip recession between 2010-12, and continues to struggle with some of these effects.

A major advantage to the employer is the increasing power that he/she gains over the employees with zero hour contracts (Griffin, 2013). Thirdly, it is to a great extend the best backup plan to a sudden change and the solution to last-minute events (Pyper and Dar, 2015). It is also the resolution to temporary employees’ shortages (Hotel Industry Magazine, 2014). Other than that, zero-hour contract gives the employer the opportunity to employ more, which results to producing more (Hotel Industry Magazine, 2014). Due to cheap labor, it allows the coverage of various geographical locations at the same time (Freeman, 2015). This means more supply, which equals more profit. Before changes in the organisational behavior, elders were not allowed to work, which meant that their skills would not be used (Norton Rose Fulbright, 2013). However, with zero hour contracts, elders’ skills are retained and employers can benefit from their experiences (Shoesmith, 2015). In many cases, zero hour contracts employ a pool of trained and talented staff who know how the business cooperates and its procedures (Shoesmith, 2015). Consequently, this type of contracts is profitable to the employers. With this being said, zero hour contracts have no disadvantages on employers.

However, even though UK spots a positive GDP annual growth rate since 2010, unemployment remained high. Please refer to Appendix F.

The economic reforms initiated by Prime Minister Margret Thatcher since 1980’s has made the United Kingdom record steady economic growth in the 1990s. However, successive Labour governments increased government spending significantly. Since 2010, the government upheld austerity as the principal of its economic policy. In 2014, the country recorded its strongest economic growth since 2007 of 2.387 trillion dollars with GDP per capita at 39,350.64 dollars. The GDP increased significantly because of the enhanced performance of the construction, manufacturing, and services sectors. Retail sales also increased with unemployment relatively at lowest