The objective of the Employment Rights Bill suggests that the use of zero-hours contracts should provide a degree of flexibility to both employers and workers/employees. Dr Michael Koch (Brunel University London) and Professor Sarah Park (University of Leicester) submitted written evidence in response to the “Make Work Pay: Employment Rights Bill” call by the Business and Trade Committee.
This call for written evidence aims to determine the impact that the areas covered by the Employment Rights Bill will have on small, medium, and large businesses. It also seeks to answer the question of what effects these measures will have on staff retention, hiring practices, probationary periods, wages, and worker protections.
The key challenges mentioned by Dr Koch and Prof Park include the following:
- The increased cost of using zero-hours contracts could deter companies from using such contracts. As a consequence, some of these companies may reduce the size of their workforce.
- The proposed legislation improves income security for those who benefit from guaranteed hours, but it might also result in fewer hires for many companies.
- The researchers emphasise that the proposed legislation needs to strike a careful balance between securing important employee rights and maintaining employer flexibility.
The key recommendations include:
- An employer must make a guaranteed hour offer only when a corresponding request is made by a worker.
- The length of the reference period for determining guaranteed hours should be at least 6 months.
- An offer of guaranteed hours that reflects the number of hours worked during a reference period should be based on average hours worked, adjustable upwards or downwards by a fixed percentage of average hours worked.
- The guaranteed hours offer specifies a set number of hours to be worked per week but does not determine the date, time, or working pattern.
- A reasonable notice of a shift should be at least one week. A reasonable notice of cancellation or change to a shift should be at least 48 hours.
- For shifts that are cancelled, curtailed, or moved with less than 48 hours’ (but more than 24 hours’) notice, half of the remuneration the worker would have received from working the shift should be paid. For shifts cancelled, curtailed, or moved with 24 hours’ notice or less, the full remuneration the worker would have received from working the shift should be paid.
Read the full evidence here.