The world of work would be better if…Precarious work was consigned to history

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The terms precarious and insecure employment are used to describe working situations that often display some key, atypical characteristics. While there is no single accepted definition, the most commonly referenced factors include low pay, poor worker protections and little job security. Uncertain, unpredictable, and risky for the worker, employment arrangements such as zero-hour, temporary work, cash-in-hand, agency, seasonal and those so called “self-employed” by the gig economy, can all be considered precarious [1].

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Due to there being no single accepted definition, the number of those in insecure or precarious work is difficult to measure, but estimates are mostly similar. TUC research places 3.6 million people in insecure work [1], the Living Wage Foundation 3.7 million [2] and the ONS 8.5% of the workforce [3]. Regardless of which classifications are used, a significant proportion of the workforce are facing unfavourable, and in some cases, exploitative working conditions.

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I will be focusing on zero-hour contracts alone, as discussing each employment type and the associated worker conditions in limited words would be a disservice to the scale of the problems in each.

The main feature in a zero-hours contract is the right for an employer to not have to give a minimum number of working hours to the employee, and the worker not having to accept any working hours offered. This is often the headline in promoting these contracts as flexibility for both worker and employer. However, the power in the relationship lies almost solely with the employer. While legally an employee may be able to reject shifts, in many cases there comes added implications and unfavourable treatment for doing so.

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"37% of UK Workers had less than a week’s notice of working hours"

-Living Wage Foundation

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From personal experience, I have seen workers turn down shifts then be guilt-tripped, emotionally manipulated and removed from consideration for upcoming shifts as punishment. While this isn’t indicative of every circumstance or workplace, it is a possibility that is enabled by the use of zero-hour contracts. The fact that earnings for the month are unpredictable and can be decided on a whim by a manager, doesn’t seem fair and especially so when you have dependants. Not having the security to be able to plan or even know what your financial or time commitments for the coming weeks will be, would leave me and many in a constant state of stress. The Living Wage Foundation found that 37% of UK Workers had less than a week’s notice of working hours [4] and that the short notice changes had a negative impact on respondents mental (42%) and physical (36%) health [2].

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Another issue is that as people aged 16-24 are the main group that are employed on zero-hour contracts [5], they are often the least versed in employment law and what rights they’re entitled to. This opens the door for exploitative practices as the workers are less equipped to push back.

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At HappyMaven we believe that a healthy and positive corporate culture is at the heart of every great business – when employees are empowered and supported in the workplace, everyone reaps the rewards. The future of work means moving beyond the transactional nature of precarious work – an investment in people is an investment in business.

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References.

1. TUC, 2021. Insecure work: Special edition of the TUC’s jobs and recovery monitor. Retrieved from https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-07/insecurework2.pdf

2. Living Wage Foundation, 2021. THE INSECURITY COMPLEX: LOW PAID WORKERS AND THE GROWTH OF INSECURE WORK. Retrieved from https://www.livingwage.org.uk/file/15319/download?token=fBbinCt7

3. ONS, 2020. Proportion of workers in insecure jobs by NUTS 2 region, UK, 2004 to 2019. Retrieved from https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/adhocs/12504proportionofworkersininsecurejobsbynuts2regionuk2004to2019

4. Living Wage Foundation, 2021. ALMOST TWO-FIFTHS OF WORKING ADULTS GIVEN LESS THAN A WEEK’S NOTICE OF WORKING HOURS. Retrieved from https://www.livingwage.org.uk/news/almost-two-fifths-working-given-less-weeks-notice-working-hours

5. Statista, 2021. Number of employees on a zero hours contract in the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2021, by age group. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/398509/number-of-employees-zero-hours-contracts-age/

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