What do Zero Hour Jobs tell us?
Eight hours days, five days a week. These were the norm till relatively recently and enabled people to organize care for their children around their work schedule but this seems to no longer be on offer. But only young adults with no family responsibilities can consider working 12 hour shifts and cope up at the same time with unpredictable work patterns. Hence the need to tempt young people from Eastern Europe to whom the wages offered here sound pretty good but that is only till they know the reality of the cost of living.
Are companies really failing at predicting the staffing levels they need and how they offer regular work on permanent contracts or is this just a way to circumvent holiday and sickness pay? Some companies seem to believe they get more out of staff by putting fear in to them. Yet all indication makes it pretty much clear that when people are treated well, they respond with loyalty and a willingness to go the extra mile. The Quaker-run companies such as Cadbury and Rowntree were originally built on that rule and is why they are successful. It is also said that “Short-term profits are leading to a shrinking of the economy because of large numbers of people on smallest wage, with uncertain hours and no income safety.”