Officials are claiming that government plans to ban zero hours contracts with exclusivity clauses may not actually be enough to stop employers from tying down their workers.
Zero hours contracts have been a heated topic of debate for the past 12 months and have been criticized by multiple unions.
As it stands, there are approximately 125,000 people on zero hours contracts that are prevented from looking for additional work with a different employer (CIPD). Business secretary Vince Cable announced this week that a crackdown would begin on these exclusivity clauses.
Unfortunately, one HR expert explains that employers could then opt to offer workers employment on limited one-week or one-month contracts. This would guarantee hours and pay but still tie employees into an arrangement of working for one employer for short periods of time.
These short-term contracts would create less certainty for staff because they wouldn’t be offered a rolling contract. CIPD research also found, however, that workers on zero hours contracts were equally happy with their job and actually more satisfied with their work-life balance than “regular” employees.
Cable declared that he will be working with unions and businesses to develop a best practice code of conduct aimed at employers who want to use zero hours contracts.
Any company that currently employs staff on zero hours contracts will have to remove any exclusivity clauses by the time the legislation goes through parliament. This is expected early next year.