Debate Report: Zero Hour Contracts & Skills Reflection-BMS501

This assignment is a report on a debate concerning zero-hour contracts, a contentious issue in the business sector. It includes arguments both for and against zero-hour contracts, supported by research. The report further provides a reflection on the transferable skills developed through the preparation for and participation in the debate, such as speaking, leadership, problem-solving, and research skills. The reflection discusses how these skills have been enhanced and how they will be valuable in future professional endeavors.

ppd Topical Debate
and Reflection

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Zero hours contract......................................................................................................................3
PART 2............................................................................................................................................5
Reflection.....................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFRENCES...................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In academics, there are ample of activities organized in order to improve competency,
skills of students. Debate is such an activity wherein two or more individual or groups
participated. There is a topic given to participants or then need to speak either in favor or against
off given topic. Before debate, it is imperative to do thorough practice so that one can perform
better during activity (Allmer, 2017). In present assignment, topic of debate is zero hour
Contract. Here, participants will present their views in favor or against of the topic. In addition to
this, it also includes skills which have been developed while preparing for debate. Moreover,
academic activities are crucial & play a significant role in growth of students.
Main Body
PART 1
Zero hours contract
It is a contract in which employer does not have the obligation to provide minimum
working hours to workers. Sometimes, it is also known as casual contracts. Here, workers are not
required to accept any working hours which are being offered by company. Under this,
employers do not offer regular work to employees but employees are required to available on
call in case, they are required for work. Here, employees can work for multiple number of
employers at same time. It is a contract in which, employees are not obliged to offer minimum
work hours to employees. From employer’s perspective, it is a way to save money as they are not
liable to pay the benefits which they offer to full time workers. Here, they can increase as well as
decrease size of workforce as per level of demand in market place. For workers, this type of
contract offers great flexibility, work-life-balance & other such benefits. In this, they are only
required to accept the amount of work which they are willing to do. In addition to this, they can
increase or reduce the working hours as per requirement (Storey, 2016). In zero hour Contract,
employees can enter in contract with multiple employers at a time which allow them to earn
significant amount of money in an efficient manner. In other words, this type of contract allows
workers to work independently. However, it is not considered as permanent source of income.

There is no surety of getting work which affects lifestyle of workers. Sometime, they have plenty
of work and sometime even not able to find the work for survival. Here, some point in favor &
against of zero hour contracts are mentioned below:
Point in favor of zero hour contracts
 The biggest benefit of zero hour contract is the flexibility. For organization. it is
imperative to respond effectively & quickly to business fluctuations. With this contract,
employers can call workers as per requirement. By this, they can avoid additional cost
which occurs in case of permanent employment.
 It also helps in dealing with issues such as absenteeism, negligence and many more. It
allows companies to deal with future situations in best possible way as they can increase
of decrease size of work force as per market situation (Traulsen and Druedahl, 2018).
 For employees, they can get associated with multiple employers in order to earn
substantial amount of money. Here, employees can do the work as per their willingness.
There are no such obligations like full-time employment.
 In this, employees are not obliged to work on the conditions of employers rather, they
have the flexibility to take own decisions. It enables employees to earn exponentially
higher amount by getting associated with different employers at same time.
Points in against:
 Sometimes, flexibility of zero hour contract can backfire as here employees are not
obliged to accept the work so, it might difficult to get someone to perform tasks. This is a
problem which generally occurs when people are required for short period of time. Here,
it is a burdensome task to find suitable employees who work with utmost proficiency for
success of organization (Vernon, 2018).
 Different people perform similar kind of job thus quality of overall work might get affect
as different people have different working style. Here, workers are not able to meet with
standards set by company which might affect its image in market place.
 Positive relationship between employees & employer is really important for running
business smoothly. In zero hour contract, both the parties are not familiar with each other
so, they find it difficult to interact with each other. Here, lack of interaction further

becomes reason of internal conflicts, grazes. This put negative impact on overall market
position of company & also hampers its current level of productivity and efficiency. In
addition to this, employers are also not able to adopt suitable strategies in order to
motivate work force as they do not have significant information about needs,
requirements of contract based employees (McDowell, 2020).
 Major drawback of zero hour contract is lack of job security & fixed income.
Companies call workers as pet their requirement and they can fire employees after getting
the work done. Here, employees face challenge in order to bring stability in life. There is
no fix source of income. Sometimes, it might happen that workers have to struggle for
fulfillment of their basic needs due to lack of work. Income is also not fixed due to which
they cannot set the monthly or yearly budget. It adversely affected stability & work life
balance which lead towards anxiety & frustration.
 As the drawback of zero hour contract, one misses the benefits of permanent employment
like pension, provident fund, reducancy rights & more. Due to this, employees started to
feel undervalued especially when they are working on the same level with permanent
employees. Getting into zero hour contract means one is harming social life. Here,
employer can call anytime which might hamper normal social life of an employee
(Rapanta and Badran, 2016).
PART 2
Reflection
There are several activities arranged during academic session such as debate, group
discussions & many more. Debate is an activity wherein more than two people put their views on
a particular topic. Here, some participants speak in favor or some speak in against of topic.
Debates are often organized by educational institutions for the development of students. Here,
students develop different skills such as communication, presentation, negotiation & more
through such activities which further help in enhancement of career (McIntosh and Milam,
2016). During academic, it is imperative to actively participate in activities in order to ensure
growth in future period of time. Studying the different concepts is core reason to get enroll in
educational institutes. However, extra- curriculum activities also play an imperative role in

overall growth of a person. These activities are helpful in gaining several skills which are crucial
in order to perform different roles & responsibilities in professional life. I used to actively
participate in activities such as group discussion, debate & more. These activities helped me in
shaping my career in successful manner. I developed confidence by engaging in extra-curriculum
activities which will help in achieving milestones in future period of time. Here, I developed
plenty of skills while participating in debate which are mentioned as under:
Speaking skills: This skill refers to the way in which one speaks with others. Some people
find it difficult to talk with strangers as they have lack of confidence & fear to speak in public.
Speaking skill is something which allows to get rid from the fear of public speaking. While
speaking, it is imperative to mind language, words, tone as well as pitch. Debate is all about
speaking. It is an activity where one needs to prove own points by supporting those point with
necessary figures & facts (McGee, Pius and Mukherjee, 2020). Here, participants need to speak
in a proper way. For this purpose, they are required to consider language, tone, pitch, structure of
sentences. In debate, one needs to speak in front of audience that further help in dealing with fear
of public speaking. I developed my speaking skills while preparing for debate. I used to do a lot
of practice for making my speaking perfect. I practice for proper tone, pitch in order to put
positive influence on audiences & judges. I also select suitable words & frame the sentence in an
appropriate way. This preparation helped me in developing my speaking skills which will further
assist me in gaining milestones in personal & professional life.
Leadership skills: Leadership skills make a person enable to take the responsibility of
leading a team of different individuals in an appropriate way. It is a crucial skill which allows
leaders to handle team effectively. Further, leadership skills are also important in providing
appropriate direction to team members in order to attain common goals. For this purpose, leaders
guide, motivate to team members at each & every stage (Elliott, Farnum and Beauchesne, 2016).
During debate, I developed leadership skills as I got an opportunity to handle the complete team.
I make sure to utilize capabilities of each team member in best possible way in order to get
positive outcomes. I ensure to provide appropriate direction to group members so that they can
alien their efforts accordingly. Apart from this, I also maintain regular communication with
fellows to avoid any sort of confusion.

Problem solving skills: This skill is concern with identification of issue & also helps in
finding appropriate solution to resolve that issue. For this, one needs to have critical thinking
abilities to analyze the situation in detailed manner. It is related with generating solutions,
alternatives to get rid with the actual problem. To resolve the issues, it is imperative to have
analytical skills, innovative & creative thinking, resilience & many more. While taking part in
debate, I faced ample of issues related to team, content, resources & more (Danial and Tanshzil,
2020). I decided to face each & every obstacle with best of my abilities. I maintained positive
attitude even in difficult situations. My assertive nature helps me in facing challenges in best
possible way. Here, I developed the confidence to face issues in an effective manner. With the
help of this skill, I can easily face different issues, hardships which will arise at work place in
future period of time.
Research skills: Research is used for gathering of new, recent, updated as well as
valuable information. Effective research skills are helpful in development of new theories &
concepts for the benefit of whole society. Here, research skills make a person enable to drive
value in projects for benefit of readers (Bleck and DeBate, 2016). While taking part in debate, I
have to do a lot of research in order to gather valuable information by which I can prove my
point right. I used a lot of tools & sources for the purpose of research. This extensive research
work helped me in getting reliability & authenticity in my work. Further, research skills will also
help me in future period of time. Through this skill, I will be able in discovering valuable
insights for benefit of organization.

CONCLUSION
It is summarized that academic activities are organized in order to improve skill,
potential, abilities of students. These activities facilitate proper growth & development of
students. There is a discussion on the topic of zero hour contract. Here, positive & negative
aspects of topic have also been discussed in the above stated assignment. Further, there is a
discussion regarding different skills such as speaking , leadership skills, research skills which are
developed through debate.

REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Allmer, T., 2017. Zero-hour contracts are turning university lecturers off the job.
Bleck, J. and DeBate, R., 2016. Long-term association between developmental assets and health
behaviors: an exploratory study. Health Education & Behavior, 43(5), pp.543-551.
Danial, E. and Tanshzil, S.W., 2020, March. Analysis of Implementation of Debate Learning
Model in Constitutional Law Subjects as Efforts to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking
Skills. In 2nd Annual Civic Education Conference (ACEC 2019) (pp. 546-551). Atlantis
Press.
Elliott, N., Farnum, K. and Beauchesne, M., 2016. Utilizing team debate to increase student
abilities for mentoring and critical appraisal of global health care in doctor of nursing
practice programs. Journal of Professional Nursing, 32(3), pp.224-234.
McDowell, L., 2020. Looking for work: youth, masculine disadvantage and precarious
employment in post-millennium England. Journal of Youth Studies, 23(8), pp.974-988.
McGee, E.U., Pius, M. and Mukherjee, K., 2020. Assessment of structured classroom debate to
teach an antimicrobial stewardship elective course. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and
Learning, 12(2), pp.220-227.
McIntosh, J. and Milam, M., 2016. Competitive debate as competency-based learning: civic
engagement and next-generation assessment in the era of the common core learning
standards. Communication Education, 65(4), pp.420-433.
Rapanta, C. and Badran, D., 2016. Supporting Emirati females leadership skills through teaching
them how to debate: Design, assessment, and considerations. The International Journal
of Management Education, 14(2), pp.133-145.
Storey, J., 2016. Human resource management. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Traulsen, J.M. and Druedahl, L.C., 2018. Shifting perspectives–planning for the future of the
pharmacy profession taking current labor market trends into consideration. Research in
Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 14(12), pp.1189-1194.
Vernon, J., 2018. The making of the neoliberal university in Britain. Critical Historical
Studies, 5(2), pp.267-280.