Ethical Implications of Zero-Hour Contracts in the UK: A Report

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes zero-hour contracts' ethical implications.

REPORT FOR ETHICS, SUSTAINABILITY
AND SOCIAL IMPACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
DISCUSSION ON THE PRACTICE OF ZERO HOUR CONTRACTS IN THE UK.......................................3
A BRIEF DISCUSSION AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON DIFFERENT THEORIES OF ETHICS...........5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................. 7
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................... 8
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In a developed economy, employment is considered as a basic right and an essential mean of
livelihood as a main source of income. There is a number of changes have been seen in the
employment regulations and practices over the years. From current economic conditions and
market status, it can be easily deducted that practices of employment have been shifted from
work-based employment to skill based employment. The work-based or work intense
employment was a result of industrialisation in the 18th century when there was only a need for
raw manpower. With the increase in machines in industries and technological systems like
Industry 4.0, the conditions have changed evidently.
This report will discuss a new form of employment practice which has been gaining a lot of
popularity among industries and organisations lately, called Zero Hour Employment. In this type
of employment, a person is only asked to work whenever there is a specific demand for the skill
and no fixed hour work is promised (Gov.uk, 2019). The employment of this sort is eligible for
National Minimum Wage and for basic employment right with no exceptions. The discussion
will be based on ethical Framework of employment and how different ethical theories and
arguments support and deny the concept of Zero Hour Employment.
DISCUSSION ON THE PRACTICE OF ZERO HOUR CONTRACTS IN THE UK
Zero hour contract is a sort of casual agreement and a non-legal term used for employment
practices between an individual and an employer. It is an employment form where the
employer does not offer a fixed hour job or guarantee a permanent position of any kind, so the
work is offered whenever there’s a need for the person of some distinct skill set in a business
operation. A person can be full time employed at some company and can accept work on zero
hour contracts and can also be self-employed and undertake on the same (Pyper and
McGuiness, 2013). A person working on terms of a zero hour contract, however, entitled to the
benefits associated with the employment status and to statutory employment rights without
any exceptions as mentioned above.

The importance of zero hour contract and employment practices is significant where work
requirements are irregular and a constant working staff demand is out of the questions. It
provides a level of flexibility, which can be leveraged for some personal work or responsibilities
like studies, childcare etc. (Brinkley, 2013).
Figure 1: Places where Zero Hour Contracts are used
Source: [Press Association, 2015]
There are different situation arises in a business environment where conditions such as
shortage of capital for a full time employee, shortage of regular work, season excessiveness in
the workload, initiating some new business form and requirement of some differently and rare
skill requirement etc. this situation specifically calls for need of such employment practices and
the benefits and improvements in business functions and overall productivity has attracted the
focus of many large companies who do not require to hire people on zero hour contract but are
appearing in the activities. The most regular practice of zero hour contact can be seen in new
businesses and start-up ventures where the business owners can't afford to hire a full-time
employee staff and may also not have the regular workload to do so. These new businesses are
fuelling the concept of zero hour working and are showing the productivity increase and other
benefits of the practice (Gov.uk, 2019). However, many arguments have been made against its

effectiveness in large industries and business organisations. Before the discussion move on to
“why” of this phenomenon, let take a look at some other situations where the practice on zero
hours has been claimed relevant.
The businesses which get boosts in a certain season or time of the year are also having
significant zero hour employees working for them. These businesses may suffer from a shortage
of work on a seasonal basis or excess on workload, both situations are used to justify the
practices of zero hour contracts (Gov.uk, 2019). Similarly, a business which handles special
events and simply the event management companies which organises seasonal and occasional
events such as a wedding, parties, conferences, music festivals etc are also in huge demand for
such employees. Lastly, in every business, there are some technical issues which appear once in
a long span of time or in a regular interval of period, where they cannot go for a full-time
employee just for the singular purpose. These situations also call for the practice of zero hour
contracts and according to analysts, such situations are the most justifiable and efficient in
terms for employing a person at zero hour contract.
A large business is based on a continuum of business-market interchange of work and capital
and the extent of flexibility offered by the zero hour contracts is simply not considered healthy
and event productive in a larger perspective in such cases. Also, if a business is capable of hiring
a staff of regular and permanent employees, there is no point in hiring them for zero hour
employment, it’s not efficient. However, in the event of some specific job or project that a
business may get from its client, it can be used as an advantage, an upper hand and a cost-
saving scenario (Brinkley, 2013).
A BRIEF DISCUSSION AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON DIFFERENT
THEORIES OF ETHICS
The concept of zero hour contract itself is born of a demand for flexibility in employment. There
was a time in the UK during the industrialisation when people worked in the “factories” for
more than 12 hours every day on a very low pay without any healthcare or any sort of benefit
for that matter. The worst has evolved the definition of best and the best, as in employment

flexibility, hours of work, pay and benefit have come out in a distorted way according to trade
unions. The theory of justice propended by John Rawls in his book “A theory of justice”,
published in 1971, and defines this very concept of evolution of ethical demand and justice.
This theory, however, put more contrast on the political perspective of a situation and the
social justice given to the people in a society. According to the theory, the extent of liberty
given to the people within a society by a political structure shall not conflict or infringe with the
liberty of is other members. The theory has been developed and evolved with the arguments of
many contemporary scholars and the idea given by it regarding equality says that whether
social or economic, inequality can only be justified if the worst and the best possible situations
and conditions are same for two members of the society at unequal status. The theory talks
about many basic freedoms a person needs in order to capture an equal status of justice in
society but since even with hundreds of similar arguments and suggestions of equal rights and
opportunities, the inequality in the society is still increasing and has taken many different forms
of discrimination, the question remains the same (Fraser, 2001).
The ethical ground of employment has been a fierce topic of debate and in this 21st century,
employees are the biggest chunk of society and are the supercharging element of a country's
economy. The ethical structures, however, have different shapes, the same basic foundation
though; the elements taken from theories of justice and many other concepts like that have
created some inherent disputes regarding their implications. There is a concept of applied or
Nominative Ethics which argues that there should be a stepwise and systematic approach to
analyse what's right to do and what's not. The steps are subjected to the application of the
different approach to knowing whether to move forward or backwards in the process. The
ethical perspective of Consequentialism, argues that an action can only be justified based on
the effect it has on the world and that happiness is a relative term. Similarly, the concept of
Utilitarianism, consenting with the concept of Consequentialism says that there is only
resulting pain and pleasure that can define the need for action. The argument that a person
desires happiness and a mean that could lead him to happiness, can be challenged with the fact
that it is not necessary that someone’s happiness will also be a reason of happiness for others
in the same society. The concept of something being good and desire for happiness in the

theory of Utilitarianism has many flaws. The atrocities in a war, social injustice, divorce,
euthanasia are some of the elements that can be presented in the argument against
Utilitarianism (Equip.org, 2009).
Another ethical approach called Deontology, which can be seen as an opposition of
Consequentialism is also needed to be discussed here for more refined insights. Deontologist
Immanuel Kant, says that reasoning for every action creates a dilemma which causes absence
of happiness and that there should be some fixed morals and principle regarding a set of
actions, for example, an act of murder is wrong and according to him, cannot be justified under
any circumstances.
CONCLUSION
The ethical dilemma faced by the practices of Zero Hour Employment is relevant to the
situation where employees are treated within moral values and under the statutory conduct.
Since their requirements are thoroughly justified in their respective cases and the practices are
also bringing more efficiency in business operations, the zero hour contracts can be legalised
and promoted for necessary transparency and a framework of regulation so that incidents of
exploitation by the employer could not enter the practice. The term Rank Exploitation cannot
be used in the context since the Zero Hour contract practices are currently limited to some
specific jobs which require intense skills and labour. The Marxist conception calling it “Reserve
army of labour” is not appropriate in the current perspective where a skilled person has no
shortage of job and any other earning source (Elliott, 2013). Though it cannot be directly
challenged on ethical grounds there is a moral set of responsibilities from both sides which are
to be taken under consideration to eliminate the rising concerns. As the popularity of this form
of employment is increasing among business organisations as well as government institutions,
there is a need for dedicated legal obligations to regulate the practice in the welfare of all.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The practice of zero hour employment can be regulated with the help of a set of obligatory
rules regarding the compensation and consistency of the work offered to an individual by an
employer. There should be the definite and considerate extent of employment rights, an
employer shall be entitled to under a zero hour contract which can help the employee achieve
his personal targets as well as by the employer (Gov.uk, 2019). The business sectors and
operations where the practice of zero hour contracts is under criticism should come with a
definite reason and explanation for their justifiability of the practice and under non-satisfactory
answer, the practice shall be abolished by the business. Also, there should be transparency in
the contract with clear detail regarding the nature of the job, the pay that will be offered at the
end of the task and the number of hours estimated in the completion of the job.

REFERENCES
 Gov.uk, 2019. What are zero hours contracts? Online available at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/zero-hours-contracts-guidance-for-
employers/zero-hours-contracts-guidance-for-employers, Last accessed on 21st February
2019.
 Elliott, L., 2013. Zero-hours contract workers - the new reserve army of labour? Online
available at
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/economics-blog/2013/aug/04/zero-hours-
contract-workers-reserve-army-labour, Last accessed on 21st February 2019.
 Fraser, N., 2001. Recognition without ethics?. Theory, culture & society, 18(2-3), pp.21-
42.
 Equip.org, 2009. Ethics Theories: Utilitarianism Vs. Deontological Ethics, online available
at https://www.equip.org/article/ethics-theories-utilitarianism-vs-deontological-ethics/,
Last accessed on 21st February 2019.
 Pyper, D. and McGuiness, F., 2013. Zero-hours contracts. London: UK Parliament.
 Brinkley, I., 2013. Flexibility Or Insecurity?: Exploring the Rise of Zero Hours Contracts.
Work Foundation.
 Press Association, 2015. Online available at http://home.bt.com/news/news-extra/all-
you-need-to-know-about-zero-hours-contracts-and-ed-milibands-proposals-for-them-
11363972895711, Last accessed on 21st February 2019.