• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Zero Hours Contracts Are Not The Problem

By Asma Shah, CEO of You Make It Sports Direct saw a brief change in fortunes on Tuesday when its decision to drop ‘zero hour contracts’ apparently led to an immediate jump of five per cent in its share price. They are beset by a number of other problems at board level and have struggled to […]

Jack Peat by Jack Peat
2016-09-12 08:05
in Opinion
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

By Asma Shah, CEO of You Make It

Sports Direct saw a brief change in fortunes on Tuesday when its decision to drop ‘zero hour contracts’ apparently led to an immediate jump of five per cent in its share price. They are beset by a number of other problems at board level and have struggled to maintain this bounce.

As a leading player in retail its actions over this type of contract may well cause a ripple across the sector.

The beleaguered sports chain has faced months of media scrutiny over its working conditions, with numerous distressing stories surfacing from the warehouses – and with zero hour contracts being the poster boy for the campaign to improve them.

The firm’s announcement will no doubt give fuel to campaigners across the country who wish to see an end to these contracts – regarding them as oppressive and a blight to social mobility.

In fact little is actually known about zero hours contracts, with the term itself covering an array of different employment arrangements. An accepted wisdom in recent months has been that there has been an explosion in the number of people on these contracts with no guaranteed weekly or monthly income.

But even this is unclear, according to the ONS where the figures come from. They rely on, interview style, self reported answers rather than data sets to produce their figures.

RelatedPosts

Elevenses: The Tractor War

‘Scam’ Cryptocurrencies and the ’looking glass’ world of finance

Elevenses: Stick It To The Politicians

If the local elections tell us anything, it’s that our democracy desperately needs a kiss of life

What is clear though is that no one can argue with the wealth of evidence that shows the UK is struggling to be tackle social mobility.

Britain holds the dubious honour of being one of the worst countries in the developed world in this respect. There is a preconception that the elite are, more than ever, guarding opportunities for themselves.

Just last week a report by the Social Mobility Commission revealed that investment bankers were failing to hire young people from disadvantaged backgrounds because of their inability to comply with a host of unspoken arcane cultural norms of the elite – including wearing the wrong colour shoes.

Currently the top one per cent of the UK population has a greater share of national income than at any time since the 1930s.

But the assumption that zero hours contracts play a pivotal role in preventing social mobility is an easy distraction from the real and complex reasons behind the issue.

Successive governments have rightly focused on improving academic achievement in schools. Improving grades and seeing more young people gain qualifications is essential.

But what about when those young people leave education? In my experience, school leavers, and even university graduates, from disadvantaged backgrounds, lack the necessary 21st century skills needed to succeed in the work place and to compete with their more privileged counterparts.

What are these 21st century skills? These are the so-called soft skills necessary to thrive in negotiation, entrepreneurship, networking, confidence (and the ability to project this). They are skills that come naturally to those privately educated or from middle class families. These skills are vital to the UK’s predominantly service sector economy.

Ninety-seven per cent of UK employers believe soft skills are important to their current business success, yet three quarters believe there is already a soft skills gap in the UK workforce.

Where do these skills feature on school or university curriculum? Where are the targets for success in these areas? Unfortunately they don’t exist.

With no formal training, the reality is those with better connected parents, richer friends and family or those that are privately educated are going to do much better in the race towards a successful career.

Top banks in the UK such as Meryll Lynch have proven they can be leaders in tackling unconscious bias in recruitment – another key barrier to social mobility. The private sector as a whole needs to take up the charge and lead the way by working with schools and rolling out relevant, 21st century skills training for people from all walks of life. This will give young people a more equal footing and us all a more prosperous future.

Tags: featured

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Will national response to homelessness change after COVID-19 crisis?

Teenager sentenced for killing a seagull with an airgun

Barclays boss quits over playing down Epstein relationship…but still gets huge payoff

Labour ‘wouldn’t hit working people with tax hikes as Tories do’

Paedophile who raped girl after searching for “jailbait” online is caged

I want to live in…Wanstead

TalkRadio held a Brexit poll on Twitter – and didn’t get answer it expected

London’s Best British Restaurants

Liverpool legend says Scottish accent has helped Scots managers become best in world

UK bottom of wage growth league…with Greece

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.