Retail staff on zero-hour contracts

The media has been rife this week with reports of British workers employed on zero-hour

contracts. Whilst it has predominantly been said that the service industry employs staff on a zero-hour guarantee, so too the retail and fashion industry have many employees on these contracts.

Sports Direct, for example, has 90 percent of its staff - estimated at 20,000 - on a zero-hour guarantee contract. This contract basically stipulates workers have no promise of regular hours, sick pay or holiday leave.

CIPD chief economist Mark Beatson told Drapers: “There is anecdotal evidence that some big retail players have been moving away from these kind of contracts, but obviously there are some who still use them.”

The national average of companies employing staff on a zero-hour guarantee is 19 percent, the equivalent of 1 million workers.