Welcome to our latest Coffee Break in which we look at the latest practical and legal developments impacting employers
Care needed when advertising flexible working patterns in job roles
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint brought against an employer's job advertisements for a home care provider offering "flexible working patterns". Clicking on the ad took users to the job listing on the employer's website.
The advertisements stated under the sub-heading “Care Assistant Job Pay & Benefits”- “0 Hours Permanent Contract” and “Flexible Shift Patterns Available”. Further down the page, text stated, “Flexible shifts – whether you’re looking for a couple of shifts a week in the Evening or Evening care work on the weekends, we can offer you shifts so you can work whenever it suits you”. Zero Hours Justice, whose client was offered the job of care assistant, but was later unable to choose their own shifts, challenged whether the claims of flexible working were misleading in the circumstances.
Employment marketing communications must not misrepresent living and working conditions, so while the ASA accepted that a degree of latitude might be acceptable when employers used "aspirational" claims to describe their workplace, mission statement or ethics, employers must be able to substantiate objective claims, such as pay or hours, in employment marketing communications.
Here, the ads referred to the flexibility of working patterns; the ASA concluded...
To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. 3 min Student protests and school blockades in France are entering their third week, with dem...