Employers of seasonal and temporary workers will need to get to grips with the government’s Employment Rights Bill, which is still being amended in parliament. Adam Grant explores the key issues for them to consider

Over the festive period, many businesses saw an influx of temporary workers to meet the heightened demand for goods and services. Now, with the holidays behind us, many of those workers will move on to new opportunities – a cycle that will repeat in the summer, as summer season and returning university students bring another wave of seasonal work and again next Christmas as retail and hospitality experience the familiar busy festive period. But what shape will those future temporary engagements take for businesses?

The issue of zero- and low-hours workers has received a lot of recent attention following the government’s announcement of the new Employment Rights Bill. For many within the Labour party, they view these arrangements as inequitable and therefore, the idea behind the Bill is to increase protections for these types of workers both in terms of certainty of hours as well as pay.

What are the key proposals?

The proposed legal changes are voluminous and complex but can be summarised in three main categories:

1 Offer of guaranteed hours Employers must offer zero hours workers a guaranteed hours contract at the end of every ‘reference period’ (to be defined by the regulations but most likely after 12 weeks). The guaranteed hours contract must set out...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMikgFBVV95cUxNRk10MkVWaUp1N01oTFdHdDRs...