INSECURE WORK

Young women are also much more likely than young men to have been offered a zero hours contract. 

Employers could be doing more to improve job security for their staff.

Job insecurity goes hand in hand with low pay. It makes it harder for young women to plan their finances and their lives – for example, planning childcare is hard when you don’t know what shifts you’ll be working from one week to the next.

It also matters because insecure work can be hard to escape, so being in an insecure job early in working life can limit young women’s chances of progressing into higher paid or more fulfilling work over time. What starts out as a stop-gap, can all too easily become a trap.

Government should:

• Ensure the new Employment Rights Bill is passed, as it will provide greater job security for many thousands of young women through its proposal to ban zero hours contracts unless requested by the employee.
• Ensure adequate enforcement of the new rights to a regular contract, and that young women and other workers are given information about their rights.

Employers should:

• Provide at least 4 weeks’ notice to workers of their shifts, so they can plan their lives.
• Provide compensation for last minute shift cancellations, so young women aren’t left out of pocket for childcare, travel and other costs.