Create Zero Hours Contracts

A Zero Hours Contract (ZHC) is a flexible agreement between a company and an individual. It's a type of employment contract, but it's more casual because there's no guarantee of a set number of hours or any ongoing or future work.
With a Zero Hours Contract, the individual is called a 'worker' rather than an 'employee'.

Zero Hours Contracts are helpful when you need to develop an agile and flexible workforce, for example:

• if your busy times fluctuate
• if you can’t predict how many workers you might need
• if your business has seasonal peaks and troughs
• if you sometimes need to bring people in temporarily or at short notice

Zero Hours Contracts are particularly useful for certain types of business which need a pool of people who are happy to work flexibly. For example, if you hire hospitality staff for special events or seasonal work, or you use delivery drivers but don't need them permanently or full time.

Remember that someone employed on a Zero Hours Contract still has certain employment rights. In particular, they’re entitled to receive at least the National Minimum Wage, and they must not be unfairly dismissed or subject to discrimination.

A worker on a Zero Hours Contract sits somewhere between being employed and self-employed.

A Zero Hours Contract offers workers the flexibility they wouldn't have if they were bound by regular days and hours. They can turn work down if they’re busy, or accept work outside the standard 9-to-5 hours that many employers expect.

A worker on a Zero Hours Contract can work as many or as few hours as they like (as long as the work is available). They can also work for more than one employer. This type of contract gives workers more freedom, more variety, and the chance to boost their income with several jobs.

As an employer, if your workers are on Zero Hours Contracts you're not allowed to tie them into an exclusivity clause. And it's unlawful to discriminate against the worker because they're working for someone else.

Zero Hours Contracts are ideal for some circumstances but they shouldn't be used if there's a better alternative.

Sometimes it might be more appropriate to offer a part-time, full-time, fixed-term or permanent Employment Agreement or to pay overtime to existing staff if you're entering a phase you know will be busy.

When you create a Employment Agreement with SeedLegals, you can ask us for help to make the terms best suited to your business. You could also consider using agency staff if you need workers quickly or for only a short time.