IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/brjirl/v61y2023i1p3-23.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘It was doing my head in’: Low‐paid multiple employment and zero hours work

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Smith
  • Jo McBride

Abstract

This article explores the lived experiences and working time complexities of low‐paid workers in legitimate multiple employment and zero hours work. Based on detailed qualitative research, these workers have 2, 3, 4, 5 and even 7 different jobs out of necessity due to low‐pay, unpredictable working hours and employment precarity. The research reveals that workers need to be available for (potential) work at any point but may not actually be offered any hours, which we argue constitutes unremunerated labour time. The findings highlight a densification of working time with zero hours work as employers maximize productive effort into specifically numbered, demarcated and minimized working hours, which tightens the porosity of labour. There is a dual fragmentation and individualization of employment, as these workers traverse multiple, expansive, complex and dynamic temporalities of work. This study identifies new economic and temporal indeterminacies of labour, which fundamentally transform the employment relationship and wage‐effort bargain.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Smith & Jo McBride, 2023. "‘It was doing my head in’: Low‐paid multiple employment and zero hours work," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 3-23, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:61:y:2023:i:1:p:3-23
    DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12689
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12689
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/bjir.12689?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elaine McCrate & Susan J Lambert & Julia R Henly, 2019. "Competing for hours: unstable work schedules and underemployment among hourly workers in Canada," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 43(5), pages 1287-1314.
    2. Jean-Yves Boulin & Michel Lallement & Jon C. Messenger & François Michon, 2006. "Decent working time. New trends, new Issues," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00265560, HAL.
    3. Duncan Gallie & Alan Felstead & Francis Green & Hande Inanc, 2017. "The hidden face of job insecurity," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(1), pages 36-53, February.
    4. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7182 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Egidio Farina & Colin Green & Duncan McVicar, 2020. "Zero Hours Contracts and Their Growth," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(3), pages 507-531, September.
    6. Theo Nichols, 1991. "Labour Intensification, Work Injuries and the Measurement of Percentage Utilization of Labour (PUL)," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 569-592, December.
    7. Jean-Yves Boulin & Michel Lallement & Jon C. Messenger & François Michon, 2006. "Decent working time. New trends, new Issues," Post-Print halshs-00265560, HAL.
    8. Kendra Briken & Phil Taylor, 2018. "Fulfilling the ‘British way’: beyond constrained choice—Amazon workers' lived experiences of workfare," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5-6), pages 438-458, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Davoine, Thomas & Mankart, Jochen, 2017. "Changes in education, wage inequality and working hours over time," Discussion Papers 38/2017, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    2. Jane Dixon & Cathy Banwell & Lyndall Strazdins & Lara Corr & John Burgess, 2019. "Flexible employment policies, temporal control and health promoting practices: A qualitative study in two Australian worksites," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Océane Bertrand & Maxime Fontaine & Thomas Hausmann, 2021. "Réduire le temps de travail pour améliorer l’emploi des moins qualifiés ?Une évaluation socio-économique ex-ante du passage à la semaine de 4 jours au sein de l’Agence Bruxelles-Propreté," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/338537, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Wotschack, Philip, 2010. "Working-time options over the life course: New challenges to German companies in times of crisis," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Skill Formation and Labor Markets SP I 2010-502, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    5. Peter Frase & Janet Gornick, 2009. "The Time Divide in Cross-National Perspective: The Work Week, Gender and Education in 17 Countries," LIS Working papers 526, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    6. Jeroen Horemans, 2016. "The part-time poverty gap across Europe: How institutions affect the way part-time and full-time workers avoid poverty differently," Working Papers 1603, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    7. repec:ilo:ilowps:470503 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Abigail Powell & Lyn Craig, 2015. "Gender differences in working at home and time use patterns: evidence from Australia," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 29(4), pages 571-589, August.
    9. Philippa Williams & Barbara Pocock & Natalie Skinner, 2008. "“Clawing back time†: expansive working time and implications for work—life outcomes in Australian workers," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(4), pages 737-748, December.
    10. Gianluca Busilacchi & Giovanni Gallo & Matteo Luppi, 2022. "I would like to but I cannot. The determinants of involuntary part-time employment: Evidence from Italy," Center for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP) 0177, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    11. Fagan, Colette. & Lyonette, Clare. & Smith, Mark, & Saldaña-Tejeda, Abril., 2012. "The influence of working time arrangements on work-life integration or 'balance' : a review of the international evidence," ILO Working Papers 994705033402676, International Labour Organization.
    12. Sara Charlesworth & Lyndall Strazdins, 2011. "Parents jobs in Australia: work hours polarisation and the consequences of job quality and gender equality," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 14(1), pages 35-57.
    13. Hauff, Sven & Kirchner, Stefan, 2014. "Changes in workplace situation and work values. Relations and dynamics within different employment regimes," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 25(1), pages 27-49.
    14. Elaine McCrate, 2013. "Employer-oriented schedule flexibility, gender and family care," Chapters, in: Deborah M. Figart & Tonia L. Warnecke (ed.), Handbook of Research on Gender and Economic Life, chapter 17, pages 273-289, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Jeroen Horemans, 2017. "Atypical Employment and In-Work Poverty: A Different Story for Part-Timers and Temporary Workers?," Working Papers 1701, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    16. Xiaoxi Chang & Yu Zhou & Chenxi Wang & Carmen de Pablos Heredero, 2017. "How do work-family balance practices affect work-family conflict? The differential roles of work stress," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, December.
    17. Nadia Steiber, 2008. ""How Many Hours Would you Want to Work a Week?": Job Quality and the Omitted Variables Bias in Labour Supply Models," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 121, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    18. repec:ilo:ilowps:462254 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Iain Campbell, 2007. "Long Working Hours in Australia: Working-Time Regulation and Employer Pressures," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 17(2), pages 37-68, April.
    20. Serpil ÇİĞDEM, 2019. "Endüstri 4.0 ve Dijital Emek Platformlarının İnsana Yakışır İş Bağlamında Değerlendirilmesi," Journal of Social Policy Conferences, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(77), pages 157-199, December.
    21. Lonnie Golden & Stuart Glosser, 2013. "Work sharing as a potential policy tool for creating more and better employment: A review of the evidence," Chapters, in: Jon C. Messenger & Naj Ghosheh (ed.), Work Sharing during the Great Recession, chapter 7, pages 203-258, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    22. Mariona Lozano & Elisenda Rentería, 2019. "Work in Transition: Labour Market Life Expectancy and Years Spent in Precarious Employment in Spain 1986–2016," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 185-200, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:61:y:2023:i:1:p:3-23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.