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

Smith, Andrew; McBride, Jo

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Authors

Andrew Smith



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.

Citation

Smith, A., & McBride, J. (2023). ‘It was doing my head in’: Low-paid multiple employment and zero hours work. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 61(1), 3-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12689

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 23, 2022
Online Publication Date Jun 10, 2022
Publication Date 2023-03
Deposit Date Jun 7, 2022
Publicly Available Date Feb 7, 2023
Journal British Journal of Industrial Relations
Print ISSN 0007-1080
Electronic ISSN 1467-8543
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 61
Issue 1
Pages 3-23
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12689
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1203037

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Published Journal Article (331 Kb)
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2022 The Authors. British Journal of Industrial Relations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.





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