A new Acas study reveals that many workers on a zero hours contract feel excluded from the sense of security, fairness and trust that's associated with permanent contracts of employment. Acas' discussion paper 'Give and take? Unravelling the true nature of zero-hours contracts' looks at recent research around zero hours contracts as well as employers and employees that called the Acas helpline about these contracts. On average there were 70 calls a week about zero hours contracts to the helpline. The use of exclusivity clauses did not emerge as a significant concern amongst callers, but a feeling of 'effective exclusivity' did emerge as a major concern. According to Acas, the analysis reveals that many workers on zero hours contracts experience a deep sense of unfairness and mistrust that go beyond the use of exclusivity clauses. The research also found that a lot of workers on zero hours contracts are afraid of looking for work elsewhere, turning down hours, or questioning their employment rights, in case their work is withdrawn or reduced. As a result, this deep rooted 'effective exclusivity' can be very damaging to trust and to the employment relationship.

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