red light for zero hours in rail.

With increasing pressure on hiring labour for large scale projects quickly, there are concerns that quality is being overlooked in the pursuit of numbers. Projects such as HS2 could see a drop in the quality of workers if they feel the need to use 0-hour contracts resulting in an unstable workforce.

For this reason, the investment into STEM in schools highlights the need for skilled workers, not just for today, but for the future as the HS2 plans span across many years, hungry for 30,000 workers to realise the dream of connecting Britain. And for that, you need a solid source of workers, reliably collated and happy to work, this is where Randstad fits in.   

For some industries, blue-collar manufacturing being a prime example, zero-hour contracts offer workers much-needed flexibility. Students welcome seasonal jobs and working parents and the semi-retired comment on the versatility that these contracts offer.



Zero hour contracts within rail are not as widely praised. Many of today's high profile rail projects demand a skilled workforce who work at pressure, away from their home and family. Employers have a duty of care to protect the health and safety and wellbeing (mental, physical and financial) in this niche environment.

Statistics from the Lighthouse Club Construction Industry Charity state that two construction workers commit suicide every day, with stress, depression or anxiety accounting for a fifth of all work-related illness. As the world's number one recruiter, Randstad has a role in supporting the industry in tackling this problem and helping to raise awareness. 

One solution identified by 43% of the workforce named an anonymous help-line to combat stress at work. This is offered by The Lighthouse Club to help construction workers that would be highly unlikely to seek help themselves talking to someone they knew. Only 27% would consider the idea of talking to a friend about their mental wellbeing. 

As a recruitment company, Randstad frequently speak to and endeavour to understand workers on zero-hour contracts, which highlighted the push to move away from them and into reliable consistent job delivery with the added benefits the Randstad package provides. 

Research into the effects on mental health* by working away from home highlighted three main themes. 

leading two lives.

By spending extended periods of time away from a consistent home life, workers felt that they lead two lives and had to manage multiple personas. They found it difficult to adapt back to one life seeing it as ‘two worlds’. 

stress on income.

The desire to spend long periods of time away from family stemmed from the potential of earning more money. This placed stress on income and made workers feel trapped by jobs. This was described as the ‘golden handcuffs’, despite their value they are still a tether and leash to a job and income without freedom of choice.

lack of social support.

Some workers can be dismissive of issues and highlight the old saying of ‘man-up’. Most support was derived from their partner and families, but this also added additional strain on relationships. Workers felt employers were focussed on productivity and showed little care for their health. Due to this, some turned to online groups for support to ‘validate concerns’ and share similar experiences.  

Randstad recognises these stresses every day and have methods and pathways in place to identify and address the potential problems before they become serious and help workers help themselves.