Between The Profit Imperative And Worker Welfare: Can Responsible Companies Stem The Expansion Of Precarious Work?

This chapter will assess the societal implications of zero hours work and the ethical responsibilities of employers and governments towards workers as citizens. Many companies have sophisticated corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies which enunciate socially caring values that include the dignity and well-being of their employees. Yet the growth in zero hours work in companies with trumpeted CSR credentials indicates an uncomfortable contradiction between rhetoric and reality in the treatment of employees as valued stakeholders. Governments are responsible for protecting the rights of citizens at work. However, lack of regulation around zero hours work in many countries emphasises the tensions between the profit imperative of market economies and the states' obligation to citizens in affording them decent work. If precarity is being normalised in certain sectors this has significant implications for wider society and vulnerable workers' standard of living, rights at work, family life and citizenship engagement. We examine whether the normalisation of zero hours type work undermines workers as citizens and legitimises the creation of denizens. The chapter considers the responsibilities and obligations of employers and the state towards the provision of decent work for all citizens.