Zero hours contracts for students - any recommendations?

[ifonly4]

Just wondered which companies offer zero hour contracts for students and operate them fairly. DD has got herself a job for the holidays while at home (which long term could be good with the experience it'll offer her), but it's been a bit of an eye opener how the zero hour contract works with them - they're a fairly new operation so think this'll settle down, but it concerns me how regular work will be while at university.

DD works for McDonald's on a zero hours contract, and she switches between the one at home and the one at uni. They're franchises though (the 2 she works at are part of the same franchise which is why she's allowed to swap) so they possibly don't all stick to the same methods around the contracts. DD can pretty much work as many hours as she wants, around her studies. She sticks with one shift a week at uni then pretty much full time in the holidays.

A friend of hers is finding Argos are pretty good for students, but again it probably depends where she is.

Sports Direct?

The NHS? I had a zero hours contract for reception work and medical records whilst at uni

My dc work as lifeguards on 'as and when needed basis' (so a 'zero hours' contract)
Friends dc and dcs' friends did well working for Compass. They put a message out "We need X people for these hours on Saturday" and you can opt in or not, to suit you. (They cater for big events like Horse Racing meets or Test Matches at Cricket etc. - so useful when you live near but they also would take a coach full of staff from the cricket ground to the race course.
Wedding / conference venues do similar.
Most big stores do zero hours contracts, but it depends a lot on who puts the staffing rota together rather than the whole store / National Policy though.

McDonalds zero hours didn't work for my DS2. Rotas weren't shared until the last minute and couldn't get enough hours during the holidays as everyone wanted more hours. Pretty rubbish job IMO. Training unpaid. Frequently pressured to go home early if they weren't busy enough. One uniform despite frequently working back to back shifts so really difficult to launder. Low hourly rate.

He switched to a fiixed hours evening supermarket job which so far - one uni term and Christmas holidays - has been ideal. He's able to switch shifts to accommodate essay deadlines and take holidays at exam time.

If has access to a car Amazon Flex delivering is brilliant for students - it’s opt in, paid by the shift at v good hourly rates and entirely flexible in terms of hours worked - shifts are offered from early mourning to quite late at night.

Hospitality jobs with companies such as Compass work well, certainly in London. You book the slots that suit you. Pay is minimum wage though.

My son does deliveroo which you can even subcontract the work for to your brothers etc if he wants to and also he does Uber Eats. Both are perfectly good as he is concerned.