The casualisation of the Zimbabwean labour market is a subject of great concern, according to Nhamo Kwaramba, the Principal Executive Consultant for HR services firm Capacity Consultancy Group, reports theindependent.co.zw.

Mr Kwaramba stated: “There is an increase of casual employees filling positions that are permanent in nature. In-line with employee vulnerability in Zimbabwe, there is high level of unemployment and accompanying poverty. Many will agree that we have more than 80%, if not 90% or more, unemployment levels in the country.”

Depending on the profession, it can take between six months and a year to find a job. For those without experience it can take even longer. As a result jobseekers are becoming less selective and the market is becoming even more employer-centric.

Companies are therefore increasingly opting to use casual and fixed-term contracts in order to avoid the responsibility of paying benefits and incentives normally associated with permanent employment.  

Mr Kwaramba said: “In my opinion, casualisation is one area that has been misinterpreted by employees, employers, and some lawyers alike. The practice goes back to the time of forced labour and revolved under different labour eras donning different names until recently when labour activism has been regularised through International Labour Organisations Conventions and the enactment of the Labour Act to deal decisively and exhaustively with labour issues.”

Causalisation in Zimbabwe became more pronounced in the 1990s when the government introduced economic reforms in the form of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (Esap). It was argued that the country’s labour laws were too rigid and could not respond to the demand of the economic reforms.

“In short, employers were simply saying they needed flexibility in employment relations so that they could hire and fire employees whenever necessary in response to market demands. On the other hand, trade unions cried foul because such flexibility resulted in the loss of jobs and many would leave empty handed,” he added.

“The situation that exists is that permanent workers feel that casual workers are threatening their jobs; whereas casual workers feel that permanent workers are not sympathetic to their situation. More often this causes a lot of industrial disharmony and disunity amongst employees.”

Mr Kwaramba continued: “I noted that many organisations ended up casualising labour as a means to avoid costs associated with terminating a permanent contract of employment or paying retrenchment packages. What employers need to understand is what the Labour Act explicitly state about casual work under Section 12 (3) of the Labour Act Chapter 28:01, which defines casual work as work for which an employee is engaged by an employer for not more than a total of six weeks in any four consecutive months.”

“This means any employee employed for a period longer than six weeks in four months becomes a permanent employee. However, employers evaded this provision and made employees sign weekly or monthly contracts calling them fixed term contracts. As a result, employees have been casuals for periods ranging from six months to 20 years. On termination, these employees go without any benefit,” Mr Kwaramba concluded.