Current frameworks designed to ensure fair conditions and dignity for workers are not equipped to deal with the modern realities of multiple employment, says new research
A new research publication from Durham University Business School has revealed that the rise of multiple employment is leaving a high proportion of the UK workforce without basic care and protections.
The study, conducted by Professor Jo McBride of Durham University Business School, Dr Andrew Smith of the Centre for Decent Work (University of Sheffield) and Professor Miguel Martínez Lucio of the Work & Equalities Institute (University of Manchester) exposes the shortcomings of current Dignity At Work (DAW) frameworks, by exploring the lived realities of workers across Yorkshire and the North East of England – two regions recognised by the Office of National statistics for experiencing the highest levels of underemployment.
DAW frameworks, McBride states, are typically designed to support employees who only hold one role with one organisation, so whilst their intentions are good, they fail to meet the needs of the growing number of workers who need to work in multiple jobs to make ends meet. Due to the rapidly rising number of precarious gig economy and zero-hour employment arrangements, the research argues that new measures must be swiftly introduced to better support modern worker needs.
According to Professor McBride: “These workers are often part-time, temporary, outsourced or zero hours workers who are (incorrectly) viewed by management as being ‘peripheral’ to organisations, and as such are largely invisible, missing out on basic considerations that make employment fair and reasonable.
Our major argument is that DAW discussions need to be renewed and broadened to examine the growth of multiple employment to protect a highly valuable section of the modern workforce.”
Taking a toll on physical and mental health
The research examined the lived experiences of more than 50 low-paid workers holding as many as seven separate roles in industries including cleaning, catering, social care, administration, DIY, education and social services, security, retail and IT. Interviews with workers focused on issues around routes into employment, juggling primary and additional jobs, scheduling, transportation, maintaining a work-life balance and managing personal responsibilities such as family care.
Interviewees were asked about the reasons why they held multiple roles and encouraged to share the realities of their typical working day, their personal responsibilities and their perception of their in-work value. In addition, interviews were also conducted with trade union officials and senior HR managers.
The findings identified a number of concerns including growing work intensity, work “extensification” due to longer and fragmented working days, poor management and even exploitation and abuse of workers, as expectations for the work staff completed escalated whilst hours were often slashed and breaks not provided. Interviewees noted the toll on physical and mental health as cumulative burdens were carried from job to job.
Professor Martínez Lucio of the University of Manchester’s Work & Equalities Institute says: “In many ways this group of workers experiences many of the failings of the current economy that others do such as the weakness of unions in many workplaces, the rising cost of basic goods, and the lack of decent housing. However, their need to hold down a variety of jobs means that they are particularly exposed to the highly chaotic nature of working hours and shifts, line management that still operate without realising the pressures on such workers, and even the impact of uneven and limited public transport that constrains their ability as workers to balance different jobs.:
A culture of under-appreciation
What is of emerging importance, the researchers note, is the pattern of stigma, humiliation, and shame felt by workers for agreeing to “dehumanising” work arrangements whilst experiencing issues such as in-work poverty and foodbank use due to unreliable pay and the frequent fluctuation of available work, was also noted. In addition, the value and contribution of their work was rarely acknowledged due to the need to balance different jobs and cope with not being allowed to be fully present in any one role.
The researchers also identified a culture of under-appreciation for workers, and a further pressure of fearing dismissal if workers raised a complaint with regards to their conditions. With many of these roles, and those working within them, providing an essential societal service, in order to better accommodate and protect this highly valuable section the UK workforce, the paper suggests several areas for improvement.
Dr Smith of the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Decent Work adds: “The search for dignity for these workers in multiple precarious employment is complex and fraught with stress regarding pay, working hours and unfair treatment. Yet the great irony is that these workers are doing essential jobs, they clean the schools and offices, they provide meals for children at school and care for the elderly. They are the backbone of the community and deserve so much better. “
Frameworks that better support economic strains and stability, actively work to prevent and tackle stigma, highlight a culture of appreciation and social recognition must be introduced and enforced at an employer level.
Professor McBride of Durham University Business School concludes: “In 2025 there were over one million workers in the UK employed on zero-hour contracts. Such precarious work is now becoming the new norm. It is up to employers to ensure they are adapting their worker care policies to reflect the new demands of the employment they offer.”
Going beyond individual employer action, the researchers also advocate for policymakers and other decision makers to collaborate to better consider worker rights, welfare, and labour market logistics, giving workers a bigger voice, and better access to protections.
Further information
The paper ‘We are the backbone of the community’ – precarious multiple employment and the complex dynamics of dignity in, out, and between work is available to read in the Human Relations journal, published by Sage.