How does being in a low skilled job affect the opportunities for growth? Focusing on Housekeeping
Author: Holly Walker
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Abstract
A discussion of how female employees in particular cope with being at the bottom of the career ladder when they enter into the hospitality industry as a housekeeping role that is not entirely looked up to or respected by higher staff and customers of hotels. It will also focus on all, or lack of, skills that are required for this job role and how hard it may be for housekeepers to climb the ladder to where they want to be in their future.
Key words
Hospitality; housekeeping; tourism; low skilled; low paid.
The hospitality industry is one of the biggest industries in tourism today, with hundreds of different providers working throughout all of the hospitality aspects. It offers many opportunities for visitors as tourists, and potential employees. This industry is very labour oriented and this means that any industry growth that may happen in its future will always have a huge impact on the employment sector. Within hospitality in the EU, the industry altogether currently have employed up to 9.5 million workers, which are all spread across 1.7 million enterprises. This number of employees continues to grow in Europe, and they have substantially increased by 1.9 million, taking its initial numbers from 7.3 to 9.3 million in between the years of 2003 and 2008 (http://www.hotrec.eu/about-us/facts-figures.aspx, 2013).
One of the main providers of hospitality is the accommodation sector, which employs hundreds of new staff every year in many different departments, one of the busiest departments is housekeeping. This is an occupation that has fluctuated throughout the years, it has been really popular but also there have been decreases in the employment numbers; this could be a result of how low paid housekeeping jobs tend to be, as well as the fact that all of the requirements for housekeeping involve skills that need no learning or advanced training – which results in housekeepers being seen as unskilled, naïve and as these roles tend to go to women, it concretes a stereotypical view of all women so it is harder for them to gain respect from their hierarchy within a business and be offered a promotion.
According to the research of Harris (2009), there are often jobs that are populated mainly by women, which tend to primarily be housekeeping and easy skilled jobs, not because they are regarded as such for women but because these specific jobs are for those disadvantaged in the labour force; which goes on to show how many women in some countries are only perceived as a wife or a mother, so they will get employed based off the skills that employers tend to stereotype with the wife and motherly ‘jobs’ that are carried out at home, such as cleaning, and looking after others and the home (or hotel guest rooms).
Hughes (1997) states in their research that housekeeping involves work that has been described as ‘dirty work’ which in term represents a lack of dignity, moral status and results in a feeling of degradation for the employee. Due to this view, it results to housekeepers feeling that their job is unworthy and doesn’t allow them to pursue their future goals. The jobs and skills that are required of a housekeeper result in an outcome of comfort, hygiene and safety to customers and visitors of the accommodation sector; the roles of housekeepers are almost invisible, the majority of the work performed is unseen and therefore anonymous (Powell & Watson, 2006), resulting in staff feeling unappreciated.
Working as a housekeeper is not usually the employee’s career goal; and this role tends to be the first position of the career ladder which an employee can work their way up, however, this role once in can be difficult to achieve the opportunity to prove that they will work towards a more skilled and higher management job, and housekeepers are usually ‘rewarded’ with low pay and high labour turnover, so they basically work extremely hard and busy days for not what they deserve, which leaves many housekeepers unmotivated to continue into the hospitality industry.
According to the case study of a female employer in the hospitality industry in New Zealand (Harris, 2009), she started out in a low skilled job as a front of house receptionist, and claims that she was ‘young and naïve’ at the time, and there was guesses that this job would create an opportunity for late night shifts, drinking, gambling and wild parties rather than an opportunity for a stable career path.
With housekeeping as one of the largest departments in the accommodation sector, there will be a huge number of employee’s, and even though it is relatively easy to get into a job of housekeeping as no advanced skills or qualifications are needed, it can be hard to keep the job as it is easy for the management to replace you if a job is being failed to complete correctly or to the hotel and customers satisfaction.
Housekeepers generally experience a lack of respect from other hotel workers, and it is found that they are not recognised as workers with knowledge (Kensbrock, 2013).
The research for this study has shown that all roles of housekeeping are stereotyped to be women’s jobs at home, and that is why the majority of jobs are filled out with female staff, and therefore seen as being naïve and delicate (Harris, 2009). Also, that being a housekeeper will mainly be the first job that an employee will be able to get because of how easy it is and the hotel does not require much from the employee, but it is seen to be just as easy to replace an employee as the skills are so low as well as the pay.
References
Harris, C (2009), ‘Building Self and Community: The Career Experiences of a Hotel Executive Housekeeper’, Tourist Studies, 9 (2), p. 144-163
Hotel Rec: Hospitality Europe (2013), ‘Facts and Figues’ [online] Available from: http://www.hotrec.eu/about-us/facts-figures.aspx (Accessed on 20/4/2014)
Hughes, E (1997), The Sociological Eye: Chicago: Adline Atherton Inc
Kensbrook, S et al (2013), ‘The lowest rung: Women room attendents perceptions of five star hotels operational heirachies’, Internaional Journal of Hospitality Management, 35 (1), p. 360-368
A discussion of how female employees in particular cope with being at the bottom of the career ladder when they enter into the hospitality industry as a housekeeping role that is not entirely looked up to or respected by higher staff and customers of hotels. It will also focus on all, or lack of, skills that are required for this job role and how hard it may be for housekeepers to climb the ladder to where they want to be in their future.
Key words
Hospitality; housekeeping; tourism; low skilled; low paid.
The hospitality industry is one of the biggest industries in tourism today, with hundreds of different providers working throughout all of the hospitality aspects. It offers many opportunities for visitors as tourists, and potential employees. This industry is very labour oriented and this means that any industry growth that may happen in its future will always have a huge impact on the employment sector. Within hospitality in the EU, the industry altogether currently have employed up to 9.5 million workers, which are all spread across 1.7 million enterprises. This number of employees continues to grow in Europe, and they have substantially increased by 1.9 million, taking its initial numbers from 7.3 to 9.3 million in between the years of 2003 and 2008 (http://www.hotrec.eu/about-us/facts-figures.aspx, 2013).
One of the main providers of hospitality is the accommodation sector, which employs hundreds of new staff every year in many different departments, one of the busiest departments is housekeeping. This is an occupation that has fluctuated throughout the years, it has been really popular but also there have been decreases in the employment numbers; this could be a result of how low paid housekeeping jobs tend to be, as well as the fact that all of the requirements for housekeeping involve skills that need no learning or advanced training – which results in housekeepers being seen as unskilled, naïve and as these roles tend to go to women, it concretes a stereotypical view of all women so it is harder for them to gain respect from their hierarchy within a business and be offered a promotion.
According to the research of Harris (2009), there are often jobs that are populated mainly by women, which tend to primarily be housekeeping and easy skilled jobs, not because they are regarded as such for women but because these specific jobs are for those disadvantaged in the labour force; which goes on to show how many women in some countries are only perceived as a wife or a mother, so they will get employed based off the skills that employers tend to stereotype with the wife and motherly ‘jobs’ that are carried out at home, such as cleaning, and looking after others and the home (or hotel guest rooms).
Hughes (1997) states in their research that housekeeping involves work that has been described as ‘dirty work’ which in term represents a lack of dignity, moral status and results in a feeling of degradation for the employee. Due to this view, it results to housekeepers feeling that their job is unworthy and doesn’t allow them to pursue their future goals. The jobs and skills that are required of a housekeeper result in an outcome of comfort, hygiene and safety to customers and visitors of the accommodation sector; the roles of housekeepers are almost invisible, the majority of the work performed is unseen and therefore anonymous (Powell & Watson, 2006), resulting in staff feeling unappreciated.
Working as a housekeeper is not usually the employee’s career goal; and this role tends to be the first position of the career ladder which an employee can work their way up, however, this role once in can be difficult to achieve the opportunity to prove that they will work towards a more skilled and higher management job, and housekeepers are usually ‘rewarded’ with low pay and high labour turnover, so they basically work extremely hard and busy days for not what they deserve, which leaves many housekeepers unmotivated to continue into the hospitality industry.
According to the case study of a female employer in the hospitality industry in New Zealand (Harris, 2009), she started out in a low skilled job as a front of house receptionist, and claims that she was ‘young and naïve’ at the time, and there was guesses that this job would create an opportunity for late night shifts, drinking, gambling and wild parties rather than an opportunity for a stable career path.
With housekeeping as one of the largest departments in the accommodation sector, there will be a huge number of employee’s, and even though it is relatively easy to get into a job of housekeeping as no advanced skills or qualifications are needed, it can be hard to keep the job as it is easy for the management to replace you if a job is being failed to complete correctly or to the hotel and customers satisfaction.
Housekeepers generally experience a lack of respect from other hotel workers, and it is found that they are not recognised as workers with knowledge (Kensbrock, 2013).
The research for this study has shown that all roles of housekeeping are stereotyped to be women’s jobs at home, and that is why the majority of jobs are filled out with female staff, and therefore seen as being naïve and delicate (Harris, 2009). Also, that being a housekeeper will mainly be the first job that an employee will be able to get because of how easy it is and the hotel does not require much from the employee, but it is seen to be just as easy to replace an employee as the skills are so low as well as the pay.
References
Harris, C (2009), ‘Building Self and Community: The Career Experiences of a Hotel Executive Housekeeper’, Tourist Studies, 9 (2), p. 144-163
Hotel Rec: Hospitality Europe (2013), ‘Facts and Figues’ [online] Available from: http://www.hotrec.eu/about-us/facts-figures.aspx (Accessed on 20/4/2014)
Hughes, E (1997), The Sociological Eye: Chicago: Adline Atherton Inc
Kensbrook, S et al (2013), ‘The lowest rung: Women room attendents perceptions of five star hotels operational heirachies’, Internaional Journal of Hospitality Management, 35 (1), p. 360-368