The Social Impact of Labour and Skill Shortage in the Hospitality Sector - Essay Example

The Social Impact of Labour and Skill Shortage in the Hospitality Sector By: Overview of the sector Society is the way of life, and how the people relate to each other. So how is this related to lack of skills in the hospitality sector? Studies indicate how society and culture greatly influence how people behave , what makes them feel comfortable with, how they like to be treated, how they treat others, and what they respect and value. Often, the society will embrace hospitality without realising the impact it can have on the community’s culture and society. In hospitality, the labor departments always rely on particular types of workers who are marginalized within the society. For instance, they count on the young people, the students, women, and the ethnic minorities. Statistics indicate that hospitality has the highest proportion of part-time workers. In most developed countries, the migrant labour has contributed to enabling hospitality employers to pursue the above-discussed strategy. This has led to the increase in illegal immigration. The migrant labour is critical in the main occupational groups in the hospitality sector. This includes elementary occupations, for instance, working in the kitchens, skilled trades, such as chefs, and the managers (Lucas, 2008). 1. Introduction 1.1 Sector characteristics The hospitality sector is very diverse. The sector includes the hotels, pubs and nightclubs, restaurants, contact food provision, travel services, tourist information services, membership clubs, holiday centres, events, hotels, visitor attractions, and self-catering accommodation. This sector employs very many people (Caviedes, 2010). There is increasing influence of multinational companies and chain organizations in the hospitality sector. In addition, key players in the hospitality sector are becoming more dominating. Despite this, small enterprises employing fewer than ten people still dominate the hospitality sector. Statistics indicate that, almost 75% of all business in this sector is small enterprises, although they may be part of large chain organizations. The same statistics indicate that, workplaces employing over 25 people account for 45% of all the employees (Hassanien, 2010). The paper identified six generic features in the hospitality sector: There is a very unpredictable and stochastic demand for services. This factor has increased demand for highly flexible jobs. The employers in the sector will try to minimize costs, and at the same time deliver high-quality services to the customers (Barth, 2006). Almost half of the jobs in this sector deal directly with the customers. With this case, the nature of the work may be stressful and emotionally draining. Therefore, managers in this sector always consider control of emotions, behaviour and appearance of the customer service work (Barth, 2006). When it comes to the economy of the country, the sector has the lowest productivity. The sector incorporates very labour intensive nature of work, traditional working practices, and less involvement in technology (Barth, 2006). The sector is characterized by low wages. In many countries across the world, majority of occupational rates is set at or around the National Minimum Wage. Factors such high presence of young workers and presence of marginal groups and lower skill requirements contribute to employers paying low wages (Barth, 2006). Statistics indicate that the staff turnover in this sector averages at 30%. 90% to 100% of this turnover is experienced in the pubs and restaurants department of the sector. It depends on analysts to categorize this point as a problem. For instance, the staffing practices of employers may favour particular types of marginal workers employed on non-standard, non-permanent contracts that induce high turnover. In some cases, experts argue that employees develop their skills by changing employers. Almost 70% of recruitment in this sector is to replace existing staff (Barth, 2006). The job vacancies in this sector are classified as hard-to-fill. 40% of their vacancies are hard to fill. A particular concern in this issue is the lack of skilled applicants, especially in managerial and chef positions. The other point to note is that, hospitality firms in rural areas find the difficulty in filling their available vacancies because of lack of available labour (Barth, 2006). 1.2 Workforce characteristics From statistics, the people who work in the hospitality sector represent almost 7% of the whole working population in the world (Hassanien, 2010). Statistics indicate that restaurants are the largest employing industry. Additionally, there are many female workers in this sector, than the male workers. The female workers comprise 57% of the overall workforce (Hassanien, 2010). Employers in this sector always rely on the marginal workers, for example, the women, the young, students, and the migrants. The people who work full time in this sector are roughly 56% (Oh, 2008). Those who work on a part-time basis are mainly found in restaurants and pubs, because of the nature of demand for their services. There are studies on why women dominate the workforce of this sector. The paper found out three reasons from these studies (Barth, 2006; Caviedes, 2010; Hinkin, 2005; Oh, 2008). The first reason is the nature of many jobs in this sector. Many job descriptions in this sector require people with skills such as empathy, listening and caring. Many employers attribute these characteristics to women. The second reason is the employers’ perceive of women roles. Women can perform range of jobs according to the stereotype of their traditional domestic roles. A good example here is that, almost 90% of cleaners in this sector are women. The last reason is that, the women could match the typical working hours of this sector. For instance, the women could combine childcare with the part-time work available. However, in recent cases, the number of women working in this sector has reduced (Lashley, 2007). There are many reasons students and the young workers are crucial to this sector. The reasons include flexibility in terms of the hours they work, willingness to work in hours such as evenings and the weekends, and willingness to work for lower pay. Majority of workers in this sector are 24 years and below. The students and the young workers provide employers with a high level of skills for low wages (Tesone, 2012). 1.3 Occupations The sector has elementary occupations (kitchen and catering assistants, bar staff, waiting staff), skilled trades (chefs/cooks), and the managers ( publicans and managers of licensed premises, hotel, restaurant and catering managers and accommodation managers) (Barth, 2006). Experts differentiate occupations in hospitality as front of the house and back of the house. This indicates the degree of contact with the customers. 45% of the occupations in this sector are elementary occupations (Hinkin, 2005). They require fewer technical skills. However, this may be a contentious assumption because it undervalues the important soft skills needed for customer service work. Only 20% of the workers are managers. 11% are skilled trades, especially chefs (Hinkin, 2005). 1.4 Employment relations There is a triadic power relationship between employers, workers and customers. Majority of firms in this sector have tough human resource departments, thereby creating a poor employment relations and personnel practices. Employers often consider employees as cost to be minimized in order to maximize profits (Clarke, 2009). Potential employees pursuing hospitality jobs think they have chosen poor career routes (Caviedes, 2010). Despite existence of poor employment practices, employees in this sector record positive remarks about their work. Majority of these workers argue that there are good employee-management relations. Furthermore, customers have the upper hand in the running of firms in this sector (Lucas, 2008). They can make the work either rewarding or stressful. They can also influence what a worker earns through tips received, and they can cause an employee to be dismissed in situations of a complaint. There are few trade unions representing workers in the hospitality sector. There is a very low rate of trade union density in hospitality workplaces. Many people argue that the low levels of unionization in this sector are due to sectoral factors, such as workplace characteristics. However, when the sectoral factors are controlled, the hospitality sector is more likely to be unionized than other sectors of the economy (Pizam, 2010). 2. Impacts 2.1 Employment of the and underage young people There have been high demands of workers in the hospitality sector. This has resulted to employers in hospitality to draw labour from variety of sources. They have relied on the young workers who are sometimes underage, especially the students, and the underage female workers. Therefore, due to shortage of labour in the hospitality sector, the number of young workers working in firms has increased (Sigala, 2012). The young people in urban centres are readily available to firms in this sector. These young people are willing to work with minimum wages, and to work during unsociable hours in order to fund their daily needs. This situation leads to coincidence of needs. The coincidence happens between employers and the young people, where the young may sacrifice their studies of other perceived gains, and the employers benefit from a wide range of available soft skills (Sigala, 2012). The young people always do not have knowledge of previous jobs. With case, the young people can be trained without having preconceptions about the duties they will be performing in their jobs (Lucas, 2008). The young are perceived by employers to displace the lower skilled potential employees because they offer the employers, the better value for money (Sigala, 2012). Hospitality is always a variable option during the studies of many students. From many studies, students always do not see the hospitality sector as an attractive sector once leaving their studies. Many students say that the sector offer low pay, the sector has low-status image, and lack of career progression. Despite majority of students being employed in this sector, they also seek alternative employments available in the economy. Many studies indicate that students have to give a positive image of the sector. From demographics, the supply of students and the young people in this sector is diminishing (Sigala, 2012). 2.2 Increase in illegal migration and human trafficking Due to lack of labour in the hospitality sector, employers are now turning their attention to the migrant workers. They sometimes traffic employees into the host countries. Additionally, the lure of employment opportunities in developed countries encourages illegal immigration. Economists argue that companies in this sector get more money by recruiting migrant labourers. Majority of these migrant workers are over-qualified and over-skilled for their roles. Studies indicate that more productive use could be made of these skills. For this case, employers often recognize and utile the high-value skills of the migrant population. However, there is need for additional research in order to determine if the migrant workers could potentially fill the shortfall of management applicants (Caviedes, 2010). There is no evidence to suggest that some employers have used the migrants as a safety valve in order to manage labour market shortages (Caviedes, 2010). Some studies indicate that some migrants intend to stay in the host country for only a limited period before returning to their country of origin. With this case, the migrant workers are placing the hospitality in potentially vulnerable positions. For instance, if there are better opportunities elsewhere in the host country, the migrant workers may decide to locate elsewhere, hence reduce in labour supply. Therefore, there is a need of training host population in this sector, than relying on migrant workers (Hinkin, 2005). Studies indicate that the primary reason for employing migrant workers is because those from the host countries have poor employee attitudes and work ethic. From these studies, the key words include motivated, reliable, attitude, flexible, and committed. Specifically, employers argued that migrant workers would work for longer hours, and the majority of them would ask if there were any more shifts they would cover (Caviedes, 2010). Migrant workers would ensure profit maximization. By employing the migrant workers, employers would have achieved their strategy of maximizing profits in a segmented labour market. The migrant labour force provides the workforce is more segmented (Caviedes, 2010). The additional groups of marginal workers are employed at rates of pay that do not match their levels of qualification (Clarke, 2009). Statistics indicate that the majority of migrant workers accept work and its conditions of employment that they see as being reasonable that the host country’s workers would not tolerate (Oh, 2008). Evidence show that there is always a mismatch between the skills and qualifications of foreign workers, and the roles they are given (Lucas, 2008). This same evidence applies to the reliance of the hospitality sector on students. For instance, studies indicate that employers prefer students because they can maximize both numeric and functional flexibility. Additionally, students have attributes such as intelligence, good personality, and they can communicate well (Caviedes, 2010). 2.3 Increase in employment of Females The lack of the workforce in this sector has led to an increase in women employment (Lashley, 2007). The increase in female employees is because the women are ready to work flexibly (Oh, 2008) and for lower wages (Pizam, 2010). Many women work for lower wages because it fits in with family and care obligations. Studies indicate that many skills in the hospitality sector are perceived to be feminine. This is the reason employers in the hospitality sector prefer attractive and young women. Additionally, the jobs in this sector, for instance, housekeeping, are perceived as gender-perceived roles, with preference going to women (Barth, 2006). 2.4 Attention shift to the older workforce Due to lack of workforce in this sector, majority of employers have turned their attention to the older workers (Lashley, 2007). The older workers are often underrepresented in the sector’s workforce. Statistics indicate that only 14% of employees in this sector are 50 years and above (Lashley, 2007). From time to time, hospitality employers have always had a negative impression of older workers. They perceive these workers as bad looking, and they prefer the attitude of younger people. There is limited evidence to contradict this point. However, some researchers find favourable attitudes towards older workers. These studies indicate that employing the old people may be a good means to reduce high turnover rates in the hospitality sector, because they are less likely to leave (Lashley, 2007). The aging profile of customers who have different expectations of the services will place different demands on staff. With these customers, an older worker may better serve them. They perceive these old workers as workers employees who are developed in life skills, and they may be in a position to empathize with them (Pizam, 2010). 2.5 Transformation of Ex-offenders With the shortage of labour in the hospitality sector, majority of employers rely on ex-offenders to fill available vacancies. The ex-offenders are alternative labor. These ex-offenders may have gained experience of working in commercial kitchens and catering many people in a workplace with so much pressure (Chen, 2010). The ex-prisoners may provide employers with valuable experience. Additionally, they may provide companies with relevant industry training. From statistics, majority of ex-offenders have successfully entered the field of catering in this sector. However, there should be additional research to study the employers’ attitudes towards ex-offenders. It is common employers to discriminate against ex-offenders in other sectors of the economy (Chen, 2010). 3. Conclusion Statistics predict an increase in the number of vacancies in the hospitality sector in the year 2014. In the previous years, there have been significant growths in the number of restaurant and catering managers. However, there have been mismatches between what employers want and which the current education system is supplying. This means skills needs are likely to change in the future. From the paper, it is evident that there will be shortages of skills and recruitment shortfalls in the sector in coming years. There is a need for firms in this sector to pass numerous initiatives, especially concerning the hospitality workforce. The initiatives have to address high labour turnover, skills shortages, and training deficiencies. The hospitality sector is very diverse. It is diverse in terms of the range of businesses it represents. Additionally, hospitality offers many job opportunities and serves different types of customers. Public houses, variety of hotels, restaurants, and public houses dominate hospitality. In hospitality, many factors affect the labour department. These are: • High level of customer contact • Unpredictable demand for services • Low concentrations of labour productivity • High level of hard-to-fill vacancies • Low wages • High rates of labour turnover 4. References Barth, S. C. (2006). Hospitality Law: Managing Legal Issues in the Hospitality Industry. John Wiley & Sons. Caviedes, A. A. (2010). Prying Open Fortress Europe: The Turn to Sectoral Labor Migration. Rowman & Littlefield. Chen, J. S. (2010). Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 6. Emerald Group Publishing. Clarke, A. (2009). International Hospitality Management. Routledge. Hassanien, A. (2010). Hospitality Business Development. Routledge. Hinkin, T. R. (2005). Cases in Hospitality Management: A Critical Incident Approach. John Wiley & Sons. Lashley, C. (2007). Hospitality: A Social Lens. Elsevier. Lucas, R. (2008). Staff Shortages and Immigration in the Hospitality Sector . Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University. Oh, H. (2008). Handbook of Hospitality Marketing Management. Elsevier. Pizam, A. (2010). International Encyclopedia of Hospitality Management. Butterworth-Heinemann. Sigala, M. (2012). Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality: Theory, Practice and Cases. Ashgate Publishing. Tesone, D. V. (2012). Principles of Management for the Hospitality Industry. Routledge. Read More