WELLBEING JAMES YU AND FATIMA JUNAID
Migrant workers within the hotel industry and some simple suggestions to help their wellbeing In Aotearoa, within the hospitality industry, the high level of employee turnover is a challenge. Turnover currently sits at 46 per cent (compared with the national average turnover rate of 18.8 per cent) with even higher turnover in unskilled and semi-skilled workers.1 On top of this, migrant workers are an essential resource for the hospitality industry in New Zealand because they can fill the vacancies.2 Fatima Junaid and James Yu from Massey University shed light on the ongoing relationship between migrant workers and the hospitality sector.
T
he relationship between migrant workers and the hospitality sector exists because a mobile international workforce offers a solution to labour shortages where the industry is unable to source sufficient labour internally. Put simply: migrant workers represent a cheaper option. Many migrant workers in the hospitality industry are considered
vulnerable due to their having less awareness of their rights, limited English language skills, and lack of independent financial means of support.3 Migrants, particularly in the hospitality industry, are more likely to complain about miserable conditions than those working in other sectors.4
Africa, Indonesia, Ski Lanka and Thailand. Their roles involved hotel receptionist, housekeeper, chef, conference and events co-ordinator and restaurant waitress. We identified four critical areas for improvement.
In our research, we focused on asking migrant workers what can make working in the hospitality sector and their wellbeing better. We already know of several concerns regarding migrants working in the hospitality sector5 such as being paid at the minimum wage (even if they are highly skilled) and longer work hours (most of which are outside regular business hours). Working conditions in hotels are often challenging due to the strenuous nature of the work. Promotion and career progression opportunities for migrant workers are frequently limited and inaccessible. There is gender, ethnic and nationality-based discrimination and a lack of work–life balance.
Responses show that racial discrimination is a big concern for migrant workers in the hospitality industry. Locals often pre-judged applicants based on the nationality and stereotype of migrants. People show a severe disrespect to migrant workers with English as their second language and have a lack of local knowledge. People perceive migrant workers as less educated and a group of unskilled people who can only do entry-level jobs. Migrants’ ideas are often ignored and not worth being mentioned. This has possibly raised concern for their mental wellbeing. The workers suggested that open-mindedness and training might be helpful for employers to become more inclusive.
We conducted interviews with migrant workers working in the hotel industry for over one year. The participants had been working in housekeeping, front office, food and beverage, kitchen and conference. The nationality of these migrant workers varied from Fiji, India, China, South
1 Lawson, 2018 2 New Zealand Immigration, 2018a 3 Manda, 2019 4 MBIE, 2015 5 Bi, 2006
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HUMAN RESOURCES
SUMMER 2020
1. Training in diversity and inclusion
“An accommodation owner told me that she would only employ people from European countries. Due to my surname, my job applications were often declined.”
