A team of Strathclyde Business School researchers has published a report, funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of their work carried out in the Scottish hospitality sector during the Covid-19 pandemic which reveals that respondents suffered shocking instances of abuse within the sector and fears for their safety with the added responsibility of enforcing covid-19 safety measures.
The report focuses on workers’ experiences in the industry, using the ‘fair work’ principles: Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management and Fair Representation. The survey was conducted between June and October 2020 – and looked at the period when hospitality venues reopened following the first national lockdown, following strict, government-imposed social distancing measures.
The research found that the Scottish hospitality sector ‘fails to ensure that all workers in the industry are experiencing “fair work”' based on the five key Fair Work principles.
In terms of Fair Contracts, although most respondents were on full-time contracts, a number were on precarious contracts. Some hadn’t signed a contract or been given terms of employment before starting work – over 33% of respondents said they were not asked to sign a contract prior to starting their most recent job.
For Fair Pay, the findings highlighted serious concerns – most seriously, some participants stated they were not even paid the national minimum wage and – where they were – many stated there was little to no scope for pay rises. Many staff reported working beyond their contracted hours with no overtime pay, no holiday pay entitlement and regularly working through their scheduled breaks. Nearly 80% of respondents were required to work through public holidays without receiving any overtime pay or extra time off.
Many of the worst failures related to Fair Conditions especially in the context of Covid-19. On their return to work after lockdown measures such as furlough, participants reported fears for their safety arising from having to ensure customers respected social distancing measures – 78% of participants reported they did not believe customers would respect those rules. Respondents also detailed shocking experiences of abuse within the Scottish hospitality sector – the vast majority (95%) reported witnessing or experiencing verbal or psychological abuse, physical abuse, racial or ethnic abuse, sexual abuse or harassment and bullying. The majority of this abuse (75%) came from customers but a number of respondents also highlighted that abuse came from the owners, managers or colleagues – however, despite this, the majority of those experiencing or witnessing abuse didn’t bother to report it, saying that they felt such abuse was something to be ‘accepted’ by hospitality sector workers.
Fair Representation was another key issue found wanting, with fewer than 6% of respondents being trade union members. Respondents stated that reasons for this included that they didn’t think their management would approve of them joining a trade union. However, the impact of the pandemic on hospitality workers was noted as a potential reason for joining a union.
In terms of Fair Management – in addition to the abuse received by some workers from management – around a third of respondents stated they did not feel they were treated with respect at work and the same number reported receiving little to no supportive feedback from management. One participant claimed that they believed the cultural view of hospitality workers was to blame with people thinking of them as people who had ‘failed at education’ and that’s why they were in the hospitality industry.
Ultimately, the findings highlight key areas that need to change to improve working conditions in the Scottish hospitality sector:
Report co-author Dr Anastasios Hadjisolomou said, “This study highlights and confirms long-standing employment issues and unfair work in the hospitality industry, which have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Scotland is a nation with a vision for Fair Work for all. However, for this vision to come to life, we call upon policy makers, employers, employees and their representatives to work together to address these persistent issues and promote fair work.”
The full report can be viewed here: https://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/download/misc/fair-work.pdf