Latina/o Food Industry Employees’ Work Experiences

Latina/o immigrants in the workforce

Latina/o immigrants have less formal education and more likely to work in unskilled jobs for lower pay than their native-born counterparts in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). Latina/o workers, citizens and noncitizens, are younger, more likely to have lower English proficiency, and have less formal education than their Black and White counterparts. Moreover, Latina/os are more likely to work in low-paying jobs, small businesses, and contingent or nontraditional jobs (Singley, 2009; U.S. Department of Labor, 2008a). Finally, Latina/os have the lowest tenure in all industries, with only 16% reporting 10+ years with their current employer compared to Asians (21%), Blacks (23%), and Whites (26%; U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). It is important to note that these statistics represent Latina/os as a group. Although statistics were not available that further examined Latina/os workplace characteristics by generation status and socioeconomic status, these and other factors are likely to contribute to some variance in workplace characteristics among Latina/os.

Latina/os’ origins can be traced to a number of different Central and South American countries, but they generally share a common language, values, and beliefs. In the workplace, Latina/os are likely to place a high emphasis on their relationship with employers and coworkers (Falicov, 2000) and may place higher value on being treated with respect and dignity rather than on status or recognition (Falicov, 2001). A study exploring Mexican American work attitudes found that, in general, they were cooperative, productive, and had a higher sense of work ethic than Euro-Americans (Weaver, 2000). Latina/o collectivistic values, such as the emphasis on family interdependence, may also play a role in attitudes about work. For example, one study found that Latina/o hospitality industry workers who perceived that work interfered with their family life reported lower job satisfaction and lower levels of loyalty toward their employer (Namasivayam & Mount, 2004). Ignoring cultural factors associated with job satisfaction can be detrimental to both employees and employers, as job satisfaction is positively related to work performance and customer satisfaction (Schneider, White, & Paul, 1998).

Latina/os in the restaurant industry

The restaurant industry employs a significant number of immigrants in the United States, a large percentage of which are Latina/o immigrants (National Restaurant Association, 2008). Recent immigrants often settle for low-level entry jobs because of language barriers (Yakushko, Backhaus, Watson, Ngaruiya, & Gonzalez, 2008). Latina/os are more likely to be employed as cooks, wait staff assistants, and miscellaneous food workers than the national average (National Restaurant Association, 2008), and they comprise nearly 22% of food and accommodation industry jobs, and 14% of first-line supervisor positions in food preparation and service (National Restaurant Association, 2010). Within the food services, Latina/os experience long work hours, strenuous physical tasks, few opportunities for advancement, and low wages (U.S. Department of Labor, 2010a). High levels of poverty, low levels of education, and fear of job loss, particularly for undocumented workers, make Latina/os vulnerable to workplace injury, exploitation, and discrimination (Fox & Stallworth, 2005; Krieger et al., 2006; Loh & Richardson, 2004). Despite their high concentration in the service sector, we are not aware of any studies in the career development literature that have examined Latina/o workers in the restaurant industry. Thus, the current study addresses this gap by providing preliminary data from a group of Latina/o restaurant workers pertaining to their work environment and work tasks.

Participants and Procedure

The university Institutional Research Board approved all study procedures prior to sample recruitment and data collection. A sample of convenience was recruited from two cities surrounding the two universities partnered in the project. Participants were primarily immigrants to the United States and were recruited for the study through Latina/o and immigrant-serving community organizations and by contacting restaurants directly. Participants were eligible for the study if they self-identified as “Latina/o” or “Hispanic,” currently worked in the food service industry, and were at least 18 years of age. In all 75 individuals (42 female, 33 male) who met the inclusion criteria volunteered to participate. Ages ranged from 18 to 67 with a mean of 35.02 years (SD = 13.26). Years of employment in the restaurant industry ranged from 1 to 30 with an average of 5.04 (SD = 6.65). A majority (85%) of participants reported having received food safety training. The sample was largely composed of immigrants (80%); months in the United States ranged from 3 to 738 among participants with an average of 166.45 months, or 13.85 years (SD = 141.27). Most participants were born in Mexico (72%), with the remaining participants born in the United States (20%) and other Latin American countries (8%) including Argentina, Guatemala, Venezuela, El Salvador, and South American Guiana. The sample was consistent in several ways with national statistics regarding Latina/o workers in the food preparation and serving occupations. For example, proportionally there are more foreign-born workers (9.5%) than native workers (6.7%; Pew Hispanic Center, 2010a) and foreign-born workers of Mexican descent have the largest representation in the food industry (Pew Hispanic Center, 2010b).

Coding and themes

Two members of the research team (the bilingual Mexican American female focus group leader and an English-speaking, monolingual, White male) were responsible for developing initial codes and themes from translated transcripts. Both coders received training and had prior experience with qualitative research. The two coders discussed their biases and assumptions prior to reading focus group transcripts to increase validity of their interpretation of the data. Potential biases that emerged were bracketed before coding occurred including expectations that participants would report negative experiences with work, not feel motivated to perform food safety behaviors, not consider food safety an important issue, and experience various challenges to engaging in food safety behaviors (e.g., language fluency, lack of training, unsupportive work environments). The coders also made efforts to document emotional reactions to transcript content and temper the potential effects of personal biases as analysis progressed.

In the initial coding stages, the coders each developed a preliminary set of themes for one transcript based on patterns derived from the data. Initial themes were compared and discussed which resulted in a final list of primary themes, or domains, determined by consensus to broadly represent the data. Consistent with CQR, core ideas representing abstracts of each domain were produced to help define initial themes and guide future analyses. Categories were then developed to provide a more rich, detailed description of participants’ experiences within each domain and further organize the data. The two coders then discussed and revised domains and categories until consensus was reached on a final representation of the data. A cross-analysis consisting of each domain, core idea, and category with corresponding raw data was then developed.

To further ensure validity and reliability of the thematic structure, an internal auditor was consulted. Specifically, a Mexican American, female faculty member with extensive knowledge regarding the Latina/o population and experience in qualitative analysis reviewed all transcripts as well as the cross-analysis and provided feedback to the primary coding team. In some instances, participants’ statements were recoded or double-coded to better reflect the content of the raw data. Additionally, the categories within one domain were restructured to provide a better representation of the data. To ensure stability of the data, the final coding structure was compared to raw data from one additional transcript that was not included in prior analyses. Because no additional themes were identified that previous coding did not capture, the coding structure was deemed to be stable. A final summary of domains, categories, and core ideas is available in Table 1 .

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Table 1.

Domains, Categories, and Core Ideas from Focus Group Interviews with Latina/o Food Service Workers

Domains and Categories	Core Idea
Barriers Time Language Negative perceptions of training Managers and coworkers	Participants experience barriers to their practice of food safety behaviors
Facilitators Formal training Informal training	Participants experience supports that facilitate their use of food safety behaviors
Motivation Recognition Concern for others Concern for job security Personal values Tangible rewards	Participants experience cues that motivate them to engage in food safety behaviors.
Cultural Context Perceptions of Latina/o workers	Participants’ cultural values and norms influence their use of food safety behaviors and general work habits
Training Preferences Practice Audiovisual Comfort with computers Discomfort with computers Language preferences	Participants favor particular modalities of food safety training

Note: N = 75.

Barriers

The barriers domain encompassed participants’ experiences with obstacles to performing food safety behaviors within the workplace. Four categories representing various forms of barriers also emerged from the data. Time was indicative of participants feeling they did not have the time at work to engage in food safety practices. Specifically, several participants reported being rushed by work demands or employers to cook and prepare food. Consequently, many focus group members described inability to adhere to food safety guidelines. As one participant explained,

There are times when an order comes in, like fish for example, and we want to cook it properly. But then they come and rush us and want it faster. When they come and pressure you, you end up sending it raw in the middle.

All of us speak Spanish, so if you’re working in a restaurant where there are just Mexicans, everybody is going to be speaking Spanish. If you are working in an American restaurant and you don’t know how to speak English, then it becomes more difficult. It’s hard to be able to understand what someone says to you, “Do this like this.” Then you wonder what the person just told you. What did they tell you?

Focus group participants also described negative perceptions of training as decreasing their likelihood of engaging in food safety practices. Many described existing training videos and lectures as failing to keep their attention and ineffective in enhancing their motivation to engage in food safety behaviors. Others characterized the training they received as somewhat convoluted. One participant shared, “When you get the health card [food safety training card], you have to watch a movie. But it’s long and you want to fall asleep.” Similarly, another participant explained, “Sometimes I’ll go in and out of a training session without having understood a thing.” Within the final barriers category, participants described managers and coworkers as potential barriers to their use of food safety behaviors. Several focus group members explained the importance of developing friendly, personal relationships (i.e., personalismo) with their managers, stating they believed this would lead to enhanced work performance. Additionally, coworkers were identified as potential sources of modeling with regard to food safety behaviors. One participant shared her perception of the importance of managers stating, “I think that the managers need to be friendlier with us. When you build rapport with them, you feel more at ease and there are fewer problems. It’s all on the managers.” Another participant described the effect of coworkers on their use of food safety behaviors, explaining, “And sometimes if someone doesn’t comply, then the others won’t comply either. It is something contagious.”

Facilitators

In addition to perceived barriers, participants shared their experiences with factors they considered helpful or facilitative of their use of food safety behaviors in the workplace. The first category in this domain, formal training, encompassed what participants described as positive experiences with training provided by their employer or other agencies. Contrary to some participants, other focus group members described formal trainings as helpful and specifically cited training manuals and other informational resources as facilitators of their personal food safety practices. As one participant shared, “Well, it’s [the training] four hours long. So you learn something whether you want to or not. But truth be told, it’s very well designed.” Another participant described how formal training had been helpful, stating that, “Almost all restaurants have regulations and manuals. The manuals have also helped; you can always look up any information: when to wear gloves, or that vegetables and meat and bread have to be stored separately.”

Participants also described informal training as promoting their use of food safety behaviors. Experiences included in this category reflected learning gained through informal means such as observation of coworkers or learning through experience. One participant demonstrated this theme, sharing, “It was informal. I learned more by observing than by the training we received that was not short.” Another participant stated, “Most of my training has been through experience.”

Motivation

Participants described several different forms of motivation that promoted their use of food safety behaviors. The first type of motivation, recognition, was indicative of participants’ assertion that they were more likely to engage in food safety behaviors when receiving praise, or being noticed in a positive way for their work. One participant stated,

If you notice people when they do something good, instead of just marking them since you see them, why not when you see that they do right be like, “Oh you did good.” Let them know that you appreciate their help.

The second form of motivation participants described was concern for others. Specifically, focus group members expressed concern that their neglect of food safety behaviors might lead to customers becoming ill. One participant demonstrated their concern, saying, “So this is what I think, ‘If I am doing this, I have to do it right.’ I don’t want people to get sick. It might be me tomorrow getting sick if I am responsible.” Participants also described concern for job security as a source of motivation for them to follow food safety procedures at work. One focus group member stated they were motivated to practice food safety at work because, “It’s also the safety of your job and your family.” Another participant explained, “The biggest difference is that as a Hispanic you don’t want to lose your job, you don’t want to be looking for some other work and an American doesn’t seem to care.”

Another category, personal values, included participants’ descriptions of values such as following rules and treating others how one would want to be treated as motivating them to practice food safety. One participant shared that, “And of course you follow these rules, because I want to be treated the same when I’m eating out.” The final category in the motivation domain, tangible rewards, encompassed participants’ assertion that providing better wages and implementing point systems at work might increase employees’ use of food safety behaviors. One participant stated:

For real, if they paid fast food [workers] better it would probably—you get what you pay for. If you have lousy wages, then people are not going to tend to pay attention to their stuff, but if you work at somewhere that pays you what you’re worth, then you’re going to provide a quality, good product cause you want to be proud of that cause you get paid for that. Like for the waitress it’s like $2.70 an hour, $2.75. That’s horrible.”

Cultural Context

The cultural context domain encompassed participants’ reflections and perceptions of how cultural values and norms contributed to their work behaviors. Within this domain, one category, perceptions of Latina/o workers, emerged. This category referred to participants’ perception that culture-specific values influenced their work habits. As one participant explained, “I think that is why Latinos are a majority in this industry is because it requires for people to work long hours, and to be attentive to the detail.” Another participant shared, “I think the Hispanic community has big potential. I know most of them work hard; they show up at work on time, they don’t miss days of work.” Several other participants made comparisons between Latina/o and “American” workers, such as, “Hispanic workers are sticklers for the rules. Not like their American co-workers and Hispanics are very good at following those rules even if the home country didn’t have them.” In general, participants’ connected strong work ethic to Latina/o cultural values and believed that Latina/o employees are hard workers who abide by work rules and regulations.

Training Preferences

The training preferences domain included participants’ descriptions of their preferred food safety training modalities. A number of participants stated that practice had been or would be a helpful technique in their food safety training. Specifically, hands-on learning and practical methods of presenting information were described as effective means of promoting food safety behavior. One participant stated, “I think hands on. You’re going to take in more and you’re going to pay attention more to what you are doing if you’re doing hands on than by watching a video.” Other participants suggested, “Doing it and receiving feedback: you’re doing it and there’s someone behind you telling you, hey, you’re doing OK but … ” and “That’s what helps the most. Practice.”

Focus group participants also stated that audiovisual modalities such as signs and videos had been or would be helpful for food safety training. Several focus group members suggested that visual learning might aid in training comprehension given language barriers while others stated that having an individual serving as a model of appropriate food safety behavior would be helpful. As one participant shared:

The best way to learn for us Latinos in this industry is visually. That would be first, because not all of us can speak English. So the best way would be visually. You can play a video and say, “See, you have to do this and this.” Especially when it’s about the hygiene and the rules—I think it’s better to play a video about that.

Additional categories in the training preferences addressed the use of technology in food safety training and whether this would be compatible with employee learning preferences and familiarity with technology. One category included comfort with computers for participants who expressed that they and others would be able to use computer technology in their training, while another category was labeled discomfort with computers for participants who shared that they or others would not be able to use computers in training. One participant who expressed comfort with computers stated, “I think that the idea of the computer would actually work. That way they would get the visual insight, and people would also learn a little bit more about computers.” In contrast, other participants explained, “But the people that come here from small towns or from a small ranch—I mean, they are not really prepared for a computer. I don’t think so” and, “I was just going to say how like older people are not as comfortable [with computers].”

The final training preferences category was language preferences, or the favored language in which participants stated they would like to receive their training. Many participants described the need to have access to training materials in English and Spanish as well as bilingual staff to conduct food safety trainings. One participant said:

I think that it should be in both languages. That way we can grasp things better. For example, if someone gets there and there is no one there who speaks English and that person wants to order food and you don’t know how to speak any English, then you won’t know what they are ordering.

Practical Implications for Career Counseling

As evidenced by the high number of employed Latina/os in the restaurant industry, it is clear that this group of workers warrants specific focus and attention on their career development and work experiences. Career counselors’ knowledge of the on-the-job experiences of Latina/os is critical to helping these clients thrive and succeed in the workplace by developing the skills necessary for specific work environments, to deal effectively with perceived disparities at work, and to help maintain employment in areas that they seek work. The following recommendations are suggested based on the results of this study with the understanding that collaboration and consultation with restaurant managers is critical to their success.

First, career counselors should consider the work environment in relation the client’s cultural values and familiarity with the United States. Brown (2002) posits that “job tenure will partially result of the match between the cultural and work values of the worker, supervisors, and colleagues” (p. 53). Thus, educating Latina/o newcomers about the culture of the US workplace can help employees better adjust to their workplace expectations. Informing clients of formal expectations (i.e., trainings and certification) and informal expectations (i.e., maintaining a quick pace during peak hours) can help decrease the initial learning curve and promote job maintenance. Further, informing clients of their employee rights such as mandatory breaks and limits of overtime work will allow workers to identify and protect themselves from work exploitation.

Second, career counselors should consider work environments and interpersonal relationships at work as related to work performance, satisfaction, and maintenance. Workers in the present study noted that motivation for adherence to work expectations could be reinforced by positive relationships between employees and managers. Career counselors should explore previous work experiences of Latina/o newcomers as well as their experiences with adjusting to the interpersonal interactions in the US workplace. Further, findings from this study showed that workers overwhelmingly prefer interactive audio/visual learning. Given the lower English proficiency and educational attainment of Latina/o restaurant workers, it is imperative that they are able to access training that meets their needs. Career counselors can work with clients to discuss strategies for overcoming language barriers during training (i.e., requesting written materials to review) and in the workplace (i.e., asking for another coworker to model desired behaviors).

Finally, career counselors can act as agents of change for Latina/o workers by advocating for structural changes in the workplace. For those career counselors who seek to incorporate advocacy into their work, several approaches are suggested based on the findings of this study. For instance, career counselors can partner with local restaurant associations, immigrant serving organizations, or cultural centers to provide job placement guidance for recent Latina/o immigrants. Career counselors could also facilitate workshops with restaurant companies who draw immigrant labor to discuss the motivators and barriers that affect their employee’s behavior on the job and provide materials that outline general characteristics of the Latina/o population including cultural values, immigration histories, and demographic information (Zanner & Stevens, 2001)

Counselors can also promote the benefits of language programs for all employees—English classes for employees whose first language was not English and Spanish classes for native employees—to improve communication in the workplace. Career counselors can further advocate for culturally sensitive training approaches that go beyond having materials accessible in Spanish but also incorporate knowledge about cultural values and dynamics that influence the learning process.

Limitations

Some limitations should be noted for this study. As previously discussed, the Latina/o population is not a heterogeneous population and therefore within group variances are important to consider. The sample in this study was primarily composed of immigrant workers of Mexican descent; therefore, caution should be used when generalizing findings to Latina/os who are not immigrants and to other Latina/o ethnicities. Future research might explore the workplace experiences of Latin/o immigrants in different regions of the United States. Next, it should be noted that although researchers employed various strategies to protect participant anonymity, some participants may still have felt apprehensive about sharing their experiences with others in a focus group format and thus their responses may not adequately portray their true difficulties. Lastly, in a few instances managers assisted with recruitment by informing their employees of the study and allowing some workers to participate during lunch hours, it is possible that the sample represents workplaces that are more flexible and open to receiving feedback.

Future Research

It is through research and advocacy that “[career] counselors can help people become empowered so they can challenge systemic barriers and seize new educational, career, or personal-social opportunities” (Lee, 1998, p. 9). Given the findings from the present study, future research is warranted to capture the experiences of Latina/o workers in other food industry sectors outside of restaurants. For instance, the food packaging and processing industry employs about 34% of the total Latina/o workforce (U.S. Department of Labor, 2010b). Future studies should focus on incorporating findings from this qualitative study and other exploratory studies (de Castro et al., 2006; Namasivayam & Mount, 2004; Shinnar, 2007) into existing theories or in the creation of new theoretical models. Furthermore, given the current study’s largely Mexican immigrant sample, exploration of the work experiences of workers in other regions (e.g., Northeast region with more Dominican, Cuban, and Columbian representation), Latina/o groups (e.g., Puerto Ricans with higher English proficiency), and statuses (i.e., undocumented workers) may yield different results and additional needs for these populations. Additionally, given the studies’ findings regarding coworkers and managers acting as barriers for Latina/o employees’ work performance, future research may investigate how perceptions of workplace climate are related to general workplace productivity, job maintenance, and advancement. Finally, there is an increased need to engage in and support interdisciplinary research. The interdisciplinary nature of the research team was critical to addressing the research questions in the present study adequately. Researchers are encouraged to invite colleagues from nonpsychology fields to enhance the scope of their research.