Perceived workplace mistreatment: Case of Latina hotel housekeepers

1 Introduction

Latinos are the fastest-growing population segment in the United States of America (USA), comprising 14% of the labor force [1]. The hospitality industry employs 561,000 Latinos, of whom 50% are female (Latinas) [2]. Of these, 41% take on cleaning tasks in the housekeeping departments of hotel properties [2]. Cleaning hotel rooms involves a series of repetitive movements, including constant bending to make beds, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting, lifting, lowering, pushing heavy trolleys, and moving heavy mattresses or furniture [3]. Housekeepers frequently experience ongoing time pressure to have rooms ready for incoming guests [4].

The workplace provides a place for social engagement as well as an outlet for socialization for workers via interactions with co-workers and customers. Each worker brings her/his social position, along with key societal divisions involving property and power, social class, gender, race/ethnicity, nativity, and immigration status [5]. Members of racial and ethnic minority groups are more likely to suffer discrimination and mistreatment in the workplace and more adverse outcomes [6]. Discrimination refers to unfair treatment because of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability, age, or genetic information; harassment by managers, co-workers, or others in the workplace, due to the same reasons; denial of a reasonable workplace change that is needed because of religious beliefs or disability; improper questions about or requests for disclosure of personal information; or retaliation because the employee has complained about job discrimination or assisted with a job discrimination proceeding [7]. Workplace mistreatment involves overt or covert bullying; verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse; or disrespect, humiliation, intimidation, or aggressive or hostile communication and behavior [8, 9] and has been categorized as interpersonal or policy-related mistreatment [10].

Race and ethnicity appear to play a role in experiences of workplace mistreatment. Hispanic workers experience the highest degrees of mistreatment (56.9%), followed by African Americans (54.1%) [11]. Workers who experience discrimination or mistreatment can either use an official outlet (e.g., a grievance system) to complain or choose to withdraw from the organization (e.g., quit) [10]. Latina hotel housekeepers’ low socioeconomic status, possible lack of immigration documentation, and lack of English proficiency, combined with their employment at the bottom of the organizational hierarchy, leave them especially vulnerable to workplace mistreatment, leading to negative psychological and physical impacts [6]. Undocumented workers are more vulnerable to mistreatment or unfair practices: in 2011, the nation’s total immigrant population reached 40.4 million, of which 11.1 million, or 27.5%, are unauthorized [12].

Latinas may experience more psychosocial health issues and are less likely to receive psychosocial health support than their male counterparts or non-Latina women [13]. The physical, chemical, and biological hazards faced by hotel housekeepers have been well documented [14]; however, there is a dearth of research on the broader societal context in which Latina hotel housekeepers live and work.

The hospitality and tourism industry represents the largest economic sector in the world, and supports 14.3 million jobs in the USA alone [15]. This sector comprises a variety of jobs in food services and lodging that expose workers to diverse potential work hazards. The health and wellbeing of hospitality employees has significant impacts on the cost of healthcare, turnover rates, quality of service, and employee performance and quality-of-life, as well as the prosperity of the global economy.

Jobs in the hospitality industry are particularly demanding because they are characterized by unfavorable conditions that lead to adverse effects on employees’ physical and psychosocial health [14, 17]. These conditions include: (a) long or irregular work hours, often in the form of shifts, which severely limit employees’ family and personal time [16]; (b) work task unpredictability that requires immediate attention [18]; (c) emotional labor— the requirement to always be friendly and cheerful even when dealing with highly difficult guests or supervisors [19]; (d) sexualized workplaces (i.e. bedrooms, bars, lounges) that potentially expose employees to sexual harassment [20]; (e) low-paying jobs that lead to dissatisfaction [21]; (f) time pressures to check guests in and out quickly or finish cleaning guest rooms at a consistently fast pace [4]; (g) work overload, especially when there is a labor shortage [22]; (h) low decision latitude [23]; and (i) requirement for team-work with co-workers to provide quality service, which may lead to interpersonal conflicts [22].

A report from the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) revealed that a hotel housekeeper changes body position every three seconds while cleaning a room, yielding 8,000 different body postures during each 8-hour shift [24]. While cleaning, housekeepers frequently face time pressures to meet daily room quotas and must endure heavy static muscular loads, various awkward postures, and overexertion to keep up with the fast-paced work. Housekeepers are more likely than other workers to suffer from repetitive motion injuries (RMIs) [24]. Housekeepers also have the highest rate of musculoskeletal disorders among all hotel employees, with 3.2 cases per 100 workers [25]. Latina hotel housekeepers have the highest rate of occupational injuries (10.6%) among all hotel employees— twice the rate of injuries of non-Latina housekeepers [25]. Furthermore, housekeepers are exposed to chemical, biological, and psychological hazards [14, 26].

Due to adverse working conditions and low-skill requirements, the hospitality industry tends to attract workers from the most vulnerable groups of the population. Minority groups comprise over 60% of hotel and restaurant workers in the USA [27]. Among them, 22% are Hispanic, and among hotel and restaurant jobs, more Latinas than any other ethnic group are employed in housekeeping [2]. Immigrant hospitality workers’ socioeconomic background, immigration status, lack of English proficiency, and inadequate access to healthcare put them at an elevated risk of poor physical and mental health. This group is also prone to mistreatment or abuse of all kinds, including wage theft (i.e., minimum wage violations, no overtime pay), lack of job security, lack of healthcare [28], racial discrimination [29], and sexual and verbal abuse [30].

2 Methods

Latina hotel housekeepers were designated as the target population, due to their predominance in hotel housekeeping work [2], and because their gender role leaves them more susceptible to psychosocial health issues [13, 53]. A convenience sample design was planned due to the limited size of this particular population in the southeastern USA city where the study was conducted— with a population of 277,000 of which only 7.9% are Hispanic and only 8% work in the accommodation and food services sector [54]. The sampling frame was comprised of 75 local hotels which included 4-star, 3-star, 2-star, and 1-star properties (based on the AAA Hotel Ranking System). To minimize the bias of overrepresentation of hotels from the portfolios of a few ownership groups, a stratified random selection of hotels was made, resulting in 40 properties representing all four star levels. Of these 40 hotels, 12 were independent and 28 were franchised hotels.

Complete details of our sampling frame are provided in Table 1.

The general managers’ offices of all 40 hotels were contacted by telephone to explain study objectives and solicit permission to conduct information sessions on hotel sites during housekeepers’ lunch break to recruit participants. Of those contacted, 16 properties agreed to let the study team meet with their housekeepers. During the information session, researchers and field workers introduced themselves and explained study objectives, the informed consent process, the confidential nature of participant involvement, and cash incentives; they responded to any questions or concerns expressed by potential participants. Bilingual (English-Spanish) flyers explaining study objectives, confidentiality issues, and cash incentives were also delivered to the participating hotels for distribution to Latina hotel housekeepers. These efforts yielded a total of 20 recruited study participants. Additional recruitment efforts were extended to the local Hispanic community. Recruitment flyers regarding the study and researchers’ contact information were posted at various locations around town, including Mexican restaurants, international grocery stores, Hispanic Catholic churches, and nonprofit organizations with immigrant-focused assistance programs. Small stands were erected at the entrance of some of these locales, frequented by the local Hispanic community, with flyers and small treats for their children. Community recruitment efforts yielded another seven study participants, creating a total sample size of 27. The recruitment process was closed once saturation was reached, which was after the completion of 27 interviews.

3 Results

The 27 study participants were primarily from Mexico (21), with the remaining from El Salvador (three), Honduras (two), and Guatemala (one). The women ranged in age between 22 and 52 years, with the majority married (70%). Over half had some primary education (52%) ranging from five to nine years of schooling. Over a third had finished high school (37%), and the remaining had no formal education at all (11%). Participants reported having lived in the U.S. for between six to 20 years. Interviewers were instructed to avoid asking about immigration status in order to maintain participants’ trust; however, 11 of the 27 participants (nearly 41%) offered this information on their own. Because participants’ documentation status was not asked, neither was the issue of authorized or unauthorized employment status touched upon. Participants were asked about the number of people in their household with full-time or part-time jobs and their total household income (including contributions by their spouse and children). All but three housekeepers reported an annual household income ranging between $8,400 and $19,200, which falls well below the poverty threshold ($23,550 for a family of four) [57]. When asked about their English proficiency, the majority reported that they spoke either poor or barely any English at all (67%) with the rest indicating their ability to communicate at an intermediate level (33%). Participants indicated working at their current hotels between one and 15 years. Except for one participant, all the interviewed housekeepers worked part-time and were unable to reach 40 hours per week, and thus did not qualify as full-time employees eligible to receive benefits, such as health care, paid sick days, and paid holidays. Participants described their work on a typical day, during which they cleaned between 10 and 20 rooms (with an average of about 15 rooms per housekeeper), depending on hotel occupancy rates, and were paid between $7.25 (minimum wage by state law) and $8 per hour. When asked if they needed or had a second job, they responded affirmatively.

Although all participants were explained study definitions of discrimination, mistreatment, and harassment, many responses focused on treatment perceived as unfair or unjust. This could be due to possible inability to discern their own experiences as fitting into one of three categories presented or differential understandings of the terms used. Responses to questions on perceived mistreatment were easily categorized into discrete incidents of either policy-related or interpersonal mistreatment.

4 Discussion

Our methodology provided an enhanced understanding of the broad occupational health concerns of Latina hotel housekeepers, as well as the types and extent of mistreatment they experience in the workplace. Further, through corroboration with findings in similar studies, it appears that the results in the current study are broadly indicative of Latina housekeepers’ workplace experiences in the hospitality sector.

This study identified a number of incidents in the hospitality sector workplace that are perceived as mistreatment by Latina hotel housekeepers. Trigger events at the policy or organizational level pertain to wages, benefits, or lack of resources, whereas at the interpersonal level, such events relate to interactions with supervisors and co-workers. Regardless of agreement on the interpretation of a particular event as mistreatment [31], all study participants reported feeling their pay was not proportional to the difficulty of their cleaning jobs, which require heavy physical labor and often lead to injuries. More specifically, study participants expressed feeling unfairly treated in light of the low-input-to-high output ratio. Additionally, nearly all interviewees perceived the denial of overtime and sick pay as an unfair practice. According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employees are entitled to paid sick leave as well as overtime pay after 40 hours of work during a work week [59]. To evade FLSA stipulations and in order to avoid paying these benefits, some housekeeping supervisors ask the housekeepers to clock out earlier to keep their weekly work hours below 40, while requiring them to continue working. Participants lacked any type of third-party representative in negotiations with employers to safeguard their rights and welfare, as none belonged to a labor union.

Other reported policy-related mistreatments include employers’ neglect in providing appropriate cleaning tools or personal protective equipment to enable hotel housekeepers to accomplish their work safely and avoid causing harm to their health. This was common, especially for Latina housekeepers working in smaller scale hotels, and is a violation of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970, which assures safe and healthful working conditions regardless of the scale of operations.

Interpersonal mistreatment was also common, as interviewees reported supervisor favoritism and unfair work assignments as well as verbal abuse from both supervisors and co-workers. When racial identity became the focus, these trigger events were exacerbated. For example, participants described supervisor favoritism toward African-American housekeepers over Latinas in the form of job assignments, discipline expectations, and allocations of cleaning tools. Such favoritism was even more obvious when the supervisor was also Latina. A sense of workplace hostility between Latino sub-groups was revealed. For example, El Salvadorian housekeepers indicated that their Mexican co-workers behave in a superior manner and often pick on them verbally. This finding is supported by other research, which found Latino supervisors more frequently mistreating their Latino subordinates to avoid appearing as if they practiced favoritism toward their compatriots [58].

The global hospitality industry is plagued by very high and costly employee turnover and is increasingly and heavily reliant on immigrant and migrant labor. Hotel companies, regardless of size and scale, would benefit greatly from human resource policies that are founded on social responsibility. Policies designed to protect, reward, train, and retain employees would lead to a greater return on investment for those companies. Unfair or unjust policies or discrimination or mistreatment are likely to lead to job dissatisfaction, insecurity, lack of control, chronic stress, and occupational safety and health issues, which increase accidents while reducing productivity. It is critically important that companies avoid financially exploiting the vulnerabilities of immigrant/migrant workers, as these policies ultimately harm the companies themselves.

To minimize perceived mistreatment and promote a healthier work environment for Latina hotel housekeepers at the policy-level, employers are encouraged to re-evaluate their reward systems, make good faith effort to minimize pay inequities, abandon efforts to keep employees below 40 hours despite full time work in order to avoid paying benefits or overtime, offer sick pay when needed, and emphasize both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.

Hotel companies are encouraged to make their employees aware of their employment rights and visibly post the FLSA in multiple languages in work areas. Latina hotel housekeepers’ limited education and poor English proficiency hinder their ability to understand or exercise their rights. Therefore, appropriate bilingual communication channels need to be established to inform workers of their rights as well as employer expectations. Employers can provide assistance in this area by providing ESL classes to enhance effective communication at work to reduce misunderstandings, and allow workers to effectively communicate with their supervisors and managers. In cases where employees are genuinely ineligible for certain benefits, overtime pay, or paid sick leave, employers are encouraged to share company pay policies with employees in their native language to minimize employee perception that these policies constitute organizational mistreatment.

Equitable and respectful treatment of all employees needs to be mandated as part of any company’s social responsibility toward employees. It is imperative for housekeeping supervisors to receive adequate multicultural diversity training in order to successfully manage subordinates from different cultural backgrounds; such training can help reduce unfair treatment and racial/ethnic discrimination in the workplace, by increasing cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills, while encouraging teamwork [60]. Further, a zero tolerance policy on discrimination, mistreatment, and harassment should be frequently and clearly communicated to all employees. Holding violators accountable and taking disciplinary action against them would assure greater success in eliminating unacceptable behaviors. Employers should establish reporting systems that do not penalize workers who file complaints, and that are complemented by proper procedures and training to minimize negative behaviors. Meaningful efforts to eliminate mistreatment, discrimination, and harassment in the workplace can greatly reduce the psychosocial risk factors of hotel housekeepers and improve their general sense of well-being. Hotel companies should provide ongoing safety training; teach proper cleaning techniques, positioning, posture, and body mechanics; procure ergonomic cleaning tools and equipment; provide functional equipment; provide personal protective equipment (e.g., gloves, masks, back belts); assign reasonable number of rooms; enforce break times for physical recovery; and adopt non-toxic cleaning products.

Workplace mistreatment among Latina hotel housekeepers requires attention from policymakers, stakeholders, advocates, as well as researchers. Occupational safety standards should be enforced and relevant laws should be established to safeguard the rights of immigrant groups. Labor unions have the potential to play a positive role by providing a collective voice for hotel housekeepers in negotiations or collective bargaining for wages, work hours, workloads, and work conditions, and by defending their rights and helping to reduce their risks for psychosocial hazards. It is a challenging endeavor to hold employers accountable to upholding the basic occupational health and safety standards and labor laws, even though the economic rewards gained by providing workers with favorable working conditions have been well documented in the literature. With an increasing number of Internet-savvy Millennial travelers (approximately 75 million) who are not only affecting shifts in the hospitality sector, but who are also genuinely interested in social corporate responsibility, hotel guests’ opinions and reviews on social media might prove more powerful in pressuring hotel companies to make improvements to work conditions of their employees. This may prove far more effective than political or union pressure on companies to make improvements to work conditions. For this to be possible, however, more information about occupational health and safety of hotel employees needs to make its way out of academic literature and into the public eye.

5 Conclusion

The qualitative approach of this study permitted researchers to unveil the sources and types of mistreatment perceived by an underserved and under researched occupational segment, and provided the basis for recommendations to minimize incidents of mistreatment. There were some limitations. First, the data were collected from Latina hotel housekeepers from one small city in the southeastern United States; therefore, and is the case with qualitative research in general, results cannot be generalized. Future work will need to expand the sampling frame to include different regions of the nation as well as other ethnic/racial minorities to understand and compare experiences with workplace mistreatment. Second, the interview guide did not include questions on hotel responses observed by hotel housekeepers to mediate or minimize conflicts between subgroups of Latinas.

Future research would benefit from using multi-method approaches to collect both qualitative and quantitative data in order to understand the complexity of Latina hotel housekeepers’ occupational health issues. Community-based organizations need to be tapped into for more effective participant recruitment and enrollment. In addition to systematic scientific methodologies, this area will benefit greatly from interdisciplinary teams of researchers.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to report.