'No pay rise in five years': Hospitality sector hits crisis point

Thursday, 7 April 2022

The hospitality sector needs to be improved, a report has found.

A report into the hospitality sector has found it is at a crisis point with high turnover, bullying and lack of training.

Research report Voices From the Front Line was released on Friday and offers three key recommendations for how to improve the hospitality sector.

The report said the sector was dealing with concerning employment and work issues, including problematic pay and working conditions, bullying and harassment and significant levels of non-compliance with employment law.

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The research was conducted by Dr David Williamson, Professor Erling Rasmussen and Camille Palao of AUT University, who gathered responses to 40 questions from 396 people in late 2019 and early 2020.

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“Whilst the survey was conducted during the exceptional times of Covid-19, the findings align with historical work experience problems in this sector,” the report says.

Nearly half of respondents reported they had witnessed or experienced bullying in the workplace.

“The findings highlight unfair and illegal practices but also aim to be the starting point for discussion to improve work experiences and long-term sustainability for the hospitality sector.”

It found 16 per cent of respondents never signed a contract before starting their jobs, 18 per cent did not receive the minimum wage and 77 per cent did not receive other entitlements such as lieu days, holiday pay and rest breaks.

Many respondents said they were reluctant to raise issues with their management or human resources department because of a fear of negative consequences.

Nearly half (48.3 per cent) of respondents said they never had the opportunity to get a pay rise, or promotion.

“No pay rise in the five years I worked for him. If you were not happy with the pay you got you could leave, and he would find someone that was happy with the pay,” one respondent said.

Verbal abuse from either management, co-workers and customers was experienced by 58 per cent.

One respondent who worked in clubs said staff were regularly groped, touched, non-consensually kissed, verbally abused, drugged, physically assaulted and followed home by patrons who were not removed from the venue by management.

Nearly half reported they had witnessed or experienced bullying in the workplace.

Bullying was not reported by 48 per cent, mainly out of fear of being fired, or making the situation worse.

“The findings describe a sector with a significant ‘rump’ of workplaces that are not meeting common expectations for decent work,” the report says.

“The results support previous research in New Zealand and internationally that depict the hospitality sector as having significant levels of labour turnover, low pay and poor work conditions.”

The report suggests three priorities for change.

The first is driving out employers who fail to provide a minimum of decent work experiences. It suggests employer representatives have a role to play in naming and shaming poor employers.

It calls for better pay conditions, training and development associated with longer-term career paths and the ability for employee voices to be effective and make significant changes in the workplace.

The final recommendation is to change the image of hospitality work from “poor and off-putting” in order to overcome embedded recruitment and retention issues resulting from this image.

“This can only happen if the first two key recommendations are addressed for a considerable amount of time in the future.

“It is clear that a significant section of employers needs both support and firm direction from employer groups, unions and the Government,” the report says.