Wasted youth in the hospitality industry: Older workers’ perceptions and misperceptions about younger workers

Abstract

In many western contexts, although young people form a high proportion of the hospitality workforce, perceptions of hospitality work as temporary and unpredictable rather than an aspirational career choice means turnover is very high. The aim of the study on which the article is based was to investigate why people build and maintain long careers working in hospitality. This article focuses on the career experiences of young workers in the industry, viewed from the perspective of older workers in long-term hospitality careers. An intersectional methodology explored how youthful body-age, at times interacting with other aspects of socially ascribed difference, is reflected in work-place organizational processes. The findings suggest that younger workers in hospitality are not valued and the discussion addresses the ways in which inequitable power relations create this status quo. The conclusion is that the hospitality sector should retain its youthful workers, rather than wasting this finite human resource.

Hospitality employment 2033: A backcasting perspective (invited paper for ‘luminaries’ special issue of International Journal of Hospitality Management)

“…It is arguable that there is a broad willingness by employers and governments to continue to accept the grim working conditions of Orwell's time. Many examples of operations in the hospitality industries today, of both developed and less-developed countries, include work which remains exploitative (Berg and Farbenblum, 2017;McDowell et al, 2009); poorly paid and lacking in social respect and value (see, for example, De Beer et al 2014; Dreier et al, 2018); hostile to workplace organisation (Bergene et al 2015); highly dependent on and, frequently, exploitative of youth (Dagsland et al, 2015;Mooney, 2016); or is located in an environment where employer practice flies in the face of both legal and ethical standards and expectations (Booth, 2016;Butler, 2018). Hospitality work is widely seen as discriminatory in its treatment of women, minorities and the disabled, frequently through structured occupational segmentation and the presence of glass ceilings that prevent opportunity (Kalargyrou and Costen, 2017;Mooney, 2009;Mooney et al, 2017).…”

Scoping Review on Ageism against Younger Populations

“…Younger workers report not feeling valued, receiving belittling comments and being generally perceived as incompetent because they look young, and receiving fewer development opportunities [ 183 , 193 , 219 ]. Another article makes a distinction between enacted stigma whereby a person makes explicit comments about a participant’s age, and felt stigma where the participant is made to feel uncomfortable and self-conscious about age, noting that whilst both older and younger workers report instances of felt stigma, only younger workers report instances of enacted stigma [ 189 ].…”

A sustainable hospitality and tourism workforce research agenda: exploring the past to create a vision for the future

“…To an increasing extent in some destinations (although these appear to be global brands), properties are owned by offshore interests, divorced from local conditions and interests and only delivering value or loyalty to family interests or shareholders. Mooney's (2016) study into New Zealand hotel HR practices gave insight into the frustrations of executives over the unwillingness of overseas investment companies to increase wages for casual workers, even by a very small proportion (Mooney 2016). Supervisors were paid only marginally more than inexperienced workers who were on minimum wage arrangements.…”