Transforming the Culture of Student Employment in Hospitality
The combination of rising costs of living, declining state support and the UK government’s refusal to raise student loans in line with inflation has led to increased financial hardships for students from less wealthy backgrounds. In consequence, there is an increasing need for university students to take on part-time work while studying.
Historically, students have gravitated towards hospitality work due to the ease of obtaining hospitality jobs and the promise of flexible hours. However, in reality, many students and employers are unprepared for the challenges of working together, and the working cultures in hospitality are not always conducive for student wellbeing.
Driven by a desire to create a win-win situation for students and hospitality employers, the ‘Hospitality Now! Hospitality for Students, Students for Hospitality’ project engages employers and other stakeholders, such as universities, professional bodies and unions, in transforming the culture of student employment in hospitality and draws the attention of policymakers towards recognising the needs of an often over-looked yet important worker group: student-workers.
Student-workers are a distinct worker group and face a number of challenges
Hospitality businesses make extensive use of zero-hour contracts and flexible hiring, and students at university are, on the surface, the type of workers who could most benefit from the flexibility. Utilised frequently by hospitality sector businesses to manage operating costs in light of seasonal highs and lows in trade when staffing requirements fluctuate significantly, the zero-hour contract is particularly used with population groups needing flexibility of hours.
Students work in a range of jobs in the hospitality sector including as waiters, bar staff and receptionists. Hospitality workplaces are often the first workplaces for young people and it is therefore critical to recognise the hitherto unacknowledged role these workplaces play as socialisation spaces.
Research conducted by Dr Agnieszka Rydzik (Associate Professor in Tourism and Work, Lincoln International Business School) with students working on zero-hour contracts in hospitality reveals that students working to support themselves financially while studying experience numerous challenges that affect their grades, self-confidence, social relations, general wellbeing and financial security. These are linked to power imbalances at work, limited flexibility around shift scheduling, conflicting demands, and limited voice in the workplace.
“I would not be able to pay any bills and have the money to live … If I didn’t have part-time job, I’d be homeless“
“[T]he boss just didn’t care, she was like, ‘these are your shifts, if you can’t do it you don’t have the job“
“Sometimes, when I come in to work and I look at the rota and I see that I’ve only been given one shift on a weekend I go, ‘That’s not fair. Why have I only got one shift?’. And they turn around and go ‘well if you’re not actually here all the time, what do you expect?“
The 8F Framework of Good Principles in Student Employment
Based on interviews with student-workers and consultation events with students, the ‘Students for Hospitality, Hospitality for Students’ project has identified the needs of this distinct and little understood worker group. Utilising findings from the research, Dr Rydzik has developed a framework to inform employer practice in the sector – the 8F Framework of Good Principles in Student Employment. The Framework raises awareness of the key challenges students face and their needs as workers, and outlines the benefits for student-workers as well as hospitality employers in joining together to transform the culture of student employment in hospitality.
The Hospitality, Now! initiative
The Hospitality Now! Students for Hospitality, Hospitality for Students initiative has been established to engage key stakeholders and policymakers with the goal of transforming student employment in hospitality.
Outcomes of the project include a range of policy briefs and guidelines that are being developed with and for a range of stakeholders – universities, students’ and trades’ unions, and employers – to work together to close gaps in support for student-workers.
For hospitality businesses, the team has developed the Good Student Employer Charterthat contains a set of good practice principles and pledges for employers. By signing up to the pledges of the Good Student Employer Charter, businesses can begin the first steps to both improving the experiences of student-workers and benefitting from a more engaged student workforce.
More information about the project
To access the Hospitality Now! project website, please visit: www.hospitality-now.co.uk
A journal article exploring the socialisation experiences of student-workers on zero-hour contracts in hospitality can be found here
Click on the title to access the policy brief document – ‘Towards understanding the experiences of students working on zero-hour contracts in hospitality’ – summarising the key findings and proposing recommendations for stakeholders.
For more information, please contact Dr Agnieszka Rydzik (arydzik@lincoln.ac.uk)