Not So Sweet After All?

                      
According to Economic Survey of India and Technopark, the Indian Hotel Industry accounts for USD 19 billion, 71.50% (USD 11.95 Billion) of which attributes to the unorganised sector and the remaining 29.7% (USD 5.67 Billion) from the organised sector. The global hotel market alone is generating revenue worth over $850 billion approximately. Since the majority of this market is unorganised, it is difficult to regulate the same even with specific regulations by the government in place.

To get information about the same, we visited one of the most famous budget friendly hotels in the neighbourhood, ‘Savoury- Business Hotel’. There, we were given the opportunity to interact with four to five housekeeping staff that were present for their shift.

From our interaction, there were a lot of key findings. Few of them were, the majority of the staff were migrants from the rural north eastern part of the country like Siliguri, Bheemapur etc. who generally belonged to large families consisting of five to six members. When asked about the reason for their migration, one of the most common answers we got was “this was the relatively better work opportunity we got as compared to our home town” (in terms of economic benefit). They also added that even after constantly switching from one job to another, signifying the lack of job stability in this industry, they finally found some sense of stability here. The seasonal nature of this industry makes it even more difficult to find a job that entails a regular pay. They also hinted on the fact that there was no formal process of recruitment but it was merely on the basis of the experience of their acquaintances working there.

Few of our key takeaways were:

          EMOTIONAL LABOUR

While many enjoy interacting with guests several of the labourers referred to finding this stressful, especially over long periods. This may be due to what is sometimes referred to as emotional labour, whereby the employees are compelled to work despite their personal hardships and vulnerable conditions back at home. Their job requires them to work, keeping behind all of the emotional baggage.  

One of the staff substantiated the above when he told us how he couldn’t serve his father when he was terminally ill and couldn’t fulfil his duties as a son to his best capacity. This is something that still bothers him. Even though he was given the leverage to visit his father, he did not want to lose out on the pay for that month as he knew that the monetary help would be more beneficial to his family, than his physical presence.

·                 WORKING CONDITIONS

Fair and just working hours are usually the key factor of any work. One of the common concerns of the entire staff was the fact that there were no fixed working hours or pre decide/scheduled  shift. Their job requires them to perform their duty any hour of the day. They need to be present for their job, physically and mentally, 24 x 7. They are is no contractual relationship between the staff and employer and thus there are no specifications of the job. Even though they have fixed duties, it is an underlying requirement that they perform any and every odd job such as porter duties, helping at the restaurant, doing laundry etc. that is asked of them, job segregation is not enforced. There is only job expansion and not job enrichment.

·                 PAY & INCENTIVES

Remuneration for hotel workers is made up of wages , service charges and tips. Wages in all hotels are relatively low despite the ever growing tourism industry. The workers in this industry are generally with poor education background having a maximum education level of 10^th grade and some not even that well. This is  attributed to lack of emphasis on education by the government and also the socio-economic background of the workers. This forces them to  start working at a very young age and settle for any form of pay they get without questioning it. The average initial pay for unexperienced workers ranges from Rs.2,000-5,000 per month.

Our findings were that the staff of Savoury began their job almost six-seven years ago with a pay of Rs.5,000 and a yearly increment of Rs.500-1,000. They are currently getting a pay of Rs.10,000-12,000 with very little hope of further raise. Even after being true to their job and organisation, irrespective of all struggles at work, they get almost no extra financial support in form of benefits or incentives such as paid leave, insurance covers, health benefits, education facilities for their children etc. They usually have pre-determined holidays to visit home, where the employees get holidays in cycles and each employee has a different time of getting the holiday.

·                  EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIPS
  

“In my 7 years working here , I have never been disrespected by the management and my grievances have never been unheard.”

Customer satisfaction is extremely important in this industry and the staff constantly strive for the same: It is not easy to please everyone and thus conflicts are bound to arise. In case of any conflict, the manger at Savoury tries his best to resolve the same keeping in mind the customer and the staff. Both are respected and heard. The staff also told us that the manger was extremely approachable and understanding unlike the industry norm. The manger tries to make the employees feel at home as much as possible. They usually emphasise on team building which also helps the employees to connect with the other workers on a personal level. They are made to work in teams of three and then they distribute their work among themselves. This reduces their work burden and stress. It enables them to overcome their home-sickness and find their home away from home.

      OUR REFLECTION:

One of the major observations was that the industry environment differs largely between the organised and unorganised sector. When researching about the industry, all the statistics we found related to the organised sector and the information was only pertaining to big hotel chains. Our visit gave us a great insight to the unorganised world of the hotel industry.

The huge supply of unskilled workers makes the impermanency of job a critical factor of this industry. The fact that there is no restraint on labour turnover leads to ruthless attitude towards the workers. With no proper labour laws in place and no contractual obligations, workers are deprived of stable pay, steady work schedule, social benefits and statutory protection. They are expected to be prepared with more than one type of skill and there is limited scope for job improvement with no job satisfaction. With various socio-economic factors taken into consideration the lack of opportunity that they are faced with contributes greatly to their further exploitation. The bargaining power of these individuals is greatly correlated with these factors. These individuals are living under the false pretence of La-La land, where they do not know how they are being exploited, as they do not get the benefits that a permanent employee is legally entitled to.

The situation of these workers and the lack of awareness regarding their own rights has made us realise our own privilege and how the simple thought of being aware is so important when working in the real world. The harsh realities that these individuals face day in and day out is so chilling that it has created an aura of lack of thought that was portrayed by Orwell in 1984.

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Darshan Jain(1822008), Poojan Patel(1822020), Vikshit Jain(1822030),U. Asha(1822057), Riddhi R.(1822063) & Shagun Goel(1822080).