HR assignment on: Ethnicity gender and age in hospitality industries – Norway & Australia
Topic One:
Ethnicity, gender and age in employment in hospitality industries in Norway and Australia
My country of birth, Norway is located in the Scandinavia region of Europe. Ethnicity, gender and age continue to influence employment in majority of industries around the world; this, in spite of the various laws that bar discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, gender and age. In actual business world, ethnicity, gender and age biases are widely present and practiced (Daniels, Jessie ,1997).
Ethnicity, gender and age biases are reinforced in the hospitality industry because of the inherent nature of the industry and the beliefs associated with it. Some such widely held beliefs are: guests prefer to see young staff rather than old staff; some occupations look good on men while other on women; Caucasian guests prefer to be served by Caucasian staff, and so on and so forth.
The hospitality industry in Norway is no exception to these biases. Age bias is quite prevalent in Norwegian hotels. On the other hand instances of race or ethnicity bias are much less common in the Norwegian hospitality industry. Diversity in race and ethnicity in Norwegian hotels and restaurants is much more prevalent. Actually the percentage of immigrants is higher in hospitality industry in Norway than in other industries (Mykletun et al, 2000).
However, ethnic immigrants are employed more in low-skilled hospitality jobs like cleaning and housekeeping in Norwegian hospitality industry. In high-skilled jobs or in jobs requiring direct interface with guests, one is much more likely to see native Norwegians employed rather than ethnic immigrants.
The average age of those employed in hospitality industry is much lower than in other industries in Norway. This may be an indicator of the age bias with which the Norwegian hospitality industry might be suffering. Researches show that this age bias is so strong that 35+ employees are likely to be classified as old.
Individuals in the age group of 40 or above are much more likely to feel isolated in Norwegian hospitality industry. The Norwegian hospitality industry in this regard fares very unfavorably in comparison to other countries like Australia.
Because ageism is so common in Norwegian hospitality industry, stereotypes on aged workers are present in the minds of most hospitality managers. These stereotypes hamper the decision of managers while making recruitments or appraising the elderly employees.
Many studies and researches in the past have concluded that negative age stereotypes are quite common in hospitality industry in Norway. Age discrimination is much more current in Norwegian hospitality industry than gender or ethnic discrimination.
Older employees face negative stereotypes with regard to adeptness in using new technology or learning new work methods, internal recruitment and career advancements, and less training.
The most common myths about older workers in Norwegian hospitality industry are (Kaeter, 1995) : i) it is much more costly to employ older workers, ii) rates of absenteeism are higher among older workers , iii) older workers are not adept in learning new technologies and processes, iv) productivity of older workers is less than that of their younger counterparts.
Empirical evidence doesn’t support the above myths about aged workers. However these myths have become the basis of the age discrimination that is so prevalent in the Norwegian hospitality industry.
Norway is one of the most developed and liberal countries in the world. It is constantly ranked every year near the top of United Nations Human Development Index Table (Graves, Joseph. ,2004). This explains to a great extent why gender discrimination is almost non-existent in Norwegian hospitality industry and other industries too.
Age diversity is much more prevalent in the Australian hospitality industry than in the Norwegian one. Things on this front improved after the passage of Australian Age Discrimination Act, 2004. It makes unlawful, discrimination against people on the basis of age at the point of recruitment, and during the course of employment. The ambit of this Act covers areas like working conditions, access to training, promotion and unjustified dismissal of employees on the basis of their age.
One reason why younger workers are preferred over older workers in Australian tourism industry is that younger workers are cheaper to employ. In a highly competitive environment, hotels control costs by employing younger workers. Many of these workers are fresh graduates or those who are still in college and working in order to support their education. Age discrimination in Australian hotels is more prevalent in low skill jobs than in high skill ones. Budget hotels are much more likely to indulge in this kind of discrimination than luxury hotels. This is because luxury hotels and chains employ people more on the basis of their skills than on the basis of the wages that they are charging.
While negative age bias in Australian hospitality industry seems to be much less in degree than in Norwegian hospitality industry, the situation is reverse when it comes to ethnic and racial discrimination. A few days ago much furor was created when a contractor of major Australian retailer Coles posted a recruitment advertisement on its website for the vacant position of floor cleaner in Coles’ stores. The advertisement explicitly stated: “ No Asians or Indians.” The contractor, who has the contract for cleaning all Coles’ stores in Australia, withdrew these advertisements after the rebuke and criticism that it drew. Coles too apologized and assured that it will take action against its contractor.
This blatant incident of racial and ethnic discrimination is symbolic of the wider problem that plagues Australian industries. The hospitality industry is no exception. In an up-market Australian restaurant or hotel one is very likely to find Caucasians as waiters or stewards. People from other races or ethnicity are not employed in positions where they interact directly with customers; they are more likely to be employed in back-end positions like in the kitchen or as room attendants.
Employees coming from ethnic minorities in Australia may also get lower wages than average Australians. This practice has been widely reported by the members of Filipino community who are employed in large numbers in the Australian hospitality industry. Employees from ethnic minorities are more likely to be made to work for extra hours without payment of overtime wages. Ethnicity still has a significant influence on employment in Australian hospitality industry.
In large Australian cities, the hotels employ a multi-ethnic workforce. In positions like room attendants, almost 80 per cent of those employed by large hotels come from ethnic backgrounds or are first generation ethnic migrants. International students too constitute a significant portion of those employed as room attendants.
The sexual discrimination act , 1984 came into force after Australia signed the United Nations’ International Convention on elimination of gender discriminations of all kinds against women. This Act makes unlawful discrimination on the basis of gender, marital status or family responsibilities. The act also outlaws sexual harassment of any kind (Subhash C. Kundu, 2003).
Gender discrimination is much less prevalent in the Australian hospitality industry than in other industries like finance. There are fewer negative stereotypes at work against women in the hospitality industry (Lentin, Alana.,2008).
Seventy five percent of those employed as room attendants in Australian luxury hotels are women from ethnic minorities. One form of gender discrimination is payment of lower wages to women than men for the same job or workers. Many women from ethnic minorities who work as room attendants in Australian hotels seem to suffer both from ethnic discrimination and gender discrimination. They are paid low wages because they come from ethnic minorities and also because they are women.
According to one survey undertaken in 2011, only 12 percent of those working as room attendants in Australian hotels were persons of Australian origin. The remaining 88 percent came from ethnicities that have their origin in more than seven countries. Another interesting fact that was revealed by this survey was that 54 per cent of those who worked as room attendants in Australian hotels were aged 40 years or more. The same survey revealed that 64 % of room attendants worked overtime hours without getting paid; in some instances the overtime hours extended to as much as ten hours per week. 73 % of those employed as room attendants said that they suffer from work related stresses.
Comparison of discrimination in Australian hospitality industry and Norwegian hospitality industry
So when we compare discrimination in Norwegian hospitality industry with discrimination in Australian hospitality industry, we can conclude that age discrimination is much more prevalent in the former while ethnic discrimination is much more common in the latter. The hospitality industries in both these countries do not exist in isolation and are influenced by the external environment and culture in which they operate.
Discrimination in some areas like ethnic discrimination is more pronounced in hospitality industry than in other industries because of economic and reasons inherent to the industry. There is more ethnic discrimination in Australian hospitality industry because ethnic discrimination is much more prevalent in Australia than it is in Norway. So one’s ethnicity has a significant impact on one’s employment in Australia. This impact will not be limited to recruitment only but also may extend to one’s course of employment. So a person coming from an ethnic minority may be less likely to get promotion than a person of Australian origin in an Australian hotel or restaurant.
The age discrimination that is current in Norwegian hospitality industry is based on myths which find little or no support from empirical evidence. For instance, empirical evidence is clear that it is beneficial for companies to invest in older employees because job turnover is much less among them than in younger ones. Older employees tend to settle down and switch jobs much less and hence the company’s investment in their training and development is more likely to bear fruits. This busts another myth that it doesn’t make sense to invest in the training and development of older employees because they are nearing retirement (Nelson, T. Ed. 2002).
The myth that absenteeism is higher in older workers is turned on its head by empirical evidence in Norwegian hospitality industry. The evidence reveals that while older employees tend to take longer sick leaves overall absenteeism is higher among younger workers than in older ones (Daniels, Jessie ,2009),.
It is also not completely true that older workers find it hard to learn new training methods or processes. Through right training methods and with a bit more patience older employees can learn new technologies as well as their younger counterparts. Older employees, because of their longer experience, are more skilled in performing their jobs than younger ones. So an older room attendant is likely to be much more competent than a younger one. There are also no significant differences between productivity levels of aged workers and younger workers (Barkan, Elazar ,1992).
The hospitality industry, more than any other industry, thrives on customer satisfaction. Aged and experienced employees are more adept and patient in dealing with customers than the younger, impatient ones. In spite of these advantages, negative age bias exists in Norwegian hospitality industry. The foundation of this bias is on false stereotypes held in the minds of managers, recruiters and corporate leaders.
Characteristics that influence attitude to ethnicity, gender and age in employment in Australia and Norway
The most influential characteristic on discrimination in both countries is social attitude and beliefs. Besides this economic factors may also drive hotels to practice discrimination as in the case of Australian hospitality industry – it is cheaper to employ ethnic minorities in low skill jobs because hotels can get away with paying lower wages to them.
Gender discrimination is much less prevalent in hospitality industry of both the countries. This is mainly because both countries are developed and women enjoy almost equal status socially. This again shows that social attitudes are the biggest influences on discriminatory practices in employment in hospitality, or any other industry for that matter. Besides social attitudes, some beliefs inherent to hospitality sector are responsible for discriminatory practices that are unique to this sector.
Ethnicity, gender and age still have a significant influence on employment in both Australia and Norway. This trend is not limited to hospitality industry alone but extends to other sectors of the economy as well.
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