6 Comparing key groups of interest
A key characteristic of the hospitality sector is its diversity both in terms of the types of businesses operating within the sector and the people employed. The results of the survey reflect this diversity with significant differences in the responses provided by those in different demographics and with different experiences of the sector. The following tables and commentary describe some of these variations with a focus on differences by sex, age, business location (urban versus rural), whether working in the hospitality sector is considered to be a career and business type worked for.
Analysis has also been undertaken to compare the views of other important groups identified in the survey, including people in ethnic minorities and migrant workers. However, smaller sample sizes amongst these groups mean that differences are less likely to be statistically significant so findings are not included in the sections below.
6.1 Variations by sex
A number of the key results obtained from women and men are compared below.
Overall women have a poorer experience of fair work across a number of areas. For instance, women responding to the survey were less likely to receive pay if off sick or to have received health and safety training in the last 12 months. Women were also less likely than men to work on a full-time basis.
However, women were more likely than men to have experienced bullying or harassment, in particular in relation to their sex or social class.
Note: statistically significant differences are highlighted in bold and flagged with an [s]
| Women (n=126) | Men (n=103) | |
|---|---|---|
| Role/ experience in sector | ||
| See hospitality as career | 54% | 61% |
| Time in sector: - Less than 5 years - 5 to 10 years - Longer | 38% 25% 37% | 33% 13% 54% |
| Hours and contract | ||
| Contracted hours: - Full time (35+ hrs per week) - Part time (<34 hrs per week) - No guaranteed/zero-hours - Variable hours but guaranteed minimum | 44%[s] 16% 21% 15% | 63%[s] 12% 14% 7% |
| No written contract | 15% | 9% |
| Paid at or above Real Living Wage | 63% | 83% |
| Receive any pay if sick | 44%[s] | 60%[s] |
| Receive paid annual leave | 80% | 87% |
| Training | ||
| Received health and safety training in last 12 months | 60%[s] | 76%[s] |
| Received other training in last 12 months | 55% | 62% |
| Relationships at work and voice | ||
| % experienced any bullying or harassment in last 12 months from: - Customers - Co-workers - Managers | 31% 18%[s] 28% | 27% 5%[s] 17% |
| Reported issues of bullying or harassment | 42% | 50% |
| What bullying or harassment related to: - Your sex - Your age - Your social class - Being a migrant worker | 21%[s] 14% 11%[s] 2% | 7%[s] 9% 4%[s] 4% |
| Have opportunities for voice and opinion to be heard at work | 60% | 67% |
| Overall evaluation | ||
| Whether would recommend employer | 57% | 65% |
| Whether would recommend hospitality sector | 48% | 43% |
6.2 Variations by age
A number of the key results obtained from younger people aged 16 to 34 are compared with those aged 35 or over below. These age bands have been used to provide large enough sub-samples to allow for statistically significant comparisons to be made.
In general, survey respondents aged under 35 were less likely to see hospitality as their career and they were more likely to be working on a zero-hour or variable hours contract. Younger people were also somewhat more likely to be paid less than the Real Living Wage and to have experienced bullying or harassment from customers or managers. Just 34% would recommend the hospitality sector as a career.
Note: statistically significant differences are highlighted in bold and flagged with an [s]
| Aged 16-34 (n=123) | Aged 35+ (n=74) | |
|---|---|---|
| Role/ experience in sector | ||
| See hospitality as career | 45%[s] | 77%[s] |
| Time in sector: - Less than 1 year - 1 to 5 years - 6 to 10 years - Longer | 13%[s] 44%[s] 25%[s] 18%[s] | 1%[s] 7%[s] 15%[s] 77%[s] |
| Hours and contract | ||
| Contracted hours: - Full time (35+ hrs per week) - Part time (<34 hrs per week) - No guaranteed/zero-hours - Variable hours but guaranteed minimum | 35%[s] 14% 30%[s] 18%[s] | 73%[s] 11% 5%[s] 4%[s] |
| No written contract | 16% | 8% |
| Paid at or above Real Living Wage | 59%[s] | 85%[s] |
| Receive any pay if sick | 41%[s] | 61%[s] |
| Receive paid annual leave | 80% | 86% |
| Training | ||
| Received health and safety training in last 12 months | 59%[s] | 77%[s] |
| Received other training in last 12 months | 54% | 64% |
| Relationships at work and voice | ||
| % experienced any bullying or harassment in last 12 months from: - Customers - Co-workers - Managers | 41%[s] 20% 34%[s] | 22%[s] 9% 8%[s] |
| Reported issues of bullying or harassment | 40% | 53% |
| What bullying or harassment related to - Your sex - Your age - Your social class - Being a migrant worker | 24%[s] 21%[s] 11%[s] 4% | 4%[s] 1%[s] 3%[s] 3% |
| Have opportunities for voice and opinion to be heard at work | 50%[s] | 74%[s] |
| Overall evaluation | ||
| Whether would recommend employer | 51%[s] | 70%[s] |
| Whether would recommend hospitality sector | 34%[s] | 58%[s] |
6.3 Variations by physical or mental health condition
There are also a number of notable variations in experiences of the sector reported by people with a physical or mental health condition or illness. Members of this group are less likely to be employed full time and more likely to have a zero-hour contract.
Also, a somewhat higher percentage of people in this group had experienced bullying or harassment from customers, co-workers of managers.
Note: statistically significant differences are highlighted in bold and flagged with an [s]
| Any physical or mental health condition or illness (n=79) | No physical or mental health condition or illness (n=155) | |
|---|---|---|
| Role/experience in sector | ||
| See hospitality as career | 46% | 63% |
| Time in sector: - Less than 1 year - 1 to 5 years - 6 to 10 years - Longer | 9% 37% 19% 35% | 9% 23% 21% 47% |
| Hours and contract | ||
| Contracted hours: - Full time (35+ hrs per week) - Part time (<34 hrs per week) - No guaranteed/zero-hours - Variable hours but guaranteed minimum | 37%[s] 11% 29%[s] 16% | 60%[s] 14% 14%[s] 8% |
| No written contract | 16% | 12% |
| Paid at or above Real Living Wage | 62%[s] | 78%[s] |
| Receive any pay if sick | 40%[s] | 59%[s] |
| Receive paid annual leave | 79% | 88% |
| Training | ||
| Received health and safety training in last 12 months | 56%[s] | 73%[s] |
| Received other training in last 12 months | 48% | 65% |
| Relationships at work and voice | ||
| % experienced any bullying or harassment in last 12 months from: - Customers - Co-workers - Managers | 41%[s] 23%[s] 39%[s] | 25%[s] 9%[s] 14%[s] |
| Reported issues of bullying or harassment | 47% | 49% |
| What bullying or harassment related to: Your sex Your age Your social class Disability | 27%[s] 22%[s] 18%[s] 8%[s] | 10%[s] 8%[s] 6%[s] 0%[s] |
| Have opportunities for voice and opinion to be heard at work | 46%[s] | 72%[s] |
| Overall evaluation | ||
| Whether would recommend employer | 42%[s] | 71%[s] |
| Whether would recommend hospitality sector | 30%[s] | 54%[s] |
6.4 Variations by those who see hospitality as a career vs temporary
Two groupings of workers were of particular interest to the Inquiry: those who are more transitory workers (particularly those working in hospitality just to earn extra money) and those who see hospitality as a longer term career. The Inquiry Group wanted to understand if there are significant differences in the experiences of fair work between the two and the results show there are.
As shown in Table 8 overleaf, those working in hospitality as a career were much more likely, than those working to earn extra money/while studying, to have worked in the sector for longer, to have a full time contract, to be paid at or above the Real Living Wage or to have received Health and Safety training.
However, those working in the sector to earn extra money/while studying were much more likely, than those who saw their job as a career, to have experienced bullying or harassment from customers or managers.
Note: statistically significant differences are highlighted in bold and flagged with an [s]
| Working in hospitality to earn extra money/ while studying (n=55) | See hospitality as career (n=141) | |
|---|---|---|
| Role/ experience in sector | ||
| Time in sector: - Less than 1 year - 1 to 5 years - 6 to 10 years - Longer | 18%[s] 49%[s] 20%[s] 13%[s] | 5%[s] 16%[s] 17%[s] 62%[s] |
| Hours and contract | ||
| Contracted hours: - Full time (35+ hrs per week) - Part time (<34 hrs per week) - No guaranteed/zero-hours - Variable hours but guaranteed minimum | 9%[s] 25%[s] 44%[s] 18%[s] | 73%[s] 9%[s] 8%[s] 6%[s] |
| No written contract | 16%[s] | 8%[s] |
| Paid at or above Real Living Wage | 38%[s] | 89%[s] |
| Receive any pay if sick | 29%[s] | 70%[s] |
| Receive paid annual leave | 67%[s] | 92%[s] |
| Training | ||
| Received health and safety training in last 12 months | 56%[s] | 74%[s] |
| Received other training in last 12 months | 44% | 67% |
| Relationships at work and voice | ||
| % experienced any bullying or harassment in last 12 months from: - Customers - Co-workers - Managers | 49%[s] 18% 38%[s] | 23%[s] 11% 16%[s] |
| Reported issues of bullying or harassment | 34% | 55% |
| What bullying or harassment related to: Your sex Your age Your social class Being a migrant worker | 31%[s] 22%[s] 18%[s] 11%[s] | 11%[s] 9%[s] 5%[s] - |
| Have opportunities for voice and opinion to be heard at work | 33%[s] | 71%[s] |
| Overall evaluation | ||
| Whether would recommend employer | 45%[s] | 68%[s] |
| Whether would recommend hospitality sector | 36% | 52% |
Further analysis of these results suggest that some of these variations may be related to the length of time someone has been working in hospitality with experience of fair work appearing to be strongest when workers see their job as a career and have been in the sector longer.
6.5 Urban vs rural variations
A comparison of differences in responses amongst people working in businesses in rural and small town location with those working in large towns or cities was also undertaken.
A smaller number of differences were identified than for other variables included earlier in this section. However, the following variations were statistically significant:
- A larger percentage of those working in business in rural or small town locations were employed on a full time basis – 68% compared with 44% in city and large town businesses.
- A larger percentage of those working in rural or small town location were paid at or above the Real Living Wage – 79% compared with 69% in city and large town businesses.
6.6 Variations by business type
Comparing responses amongst those working for different types of business also illustrates some notable differences as illustrated in Table 9. This comparison includes workers in the following groupings of business types:
- Bars and pubs – includes those working for public houses, pub restaurants, nightclubs and wine bars
- Cafés and restaurants – includes those working for cafés, restaurants and fast food outlets
- Hotels – includes those working for 1-3 star hotels and 4-5 star hotels.
Sample sizes for respondents working for other types of hospitality business are too small to allow separate analysis.
As shown in Table 9 overleaf, those working in hotels were most likely to have worked in the sector for more than 10 years and to see hospitality as a career.
In contrast, those working in bars and pubs were more likely to have a zero-hour contract and to not receive the Real Living Wage.
Furthermore, while 85% working for hotels had received health and safety training in the last 12 months, the percentage was just 45% amongst those working for bars and pubs.
Those working in cafés and restaurants were the least likely to recommend either their employer or the hospitality sector.
Note: statistically significant differences are highlighted in bold and flagged with an [s]
| All workers (n=245) | Bar or pub workers (n=38) | Café or restaurant workers (n=95) | Hotel workers (n=67) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Role/ experience in sector | ||||
| See hospitality as career | 58% | 50%[s] | 52%[s] | 72%[s] |
| Time in sector: - Less than 1 year - 1 to 5 years - 6 to 10 years - Longer | 9% 28% 20% 43% | 16% 39% 21% 24%[s] | 6% 34% 25% 35%[s] | 6% 24% 9% 61%[s] |
| Hours and contract | ||||
| Contracted hours: - Full time (35+ hrs per week) - Part time (<34 hrs per week) - No guaranteed/zero-hours - Variable hours but guaranteed minimum | 52% 13% 19% 11% | 32%[s] 16% 42%[s] 5% | 47%[s] 18% 18%[s] 14% | 73%[s] 10% 6%[s] 7% |
| No written contract | 13% | 37%[s] | 12%[s] | 7%[s] |
| Paid at or above Real Living Wage | 72% | 53%[s] | 65%[s] | 90%[s] |
| Receive any pay if sick | 53% | 39% | 44% | 60% |
| Receive paid annual leave | 85% | 71%[s] | 87%[s] | 90%[s] |
| Training | ||||
| Received health and safety training in last 12 months | 67% | 45%[s] | 60%[s] | 85%[s] |
| Received other training in last 12 months | 58% | 39% | 55% | 67% |
| Relationships at work and voice | ||||
| % experienced any bullying or harassment in last 12 months from: - Customers - Co-workers - Managers | 30% 13% 22% | 47% 24% 34% | 28% 14% 27% | 18% 7% 13% |
| Reported issues of bullying or harassment | 47% | 52% | 36% | 50% |
| What bullying or harassment related to - Your sex - Your age - Your social class | 15% 13% 7% | 34% 24% 8% | 16% 11% 9% | 6% 9% 6% |
| Have opportunities for voice and opinion to be heard at work | 62% | 55%[s] | 52%[s] | 76%[s] |
| Overall evaluation | ||||
| Whether would recommend employer | 60% | 53%[s] | 49%[s] | 75%[s] |
| Whether would recommend hospitality sector | 45% | 47%[s] | 34%[s] | 58%* |