Employment in Cape Town’s lodging sector: opportunities, skills requirements, employee aspirations and transformation

Abstract

Since the attainment of democracy in 1994 one of the major concerns of the South African government has been to address the social and economic injustices that characterised the apartheid regime. With tourism on the rise in South Africa and international arrivals growing at a rate almost triple the global rate, the tourism industry has been identified as one of the important industries to drive the transformation agenda. This study sought to assess the employment situation in Cape Town's lodging sector, identify the existing types of jobs and skills requirements of the sector, determine career aspirations of and skills development needs for lodging sector employees as well as asses the state of transformation. Study findings showed that the lodging sector is labour intensive, requires low academic skill, and offers low paying employment following the findings that about a quarter of the respondents indicated that their jobs didn't require any formal qualification, the average working day was 9.2 h and 52% earned below R3,500 a month. The study showed significant differences in income based on race. White employees earned significantly more than their black and coloured counterparts. However, white employees working as general labour were also significantly more qualified than their black and coloured counterparts. There was a significant positive relationship between income and length of service for white employees, but the same wasn't true for black and coloured employees. There was a significant negative relationship between length of service and academic qualifications for black employees implying that black people's length of service for one employer decreases as they become more academically qualified. Also significant was skills development opportunities based on gender. Significantly more females than males had attended on-the-job training programs.

Job satisfaction factors for housekeepers in the hotel industry: a global comparative analysis

“…Unrecognized foreign credentials may also be an issue leading to under employment (Hsieh et al , 2016; Knox, 2011). In the hotel industry in South Africa, higher levels of education were correlated with job tenure for white employees and with shorter tenure for black employees who moved to other opportunities (Maumbe and VanWyk, 2008). Length of service correlated with income increases for white but not for non-white employees.…”

“…The contexts in which housekeepers are employed varies greatly, including rural and urban hotel locations, the availability of government benefits and services which can offset other job disadvantages (Eriksson and Li, 2009), and historical, economic and political factors that contribute to dissatisfaction such as racial inequities (Maumbe and VanWyk, 2008). Urban hotel workers are more likely to be immigrants or ethnic minorities than those in rural locations (Eriksson and Li, 2009; Knox, 2011; Watson and Power, 2006).…”

“…If they complete rooms before they work time is up, they are required clean elsewhere in the hotel. In South Africa, job satisfaction among hotel employees as a whole is considered high although low pay, pay inequities, and long working hours contribute to dissatisfaction (Maumbe and Van Wyk, 2008). These studies illustrate that pay in one context can be a satisfier and in another, a dissatisfier.…”

“…High housekeeper turnover puts guest satisfaction and a hotel's quality and competitiveness at risk (Grobelna and Tokarz-Kocik, 2017). Studies on job satisfaction for hotel housekeepers primarily focus on working conditions in specific geographical locations (Eriksson and Li, 2009; Hsieh et al , 2016; Maumbe and Van Wyk, 2008; Powell and Watson, 2006). The current study examines country differences in job satisfaction among hotel housekeeping staff by examining work-life balance, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, and work relations variables in 37 countries using International Social Survey Program data (ISSP, 2015).…”

The rise of South Africa's quick service restaurant industry

“…For instance, the appointment of females as board of directors is one of the key strategies used by QSR firms to meet their BBBEE requirements. Training and professional advancement of the QSR crew is also a vital strategy for meeting targets on BBBEE score cards (Maumbe and Van Wyk, 2008). Crafting successful strategies that meet BBBEE requirements is crucial to operating a QSR outlet successfully in South Africa.…”