Perceived Factors of Stress and Its Outcomes among Hotel Housekeepers in the Balearic Islands: A Qualitative Approach from a Gender Perspective

Abstract

Tourism is the main economic sector in the Balearic Islands (Spain) and hotel housekeepers (HHs) are a large occupational group, in which stress is becoming a major issue. This study aims at exploring in-depth factors perceived as stressors by HHs and key-informants, and their effects on work-life balance (WLB). A qualitative design with phenomenological approach was used, conducting six focus groups with 34 HHs and 10 individual interviews with key-informants. Results were analyzed adopting the job demands-resources model and a gender perspective. High demands, e.g., work overload, time pressure, physical burden…, lack of enough resources and little control, derived from role conflict, unexpected events…, were the most important factors explaining HHs’ stress. Additionally, this imbalance was perceived as leading to health problems, mainly musculoskeletal disorders. Working schedule was mentioned as a facilitator to WLB, whereas an imbalance between job demands and resources led to work-home conflict, preventing them from enjoying leisure time. Multiple roles at work and at home increased their stress. HHs experienced their job as invisible and unrecognised. Regarding practical implications, our recommendations for hotel organization include reducing workload and increasing resources, which would improve the job demands-resource balance, diminish negative mental and physical outcomes and improve WLB.

Work-Family conflict among hotel housekeepers in the Balearic Islands (Spain)

“…Although we did not ask for HHs’ satisfaction with working schedule in this study, in a previous qualitative study (10), HHs valued very positively the continuous working day because it was perceived as a facilitator of WLB when they had children; a split schedule probably would make more difficult WLB. Due to the great majority of HHs working 40 hours per week, a question about the satisfaction with working schedule would have provided relevant information associated to WFC.…”

“…Labour/work variables described as making WLB more difficult are the following: having a temporary contract (1), higher number of working hours (1,3,4,15), inflexibility of work schedule (3), time pressure (4) and high job demands (4). On the contrary, a continued working schedule was identified by HHs in the Balearic Islands as a facilitator for combining work and family responsibilities (10).…”

Hotel Housekeepers and Occupational Health: Experiences and Perceived Risks

“…Additionally, these women lack the time to recover from physical fatigue and to perform bene cial physical activity to prevent or improve MSD [42]. Previous results recently published corroborate that HHs perceived that the high demands of their job caused work-life imbalance [43]. Usually, the demands of the job depleted their personal resources, depriving them of energy to attend to the demands of private life such as caring for dependents and enjoying family life and leisure [44].…”

Chronic Pain and Work Conditions of Hotel Housekeepers: A Descriptive Study

“…The HHs of the Balearic Islands have a worse perception of their own health than the average women of the same sociodemographic profile. This discrepancy might respond to work conditions under temporary contracts, the imbalance between effort invested and rewards, a low decision margin and a high workload [ 32 , 33 , 34 ].…”

“…We believe that interventions aimed to raise the quality of life, reduce pain, and improve the perceived health status of HHs should be urgently implemented. Solutions should promote physical activity, reduce stress, improve work–life balance, decrease workload and encourage the uptake of ORPMs [ 29 , 33 , 35 ]. Interestingly, PHCs emerged as the HHs’ favourite setting to conduct health interventions.…”