Hospitality staff struggle with salary

'You can't pay bills with passion'

Low wages, long working hours, and uncertainty about flexible contracts: young hospitality workers have long swallowed their frustrations. Due to the Updates staff shortage, they can now make more demands, but discussing a higher salary remains difficult for (younger) employees.

Reason to leave the industry

Before the coronavirus crisis, Alexander Rozema was satisfied with his salary, partly thanks to the generous tips that boosted his salary. Until the pandemic hit: “I received my basic salary, but of course, the tips were not included. I had to cut back significantly.” The thirty-year-old hospitality worker is employed as a service manager at restaurant Scheepskameel in Amsterdam. He works about forty hours over four days a week. His salary is now back to its previous level, and he recently received a raise after a change in role. “For now, I'm satisfied. I have three days off, get a free meal on workdays, and the work is very fulfilling. But I can imagine that in the long run, salary could be a reason to leave the industry, no matter how much I love this work. I see others in the field struggling with it: colleagues who can't buy a house or have to make ends meet.”

Frustration with salary

“You can't pay bills with love and passion,” says Edwin Vlek. As a union representative at FNV hospitality, he is responsible for the employment conditions policy at the industry organisation. Both the young and 'older' generation in hospitality are increasingly frustrated with the salary, he notes: “Previously, the general tendency was that young people worked only to be able to go to a party. That is now outdated due to the simple fact that life has become much more expensive. Part-time workers also work because they need to pay their bills, and thus salary has become more important for them. As they get older and want to buy a car or house, income becomes even more important. Then they leave, partly because their salary is not high and stable enough to cover the fixed costs.”

'The hourly salary as a team leader, where I opened and closed the place, was seven euros gross'
 

Different industry

For Nynke Ruijs Muñoz (19), the low hospitality salary was a major reason to turn her back on the hospitality industry. She worked in a lunch and coffee shop in Amersfoort, where she grew up. “I started in the service, later worked in the kitchen, and ended as a team leader, where I also opened and closed the place. In that role, I had an hourly salary of seven euros gross. With ten hours of work per week, my net monthly salary was just over two hundred euros. That started to bother me.” So when Ruijs Muñoz recently moved to Amsterdam for her studies, she decided to go for a different industry. “I did consider hospitality work for a while, but I didn't feel like starting at the bottom again and working hard only to be disappointed with the payslip at the end of the month.”

Ruijs Muñoz now works at the customer service of Swapfiets for a gross hourly salary of nine euros. “Working hours on Sundays and public holidays are paid double and – also very nice – I can schedule my hours myself. This way, I am guaranteed a certain number of hours per month. At my previous employer, I worked very few hours during the winter months because the terrace was closed.”

Culture of fear

The uncertain income is an even bigger irritation point for many hospitality workers than the low hourly salary, Vlek observes: “Continuity of salary is really a problem due to the flexible workers that are often employed. We often hear that employees don't mind working more, as long as they have certainty of hours – and thus income.”

Yet the frustrations about hours and salaries rarely reach the employer. Vlek: “There is a culture of fear among hospitality staff; there is still too little negotiation. While the Updates staff shortage greatly strengthens their position, they can make more demands.” Ruijs Muñoz also found it difficult to start the conversation: “We discussed it among ourselves, and I have raised it with my boss, but I didn't get a satisfactory answer.”

Rozema knows why discussing salary is particularly difficult in hospitality: “Employers are close to the staff due to the informal atmosphere; then it's difficult to have such a businesslike conversation.”

'Low wages, long days, and rarely free on weekends'

 

Self-created problem

Rozema has been involved from the employee side in the negotiations for the new CLA, which came into effect earlier this year (see box). Due to issues with previous employers over salary and working conditions and his love for the hospitality profession, he found it important to make his voice heard through official channels: “Over the years, hospitality employers have created a problem themselves: low wages, long days, and rarely a weekend day off. For too long, we heard there was no money, while we saw employers getting richer. Now they are reaping the bitter fruits of that.”

Rozema sees the new hospitality CLA as a nice first step towards higher salaries. Vlek agrees: “We have had a few years without a CLA, resulting in a significant lag compared to other industries. To catch up, salary increases of 10 to 15% are needed, but that is not realistic now. Thanks to the new CLA, the salary for young people up to 21 years old is now competitive compared to other sectors; unfortunately, this is not yet the case for the age group after that. We certainly encourage them to start the conversation with their employer. Young people too: due to market forces, a higher salary is often really possible nowadays. Employers know: the staff is their most important asset.” Rozema nods: “The sector deserves to mature.”

Source: Entreemagazine