Barcelona hotel employees and their conception of fair work. An exploratory study

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-08-2022-0232
• Published date: 26 April 2023
• Date: 26 April 2023
• Pages: 56-74
• Subject Matter: HR & organizational behaviour,Employment law,Diversity,equality,inclusion
• Author: Montserrat Crespi-Vallbona,Ester Noguer-Juncà,Nuria Louzao,Lluís Coromina

Barcelona hotel employees

and their conception of fair work.

An exploratory study

Montserrat Crespi-Vallbona

Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Ester Noguer-Junc

a

Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain

Nuria Louzao

University School of Tourism, Hospitality and Gastronomy, Barcelona, Spain, and

Llu



ıs Coromina

Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain

Abstract

Purpose –Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 5 and 8, respectively, indicate that decent work and gender

equality are challenges that business organizations must face in order to achieve the social well-being and

sustainable development of communities.Considering these goals, the present article aims to define the concept

of fair work and examine the current degree of knowledge among staff in the hotel sector in Barcelona about the

indicators of the Fair Labor Responsible Hotels (HJLR) certification.

Design/methodology/approach –A mixed methodology is used to analyze the primary data. A survey of

248 employees is complemented by nine semi-structured interviews with experts, general managers and heads

of department of independently owned hotels and national and international chains.

Findings –The results show that this certification is necessary for the economic and social sustainability of

the hospitality sector and to raise awareness that fair work is an urgent need. However, these currently tend to

be little more than artificial actions.

Originality/value –The paper aims to emphasize the perspective of real actors in hotel industry about the

actors’considerations of fair work to enhance the actors’job involvement and satisfaction.

Keywords Fair and decent work, Hospitality, Human resource management, Fair labor responsible hotel

certification

Paper type Case study

Introduction

The concept of “decent work”was introduced in 1999 at the 87th Convention of the

International Labor Organization (ILO) and considers that jobs must provide monetary and

non-monetary remuneration, health and safety and professional training, among other

requirements. Recently, the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

defined by the United Nations (UN) in 2015, and especially Goal 8 “Decent work and economic

growth,”which aims to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full

and productive employment and decent work for all,”show that slow but continuous

progress is being made toward this objective. It is also worth mentioning that Goal 5 “Gender

EDI

42,9

56

© Montserrat Crespi-Vallbona, Ester Noguer-Junc

a, Nuria Louzao and Llu



ıs Coromina. Published by

Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for

both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication

and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/

legalcode

Compliance with ethical standards: There is no conflicts of interest

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 23 August 2022

Revised 10 January 2023

15 March 2023

Accepted 23 March 2023

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 42 No. 9, 2023

pp. 56-74

Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-08-2022-0232

equality,”which seeks to end discrimination for gender reasons, is an inequality that

continues to affect the fundamental rights of women (Noguer-Junc

aet al., 2020). In this sense,

the SDG documents convey that decent work, together with social justice and gender

equality, are at the heart of sustainable tourism (International Labour Organization (ILO),

2017). Additionally, the ILO guidelines on decent work and socially responsible make

suggestions to solve the decent work deficits in the tourism sector, like long working hours,

low salaries, limited social protection, (International Labour Organization (ILO), 2017) etc.

Thus, it is clear that organizations must achieve work environments that emphasize equal

opportunities, the promotion and training of employees, the reconciliation of professional and

personal life (Alarc

on and Cole, 2019) and the prevention of occupational risks and hazards,

among others (Noguer-Junc

aet al., 2020), ensuring fair work for all human capital in

organizations. As Baum et al. (2016) argued, employees and decent work are at the heart of the

sustainability debate in tourism. Also the current claim from unions and academy are

struggling for the value of dignity in tourism employment (Winchenbach et al., 2019;

International Labour Organization (ILO), 2017;Lukas, 2017;Kensbock et al., 2016) due to the

excessive presence at workplaces of mismanagement and abuses, overwork, autonomy

constraints, inadequate working schedules, insufficient pay, insecure employment contracts,

discrimination, humiliations, etc.

As it is known, a motivated and engaged workforce can provide a competitive advantage

(Janes and Wisnom, 2011) and is critical to attract and retain talent and keep staff engaged

(Reynolds et al., 2021). Values shared by employers and their employees shape corporate

culture and have a positive influe nce on the latter’s satisfaction, en gagement and

performance (Boria-Reverter et al., 2013). In this sense, employee engagement was defined

as the psychological experiences and conditions that shape the way individuals employ and

express themselves physically, emotionally and cognitively during role performance (Kahn,

1990). Indeed, the employees’emotional commitment to their organization is a key driver of

greater empathy with customers in their daily performance (Louzao and Crespi-Vallbona,

2022). Thus, managers of tourism organizations and especially hotels, seek employees who

can perform well while providing a high level of quality of service (Crawford and Hubbard,

2018). Meanwhile, tourists are increasingly sensitized and value companies that work in a

fair, supportive and sustainable manner (Hern

andez Flores et al., 2020), even more in the

context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the post-pandemic period, in which

guests claim for health and safety information and confirm the essence of functional structure

and emotional ties in the specific field of hospitality (Liu-Lastres et al., 2022).

The objective of this study is to analyze the concept of fair work from the workers’

perspective and examine the current degree of knowledge among staff in the hotel sector in

Barcelona, using an academic tool, i.e. the indicators of the Fair Labor Responsible Hotel

certification (HJLR, Hoteles Justos Laborablemente Responsables, prepared by Spanish

unions and supported and analyzed by academia but not yet been endorsed by the public

institutions). The article begins with a review of the scientific literature that has analyzed the

concept of decent work in the hospitality industry and the description of the HJLR

certification. This is followed by a case study of the hotel sector in Barcelona due to the

tourism significance of this city. A qualitative technique is used in this exploratory research.

Secondary data on the project were provided by the HJLR certification. Primary data come

from in-depth interviews and a survey to hotel employees. Thus, on one hand, we conducted

nine in-depth interviews with experts, general managers and heads of department of

independently owned hotels and national and international chains. In addition, we did a

survey to employees achieving 248 correct answers. The whole primary data were used to

test both research questions on the conception of fair work by employees in the hotel sector in

Barcelona and their knowledge about the HJLR certification, which are not yet implemented

by the Spanish Government. The study concludes with some proposals for practical actions

Barcelona hotel

employees’fair

work

57