Dennis Nickson

Employee experience of aesthetic labour in retail and hospitality

Interactive service job growth in the UK is significant.Analysis of labour within these services has tended to focus on employee attitudes, framed through emotional labour. Such analysis is not incorrect, just partial. Some employers also demand aesthetic labour, or employees with particular embodied capacities and attributes that appeal to the senses of customers. Reporting survey and focus group data, this article explores aesthetic labour as it is experienced by interactive service employees in the retail and hospitality industries. Issues examined are recruitment and selection; image and appearance; uniforms and dress codes; skills and training. By extending awareness of aesthetic labour so that both employee attitude and appearance are empirically and conceptually revealed, the article extends understanding of the job demands made of employees in interactive services.

Human Resource Management for the Hospitality and Tourism Industries

Takes an integrated look at HRM policies and practices in the tourism and hospitality industries. Utilising existing human resource management (HRM) theory and practice, it contextualises it to the tourism and hospitality industries by looking at the specific employment practices of these industries, such as how to manage tour reps or working in the airline industry. It initially sets the scene with a broad review of the evidence of HRM practice within the tourism and hospitality industries.

A new labour aristocracy? Aesthetic labour and routine interactive service

A re-conceptualization of the work and employment of interactive service and the workers who inhabit these jobs is required, not least because routine interactive services will provide most job growth in the UK for the foreseeable future (Wilson et al., 2004). This article initiates that task, arguing that it can be understood by reference to aesthetic labour, which is creating a potential new labour aristocracy and a reconfiguration of the service encounter.

Lookism: the new frontier of employment discrimination?

The reason that Chinese navy sailors must be good looking and well-mannered, according to a navy spokesman, is that, as China opens up to the world and its navy vessels visit and engage in joint exercises with other countries, its sailors become representatives of China. Beyond the medias attention-grabbing headlines, there is now established academic research from the USA and UK, as well as some emerging indications from Australia, highlighting links between an individuals looks and his or her pay and employment prospects.

Soft skills and employability: Evidence from UK retail:

This article contributes to ongoing debates about soft skills in front-line interactive service work in considering employability in the UK retail sector. It recognizes how UK government policy has emphasized the importance of qualifications in enhancing employability. However, it suggests that for front-line work in retail it is soft skills that are required to access entry-level jobs. The article notes how these soft skills have traditionally been dominated by debates about emotional labour. Drawing on a survey of 173 clothing, footwear and leather goods retailers, the article argues for a need to recognize the broadening of soft skills to also include aesthetic labour. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the broadening of soft skills with regard to policy initiatives to encourage the long-term unemployed into the retail sector.

Teaching human resource management in tourism and hospitality: a critique

Argues for more real and in‐depth understanding of the industry ‐ theoretical and conceptual interpretations of human resource management issues ‐ to be provided to students before operational and presumptive models. Suggests that students are currently uncritical perpetuators of the status quo rather than effective and thinking would‐be managers ready to change things for the better.

Flexible friends? Lone parents and retail

This paper considers a so far unappreciated sector of the labour market – lone parents. The number of lone parents has increased dramatically in recent years. Consideration of lone parents allows for a discussion of two key issues within the contemporary labour market: the attempts by government to increase the number of lone parents in work; and relatedly, governmental initiatives which have sought to reform the tax and benefit system to make work more attractive and also address the need for work‐life balance for parents. The paper considers these issues by reporting a small‐scale piece of research that sought to address the viability of the supermarket sector as a suitable employer for lone parents. The results suggest that the increasing numbers of students entering the labour market means that supermarkets are unlikely to consider lone parents as an important, discrete source of labour.

Giving Miss Marple a Makeover: Graduate Recruitment, Systems Failure, and the Scottish Voluntary Sector

The voluntary sector in Scotland, as in many other countries, is becoming increasingly business like. Resultantly, there is an increasing demand for graduates to work in business and support functions. In Scotland, however, despite an oversupply of graduates in the labor market, the voluntary sector reports skills shortages for graduate-level positions. Through exploratory, mainly qualitative research, this article demonstrates that one reason for this mismatch between the supply of and demand for graduates is a systems failure within the sector. Many graduates and university students remain unaware of potentially suitable paid job opportunities, in part because of the sector’s voluntary label. To rectify this systems failure, thought needs to be given to the sector’s nomenclature and the manner in which voluntary sector organizations attract graduate recruits, for example, through levering value congruence in potential recruits.

A gathering storm? Re-tendering and the voluntary sector workforce

Purpose – This paper aims to consider the impact of the European Union procurement regulations. It assesses the impact of the re‐tendering of services on the terms and conditions of employment and sense of well being, and commitment of employees in the social care sub‐sector of the voluntary sector.Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a qualitative study of three organisations utilising semi‐structured interviews with managers and employees.Findings – The process of re‐tendering is creating intensified competition and the breakdown of co‐operation between voluntary sector organisations. Re‐tendering also has an impact on employee terms and conditions with related problems arising with regard to their morale and commitment.Research limitations/implications – This remains a relatively small‐scale piece of research and there is also scope to consider how these issues are played out in private, as well as voluntary sector organisations.Practical implications – The research highlights the potential ...

Smoking in the restaurant industry: time for a ban?

Recent speculation on whether the Government may seek to enforce a total ban on smoking in the UK’s bars and restaurants has reignited a long standing debate about the commercial impact of such a decision. Running alongside these considerations is the health and safety question and the possible harmful consequences for those working in smoky environments. Reports a small‐scale piece of research which compares the smoking arrangements found in several restaurants. The findings suggest that those restaurants already operating a total ban on smoking may actually be opposed to Government legislation, as this would remove from them a potential source of competitive advantage. Thus, the paper suggests that those restaurants which operate a total smoking ban may enjoy some commercial benefits, especially if the question of partially or totally banning smoking remains a voluntary one.