Attractive Workers/Attractive Work:
Unemployed Job Seekers’ Access to Interactive Service Work
Anne Marie Cullen
University of Strathclyde
Paper presented to the 27th International Labour Process Conference, 6-8 April 2009, Edinburgh
Contact details
Anne Marie Cullen
Dept of HRM
University of Strathclyde
50 Richmond St
Glasgow
G1 1XU
Abstract
It is suggested that one of the forces of social exclusion is the decline in manual employment and the shift to a service economy in the UK. Moreover, the growth of employment opportunities in interactive service work occurring alongside high economic inactivity and unemployment rates, in cities such as Glasgow, are a cause for concern. With the growth of interactive service work projected to continue, the resultant change in the nature of much employment in the UK, and associated skill demands, has implications in terms of access employment. More specifically the utilisation of aesthetic labour and thedemand for aesthetic skills in much interactive service work may impact upon unemployed job seekers’ access to this work.
Moreover, despite the growth of job opportunities in the service sector in Glasgow distinct groups of people are not benefiting from this growth by gaining access to employment in this work, with the city still suffering from high inactivity rates (Danson and Mooney, 1998; Glasgow Economic Forum, 2003). This problematic situation underlines that Glasgow is an apposite locale to study the impacts of the shift to service work, along with the changing demand for skills by employers, and the impacts these changes have upon potential employees such as unemployed job seekers and training for the unemployed.
It is demonstrated in this paper that there is little existing training provision for interactive service work for unemployed job seekers and that where it does exist it is not geared towards the skills demands of employers. It is also apparent from the research that unemployed job seekers hold a negative view of employment in the interactive service sector, due to both objective and subjective factors.
Introduction – Attractive Workersin the Interactive Service Sector
Reflecting the patterns of employment in many countries there has been a huge structural shift in the UK economy over the last few decades, with an economy that was dominated by manufacturing being overtaken by a burgeoning service-based one. This shift in the economy is clearly apparent in Glasgow, with the city being described as an ‘exemplar’ of previously industrial based cities attempts to transform themselves, and indeed reinvent themselves, as ‘post-industrial’ service centres (Warhurst and Nickson, 2001). Within this growth of service work sectors such as retail and hospitality employment are significant. For example, data suggests that the retail and hospitality industries in Glasgow provide approximately 20 percent of all jobs (Glasgow Economic Monitor, 2005).
However the shift to a service economy and the resultant growth of opportunities in this work is not unproblematic. Indeed it has been suggested that exclusion in the UK today is a result of the changing nature of work and the shift to services that have occurred as a result of the shift to a post-industrial society (Byrne, 1999). More specifically, Littlewood and Herkommer (1999) suggest that one of the several forces of social exclusion is the decline in manual employment and the increase in white-collar employment. With specific reference to Glasgow Danson and Mooney (1998) suggest that the shift to a service economy and urban regeneration has transformed Glasgow into a post-industrial city. Yet they argue that within this society poverty and social exclusion are apparent with distinct groups of people not benefiting from this transformation. They further argue that this exclusion is due in part to the employability of some of the population, with skills mismatches between employment opportunities and employers’ skills demand and the skills of some of the population apparent. Furthermore Glasgow Economic Forum (2003) highlight that the shift to a service economy has created new job opportunities in Glasgow, yet the high economic inactivity rates suggests that there are a number of individuals who have not gained access to these opportunities.
The issue of social exclusion, and in particular exclusion from employment, and the associated problems for society and the individual are of great concern to the UK government. The policy focus on access to employment as a route to overcoming social exclusion is apparent in the government’s adoption of an ‘active’ welfare system where individuals are expected to include themselves in society through gaining employment and overcoming difficulties regarding access to employment. Moreover, it is suggested that access to employment for the unemployed is improved by enhancing an individual’s employability, and therefore current policy focuses on skills training in order to enhance the employability of the unemployed.
The growth of service work and the high unemployment and inactivity levels has resulted in many debates. Pertinent to this study are the debates surrounding the issue of skills utilised and demanded in the interactive service sector and factors relating to employability. With regard the former, it is argued thatthe shift to a service economy has led to a resultant demand for skills beneficial in this work, such that employers, particularly those in the interactive service sector, are demanding soft skills rather than technical skills at the point of entry to employment. Moreover due to the performative nature of much work in this sector employees’ corporealityis valuable and deemed important by employers. Warhurst,Nickson, Witz and Cullen (2000) argue that amongthe soft skills utilised by employers in the interactive service sector employees’ aesthetic skills are increasingly important. In part due to increasing competition and in an attempt at market differentiation employees are now expected to embody the product of the organisation in order to enhance the quality of service, and therefore employers are demanding employees with appropriate aesthetic skills and utilising employees’ aesthetic labour. The aesthetic labour research draws attention to this under analysed form of work and highlights the nature and extent of aesthetic labour while also underlining employers’ demands for aesthetic skills. However, it is understood that employers’ utilisation of employees’ aesthetic skills is not a new phenomenon and that employers require a combination of skills, social, technical and aesthetic. Yet, importantly, at the point of recruitment and selection employees are filtered in to and out of employment in much interactive service work according to their possession of appropriate aesthetic competencies and skills.
However regarding the demand for aesthetic skills as Witz et al. (2003: 41) note: ‘The kinds of embodied dispositions that acquire an exchange value are not equally distributed socially, but fractured by class, gender, age and racialised positions or locations.’ Thus employees’ embodiment is dependent upon characteristics such as class, age, gender and race, and this has implications in terms of who possesses the aesthetic skills demanded by employers and who does not. Whether soft skills such as aesthetic skills are viewed to be ‘skills’ or ‘characteristics’ of the individual is almost irrelevant when it is clear that the possession of these skills contributes to employability. Academic debate regarding what comprises skill does not change the reality that employers in some sectors prefer the soft skills of attitude and appearance to technical skills at the point of recruitment and selection. Moreover, while the demand for aesthetic skills is most apparent in the style labour market Warhurst and Nickson (2007) note a demonstration effect, with these demands filtering down into retail and hospitality organisations considered outwith the style labour market. Therefore access to employment in these growth sectors is often dependant upon possession of aesthetic skills.
Warhurst and Nickson (2007) highlight the ongoing demand for and utilisation of aesthetic skills by employers in the interactive service sector, indicating that the possession of aesthetic skills contributes to an individuals’ employability. Moreover, Keep and Mayhew (1999), Nickson et al. (2003), Warhurst et al. (2005) and Warhurst and Nickson (2007) have suggested that the possession of aesthetic skills may be related to social class. Therefore it is conceivable that the demand for aesthetic skills may disadvantage sections of the population who are perceived to lack them, such as unemployed job seekers.
However, the shift to a service economy and resulting skills demands may not be the only factors important in determining access to work and employability levels. McQuaid and Lindsay (2005) argue it is not only individual factors, such as the skills individuals possess, that impact upon employability and access to employment, but also personal circumstances related to the individual, such as family responsibilities, and external factors, for instance vacancy characteristics (including remuneration and conditions of work) and the effectiveness of training provision. With the government keen to raise skills levels across society, viewing skills training as key in overcoming exclusion from employment, the role of training for the unemployed is indeed crucial in examining access to employment. As the literature highlights, although the growth of the service industry in the UK may offer opportunities for employment for the unemployed it is important to note that the nature of work and therefore the demand for skills in service work is quite different to other forms of work. Therefore it is vital that the nature of service work and the resultant demand for skills is understood in order that skills training, particularly training aimed at the unemployed, is apposite and meets employers’ demands. Worryingly TERU (1999) suggest that training providers for the unemployed may not be addressing the appropriate skills for employment in service sector work.
Moreover, while employment opportunities in the interactive service sector can be viewed positively in terms of insertion into the workforce there is a need to investigate and better understand the impact of changes in the labour market, such as the change in the nature of work and skills demands, that may influence unemployed job seekers’ attitudes towards and perceptions of work (Helms and Cumbers, 2004).Also, as Lindsay and McQuaid (2004) suggest, there is little research examining how negative views of service work may impact upon the job search strategies of unemployed job seekers, and also little evidence of unemployed job seekers’ perceptions of specific areas of employment within the service sector.
There are clearly a number of factors that impact upon access to employment in the ever-expanding service sector. However, the central concern of this research is that despite the growth of interactive service work and ongoing high unemployment and inactivity rates for some sections of the population there is a relative lack of empirical research examining the issue of access to this work for unemployed job seekers. While employers’ skills demands, in relation to interactive service work, have recently received much needed attention both the issue of the quality and appropriateness of training for the unemployed and unemployed job seekers views regarding interactive service work remain relatively unexplored. This paper, therefore, seeks to build on the aforementioned work by presenting findings from qualitative research conducted with training organisations for the unemployed in Glasgow and with a group of unemployed job seekers in Glasgow regarding perceptions of work in the interactive service sector.
Research Methods
This paper utilises the findings of two phases of qualitative research carried out during the period 2003-2005. The research locale for this study is Glasgow, a city that has undergone a huge structural shift to a service based economy. In particular, Glasgow has seen significant growth in retail, hospitality and call centre employment. The purpose of the first phase of research is to identify the extent of training provision for the unemployed in Glasgow for interactive service work in the retail and hospitality sectors, and to determine whether the training is geared towards the skills demands of employers in these industries. Firstly, therefore, it was necessary to access documentary evidence from training organisations in Glasgow in order to determine the type and content of training courses available to the long-term unemployed. Subsequently, twenty organisations were contacted, with representatives of fourteen organisations agreeing to take part in either a telephone interview or face-to-face interview. These interviews were also supplemented with four in-depth semi structured interviews with key informants that have many years experience in developing and delivering training initiatives for the unemployed in Glasgow. These key informants held senior positions in economic development agencies, including Scottish Enterprise, and in large training organisations for the unemployed. Table 1 provides a list of the codes used when reporting the findings of this research. Although the job title of the interviewees varied between organisations the main role of all 14 training provider interviewees was to manage or coordinate training for the unemployed.
Telephone interviews lasted around twenty to thirty minutes, the face to face interviews around thirty minutes, and the key informants interviews between thirty and sixty minutes. All interviews, apart from one key informant interview, were recorded and subsequently transcribed verbatim.
The purpose of the second phase of research is to examine perceptions of interactive service work among the unemployed clients of the Wise Group, an organisation that offers training for the unemployed and whose remit is to get the unemployed into work. Three distinct groups of individuals took part in the research, a group of mostly female clients from the Intermediate Labour Market[12] (ILM) training programme, a group of mostly young males from the New Deal Tailored Pathways[13] (ND) training programme, and a group of older males from the Employment Zone[14] (EZ) initiative. In total four focus groups and one group discussion was conducted with unemployed job seekers who were, at that time, clients at the Wise Group. Two focus groups were conducted with predominantly female ILM clients and a further two with the predominantly male NDclients. The group discussion was conducted with a group of eight males taking part in the Employment Zone initiative. It was not possible to access the EZ group for the time required to set up and conduct a focus group; therefore in order to gain some feedback from this group the compromise of a short discussion at the end of one of their training sessions was agreed. This did prove to be a fruitful discussion as some of the issues raised in this group were significantly different from the findings from the other two groups.
The researcher’s joint working with the Wise Group facilitated access to the clients. It is argued that the clients involved in this research are fairly representative of unemployed individuals undergoing training for work in Glasgow. Indeed the varied client group of the Wise Group are represented in the participants in this study. These three distinct groups were not deliberately placed together by the researcher but rather were placed together according to the particular training initiative they were undertaking by the representative of the Wise Group helping facilitate this research. It is important to point out that none of these clients were currently undertaking training for interactive service work. Each focus group lasted approximately 45 minutes, as this was the time allocated by the trainers for the research. The focus group discussions were audio recorded and verbatim transcripts were produced. The group discussion lasted approximately 20 minutes.
Training Provision for Unemployed Job Seekers for Interactive Service Work
The provision of training
As highlighted above the possession and display of aesthetic skills contributes to employability and as such it is important that training for the unemployed recognises the demand for these skills and incorporates training for these skills into retail and hospitality training programmes. Yet despite the growth of the retail and hospitality industries in Glasgow and a plethora of training organisations offering training for the unemployed, the research revealed that there is very little training for interactive service work available to the unemployed. However, there is evidence of widespread training for call centre and care work, which the training providers suggest is due to the demand for employees from employers and the reciprocal demand for training for this work from the unemployed. Yet there is little evidence of specific training for retail or hospitality work, and in particular the interactive roles involved in this work. A few organisations do offer hospitality training but point out that demand from the unemployed for this training is low while the demand from employers for potential employees recruited from the training organisation is equally low. There is even less evidence of training for retail employment despite the reputation of Glasgow as a highly rated retail centre. Moreover, evidence suggests that the retail and hospitality industries in Glasgow provide approximately 20 percent of all jobs and are significant in current employment trends (Glasgow Economic Monitor, 2005). Therefore it is problematic that there is very little evidence of training for the unemployed for this work.