The training of new employees
As for learning her job, “You’re experienced, aren’t you? Well, then, you know what to do,” and the housekeeper dismisses all responsibility. The idea that any woman knows how to do chamber work or cleaning is prevalent in the housekeeping department. The girl is left to work alone, then scolded for her mistakes or even discharged without notice. One worker was turned out at 4 o’clock in the afternoon with no money and another girl put in her bed that night because the housekeeper “didn’t like the way she swept.” In a few exceptional cases the housekeeper taught the new girls by the “you watch me” method.
The failure of hotels to train their employees was pointed out by the United States Federal Board of Vocational Education which had been requested by the American Hotel Association to make an investigation of the possibilities for vocational training in the industry. The report points out that the hotel industry has developed so fast from a home industry that managers have not perfected their organization. Department heads have not been instructed that one of their functions is the training of new workers. The report stresses the fact that training must be based on a clear definition of jobs and that jobs have not yet been analyzed by the management. “As hotel men pay more attention to training and promotion of deserving employees, there will be greater inducement to capable young people to enter the business. Such opportunities for training and promotion will also lessen the turnover of labor and consequently lessen the cost of operation.”[[3]] In New York State there seems little indication that hotels have profited by this report.
[3]. L. S. Hawkins, representing the Federal Board of Vocational Education. Vocational Education in the Hotel Business, A Report to the American Hotel Association of the United States and Canada. P. 10.
Transfers and Promotion
There was no such thing as a transfer or promotion policy in hotels where work was obtained. The nearest approach to it was found in one hotel where in the housekeeping department women were sometimes taken on as bathmaids at $25 a month and later became chambermaids at $28 a month. There their advancement ceased. Some hotels have rules that no chambermaids may be promoted to linen room workers. There was no cooperation between departments in transferring workers from one department to another.
HOURS
One of the most important conditions of work to the woman hotel employee is the number and distribution of the hours she works. As the hotel industry is a continuous one, most departments operate 18 out of the 24 hours. Within these 18 hours, as has already been pointed out, there are peaks of work when a larger force is necessary. Broken shifts and long and short working days are the result. The working days are made even more irregular by lack of regular lunch periods and regular closing time for those workers who live in the hotel.