The changing nature of work

The nature of work has been subject to some changes in recent years and this has had impli-cations for the ways in which HR are managed. First, as a result of broader economic changes, we fi nd in many countries that the majority of the workforce is employed in service organiza-tions and alongside this we have also seen a signifi cant growth in knowledge work. Second, and in response to increasing competitive pressures, we have seen employers utilizing labour in different ways. For example, in some countries there has been an increase in the use of temporary and part-time contracts, in order to enable employers to match the supply of la-bour more closely with the demands of their business. We have also seen the growth of forms such as ‘virtual teams’ in businesses that operate on a global basis; such teams may be made up of employees who work in different locations and in different time zones, working to-gether via the use of some form of communications technology. Linked to the growth in service work, we have seen increased importance placed on what has been termed ‘emotional’

and ‘aesthetic’ labour, where employees are paid to manage their emotions and to appear in a prescribed way (for example, customer-facing staff may be expected to smile and be polite and staff may be expected to maintain a standard of dress in line with the company image). If employers are looking for different things from the workforce, this would suggest that there may be a need to change the way they are managed.

2.4.1 The growth of service work

The contribution of services to the European economy has continued to grow as restructuring in many European economies has resulted in a shift away from industrial to service activity (Eurostat, 2010). Across the EU services account for 70% of total employment (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2007) and in the US this fi gure is even greater, with services accounting for 78% of total employment (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). Korczynski (2002) identifi es fi ve attributes of services that distinguish them from primary, secondary, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors. These are:

● Intangibility—services have an intangible element which cannot be touched, e.g. quality of service in a restaurant.

● Perishability—service work can be stored or stockpiled, e.g. sales staff in a shop can only sell when customers are present.

THE CHANGING CONTEXT FOR SHRM 33

● Variability—customers may vary in their expectations of and actions within services.

● Simultaneous production and consumption—the employee produces at the same time as the customer consumes, unlike manufacturing where production and consumption are normally separate.

● Inseparability—customers cannot be separated from the service process, e.g. a healthcare procedure cannot take place without the patient being involved.

However, Korczynski notes that service work is wide-ranging and that not all service work will possess all of these attributes, especially where work is associated with informa-tion rather than customers, when it will possess fewer of these. For example, back-offi ce work is less likely to be perishable, because information can be saved to be used on an-other day. Frenkel (2000) has identifi ed a number of characteristics of service work that have implications for the management of HR. These include the following: fi rst, service work tends to be labour intensive and therefore containing labour costs is likely to be a management priority. Second, symbolic behaviours (attitudes, dress) and the social skills of employees form part of the product and therefore need to be considered in job design and the way in which HR are managed. Third, service work may involve others, typically the customer in work tasks (e.g. internet shopping) and this may present communication and motivation challenges. Fourth, service work is often required ‘on demand’ and many re-quire complex coordination of different specialists to deliver the service. Where the de-mand for labour occurs on dede-mand, it may also be diffi cult to maximize the productivity of labour. Fifth, the nature of services may mean that some degree of customization is needed and therefore there may be limits to the extent to which work can be standardized and therefore may require a different form of work and employment relations. Finally, per-formance management may be problematic since the experience of the service recipient is central. With services, Boxall (2003) argues that the match between competitive strategy and HR strategy is of greater importance than in manufacturing (see Chapter 5 for further discussion of the relationship between business strategy and HR strategy). He has devel-oped a typology that relates market characteristics in services to competitive dynamics and HR strategy. This suggests that where competition is cost-based in mass services, com-petition tends to drive out any advantage derived from adopting a more sophisticated approach to managing people. However, beyond this environment there is scope for sus-tained competitive advantage to be derived from the quality of the human capital and organizational processes used.

In service environments employees may be required to perform emotional and/or aes-thetic labour as part of their jobs. Emotional labour, identifi ed by Hochschild (1983) in her book The Managed Heart, describes circumstances where employees are expected to man-age their emotions as part of their paid employment. Emotional labour takes place in the context of social interaction in the conduct of work. Employees are expected to manage their emotions in order to engender a state of mind in another person (normally the customer). As such, employees are expected to, for example, smile, laugh, be polite, or display caring behav-iour towards the customer. In a study of airline stewardesses Hochschild (1983) describes how it is part of their job to smile and be polite and equally to disguise fatigue and irritation in order not to impair the customer experience. Other studies have examined how emotional labour is part of the work of call centre staff (Korczynski, 2003; Lindgren and Sederblad, 2003),

holiday company tour representatives (Guerrier and Adib, 2003), nurses (Lewis, 2005), and barristers (Harris, 2002). More recently, studies have examined how emotions are managed in dealing with not only customers but also colleagues and subordinates as part of a managerial role (Clarke et al, 2007; Humphrey et al, 2008).

See the case study below for details of a training programme implemented by Pizza Express to train staff to fl irt with customers.

Key Concepts

Emotional labour is where employees are required to manage the emotions they display (both express and conceal) as part of their paid employment, normally designed to engender a particular response in others.

Aesthetic labour is where employees are required to look (dress, self-presentation) or sound (voice, language used) in a particular way as part of their paid employment, normally in order to match the desired image of the organization.

Case study 2.2 Pizza Express teaching staff to fl irt with customers

Pizza Express has recruited classically trained actor Karl James to teach fl irting and the art of chit-chat to staff to help them to ‘butter-up’ the restaurant’s customers.

Mr James is running a series of bespoke workshops with Pizza Express employees to help them improve the way they interact with people.

A source close to the company said: ‘With social media and texting reducing our face-to-face interaction, Pizza Express has enlisted the help of a conversation expert who is incorporating fl irting and unique conversation techniques into its new staff training scheme to help completely redefi ne the restaurant experience for customers.’

Mr James has played a key role in designing Pizza Express’s new training and recruitment process, including teaching staff ‘how to fl irt (subtly) with customers so they feel more comfortable and relaxed’, he said.

He added that the hectic pace of modern life often prevented people from having a quality conversation. But somewhere among the pizza ovens, pushchair ramps, and oversized pepper grinders the art of banter was a ‘teachable skill’ which would help staff ‘get the most from every interaction, with colleagues and customers,’ the source said.

Source

Adapted from an article by Louisa Peacock, Jobs Editor, The Telegraph.

Activity

1. How well do you think staff can be trained to undertake this type of behaviour?

2. How might managers control and appraise emotional labour?

THE CHANGING CONTEXT FOR SHRM 35 In a related vein, the term aesthetic labour has been coined by Warhurst et al (2000) to

refer to circumstances where physical appearance and ‘embodied capacities and at-tributes’ form the basis of employment. In other words, part of paid employment is con-cerned with how people look, sound, and present themselves. Warhurst et al argue that these embodied capacities and attributes which individuals possess are then mobilized, developed, and commoditized by employers. As such they recruit, select, and train staff to suit a predefi ned corporate style. They report on how employers use phrases in job adver-tisements, such as ‘smart appearance’, ‘well spoken’, and ‘very well presented’, to signal the kind of people they wish to employ.

Managing these kinds of work may raise new challenges for managers. In the case of emo-tional labour, managers need to defi ne and prescribe what is an appropriate interaction and develop mechanisms to monitor these. In call centres this may be done by recording calls so that the interaction can be reviewed, but in other cases (such as airline cabin crew and retail staff) interactions may be less amenable to supervision and monitoring. Performing emo-tional labour where employees may have to deal with rudeness, discrimination, and/or in-nuendo is likely to be stressful for staff (Bolton and Boyd, 2003) and as such there may be a need to provide mechanisms to help staff cope with these situations. Aesthetic labour may raise issues in relation to discrimination if staff are recruited on the basis of physical attributes and presentation.