University Study: Room Attendant Stress and Policy Recommendations

This report examines the issue of room attendant stress within the hotel industry, highlighting the various challenges faced by these workers, including long working hours, low pay, and physical strain from demanding tasks. The analysis delves into the health risks associated with their jobs, such as back problems, and the impact of payment systems on their well-being. The report references existing research that explores the causes of stress, including language barriers and socioeconomic challenges faced by immigrant workers. It critiques the limitations of past studies, particularly the lack of focus on specific tasks leading to injuries and the absence of quantitative research. The core objective of the report is to identify ways to improve working conditions, reduce stress, and enhance the productivity of room attendants through policy recommendations. The report aims to analyze the tasks impacting health, assess the effects of the working environment, suggest improvements to reduce stress, and evaluate the outcomes of implementing the proposed policies.

Running head: ROOM ATTENDANT STRESS AT WORK
Room attendant stress at work
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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ROOM ATTENDANT STRESS AT WORK
With the growing hotel industry in the world the number of room cleaners and room
attendant are increasing invariably. The hotel attendants comprises of both male and female
workers and immigrants from other countries and places. However, the room attendants has to
face a lot of challenges while working in the hotel such as long working hours, low pay, low job
security and mental pressure. They are also prone to a lot of health risk because of the type of
pressure they face at work such as lifting heavy beds, bending down to clean. Moreover, these
works has to be done very fast which causes back problems in them. Further, Oxenbridge &
Moensted, 2011 has examined that the payment system also has an impact on the health of the
workers. They usually are paid on the basis of number of rooms cleaned in a day rather than
hourly basis. This makes their salary very low compared to other works. It has been discussed by
Hsieh, Postolopoulos & Sonmez (2016) that the hotel housekeepers face a lot of health hazards
due to work which has lead to increasing stress among them. They also face mental strains due to
difficulties they face from immigration such as language problem, socioeconomic barriers and
lack of health services. Moreover, the low pay they get does not allow them to spent adequate
amount of money on health problem, which worsens their conditions even more.
The paper analyzed for this purpose has failed to discuss about the ways that can change in
the hotel industry to reduce the effect of various environment on the room attendants. Some of
the papers also failed to focus on the specific task that has lead to the increasing injuries among
the room attendants (Hon, Chan & Lu, 2013). Some of the articles have given space to future
research that can be taken such as offering collaborative environment whereby they can put more
effort on maintaining the working condition in favor of the workers. Further, it has been seen that
qualitative research alone did not help them find a proper environment for work (Hsieh,
Apostolopoulos & Sönmez, 2013). A quantitative research analyzing is also required for

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ROOM ATTENDANT STRESS AT WORK
analyzing the relationship between that working condition and the mental health of the workers
(Bryman & Bell, 2015).
 What are the policy recommendations for improving the condition of room attendants in
these hotels?
The following are the objective of the research to be done in order to solve the above
problem (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2013).
 Analyzing the works that mostly affects the health condition of the worker
 Analyzing the affects these working environment possess on the room attendants
 Suggesting ways through which the working environment can be dealt with in a better
way for reducing stress in room attendants
 Analyzing the after effects of the implementation of the policy
From the above analysis it can be concluded that room attendants has been suffering from
stress due to the industry they work in. This is because they everyday they are exposed to
conditions that put a negative impact on them. Moreover, they also get physical injuries due to
the time strains they have at work. Thus, they have been suffering both mentally and physically.
However, the objective of the paper is to find out ways to improve the working condition of the
workers and increase their productivity at work.

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ROOM ATTENDANT STRESS AT WORK
References
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2015). Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2013). Research methods in education. Routledge.
Hon, A. H., Chan, W. W., & Lu, L. (2013). Overcoming work-related stress and promoting
employee creativity in hotel industry: The role of task feedback from
supervisor. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 33, 416-424.
Hsieh, Y. C. J., Apostolopoulos, Y., & Sönmez, S. (2013). The world at work: hotel
cleaners. Occup Environ Med, 70(5), 360-364.
Hsieh, Y. C., Apostolopoulos, Y., & Sönmez, S. (2016). Work conditions and health and well-
being of Latina hotel housekeepers. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 18(3),
568-581.
Oxenbridge, S., & Moensted, M. L. (2011). The relationship between payment systems, work
intensification and health and safety outcomes: a study of hotel room attendants. Policy
and Practice in Health and Safety, 9(2), 7-26.