Organizational cultures in the Swedish restaurant business and the risk for sexual harassment

Abstract Background The hospitality sector has the highest level of sexual harassment incidents compared to any other sector. The negative consequences of sexual harassment at the restaurant workplace are not limited to the health of the victim alone as it also affects the organization as well as the health of a society. The organizational context is a fundamental determinant of sexual harassment and we need to increase our understanding of organizational cultures that affect such behaviors in order to develop and implement effective interventions in the restaurant business. The aim of this study was to give a comprehensive picture of organizational cultures that increase the risk for sexual harassment in the restaurant business. Methods Individual interviews with twenty-nine employees in the restaurant business (e.g. waiting staff, chefs, bartenders, managers) were conducted during 2019-2021. Thematic analysis was used to analyze organizational cultures that increase the risk for sexual harassment in the restaurant business. Preliminary results show a complex web of intersecting cultures such as a toxic macho culture, a weak leadership culture and a close relational culture that cooperate at different hierarchical levels and increase the risk for sexual harassment. The results also show how organizational factors such as workforce demography, unsocial working hours, staff turnover and understaffing are interacting with the organizational cultures in the creation of a hostile environment that increases the risk for sexual harassment. Conclusions The results elucidate why traditional interventions such as training or bystander interventions are inefficient in the restaurant business. The results can be used to develop interventions that focus on macho-cultures in restaurants, the leadership culture and the specific relationship culture that develop due to the specific organizational structures in the restaurant business. Key messages • There is a need to focus on organizational factors in order to work against sexual harassment in the restaurant business and is a prerequisite for developing efficient interventions. • Sexual harassment affects many people in working life and is a serious public health problem. Also, sexual harassment at work maintains gender-based inequalities that exist at a structural level.


Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic entailed a deep economic crisis that affected working populations globally. However, non-standard workers (NSW, understood as workers with temporary contracts, not working full-time, self-employed or not paying taxes/making active pension contributions) were more severely hit than workers with more stable and protected jobs. The aim of this study thus was to explore the experiences of NSW during the pandemic and how these affected their mental health in Spain, one of the countries in Europe with the highest shares of temporary and self-employment and the one that applied the most restrictive containment measures during the first waves of the pandemic.

Methods:
As part of a larger multi-country study, 41 semi-structured interviews with NSW aged 25-55 were conducted between March-July 2021 and analyzed thematically.

Results:
Analyses revealed that job loss or insecurity and subsequent reductions in income were central to the experience of NSW during the pandemic in Spain, which affected their mental health negatively. Both the existing social protection framework and the policies deployed during the pandemic to outweigh these consequences were perceived by NSW as insufficient or could not access them due to their condition of NSW. This was particularly the case for self-employed and temporary agency workers. Moreover, NSW expressed that containment measures and reductions in income prevented them from engaging in activities to cope with such adversities, aggravating their mental health.

Conclusions:
These findings suggest that, in Spain, the pandemic intensified but also made more visible the defenselessness of NSW (especially self-employed and temporary agency workers) in terms of social protection in the event of sudden unemployment or reductions in income. This situation had harmful consequences for their mental health. Yet, new policies and measures fall short in fitting the necessities of an increasing share of the workforce.

Key messages:
In Spain, non-standard workers are more vulnerable to and defenseless against sudden unemployment or reductions in income.
The pandemic intensified this problem and put them at higher risk of suffering from poor mental health.
workplace are not limited to the health of the victim alone as it also affects the organization as well as the health of a society. The organizational context is a fundamental determinant of sexual harassment and we need to increase our understanding of organizational cultures that affect such behaviors in order to develop and implement effective interventions in the restaurant business. The aim of this study was to give a comprehensive picture of organizational cultures that increase the risk for sexual harassment in the restaurant business.

Methods:
Individual interviews with twenty-nine employees in the restaurant business (e.g. waiting staff, chefs, bartenders, managers) were conducted during 2019-2021. Thematic analysis was used to analyze organizational cultures that increase the risk for sexual harassment in the restaurant business. Preliminary results show a complex web of intersecting cultures such as a toxic macho culture, a weak leadership culture and a close relational culture that cooperate at different hierarchical levels and increase the risk for sexual harassment. The results also show how organizational factors such as workforce demography, unsocial working hours, staff turnover and understaffing are interacting with the organizational cultures in the creation of a hostile environment that increases the risk for sexual harassment.

Conclusions:
The results elucidate why traditional interventions such as training or bystander interventions are inefficient in the restaurant business. The results can be used to develop interventions that focus on macho-cultures in restaurants, the leadership culture and the specific relationship culture that develop due to the specific organizational structures in the restaurant business.

Key messages:
There is a need to focus on organizational factors in order to work against sexual harassment in the restaurant business and is a prerequisite for developing efficient interventions. Sexual harassment affects many people in working life and is a serious public health problem. Also, sexual harassment at work maintains gender-based inequalities that exist at a structural level.

Background:
Sexual harassment (SH) continues to be a significant public health problem, especially among women. SH and other types of harassment and derogatory treatment/bullying exist at many academic workplaces. The aim of this study is to explore how SH relates to other forms of harassment among staff at a large Swedish university, separated by gender.

Methods:
Using data from a web-based survey sent out to all staff in November 2019 (response rate 33%), a multiple logistic regression analysis was performed. Exposure to SH was defined as having experienced at least one of ten defined SH behaviours related to work. Exposure to harassment (other than sexual) was defined as having experienced violation of onés dignity associated with one of the Swedish seven legal grounds for discrimination: sex, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age. Exposure to derogatory treatment was defined as having experienced undesirable negative behaviours, such as withholding information, derogatory comments or exclusion. All SH, harassment and derogatory treatment took place during the last 12 months.

Results:
Preliminary results show a sixfold increased risk among women subjected to SH to also experience harassment, a three times higher risk to experience derogatory treatment and a seven times higher risk to experience multiple forms of harassment (two or more forms of harassment or derogatory treatment) compared to women unexposed to SH. The elevated risk remained after adjusting for relevant background variables. The pattern was similar among men but with lower prevalence of SH, harassment and derogatory treatment.

Conclusions:
The results indicate that individuals subjected to SH at work have an increased risk of experiencing other types of harassment or derogatory treatment. This new information is relevant to consider in prevention of SH and harassment in academia.

Key messages:
The results indicate that individuals subjected to sexual harassment at work have an increased risk of experiencing other types of harassment or derogatory treatment. Findings indicating a relationship between sexual harassment and other types of harassment or derogatory treatment may be valuable for counteracting the problem. South Korea experiences four times more unmet healthcare needs than OECD countries (11.6% and 2.6% respectively). Unmet healthcare needs are caused by the double burden of direct and indirect costs including income loss, and OECD countries operate a sickness benefit scheme to resolve sudden loss of pay. Seoul introduced the first sickness benefit system, Seoul-Type Paid Sick Leave Support (hereinafter Seoul Sick Leave), for self-employed national healthcare insurance subscribers to reduce the rate of unmet healthcare needs. By comparing the amount of increasing medical expenses between the beneficiary and non-beneficiary before (2018) and after (2019-2020) the introduction of the system, the study was intended to confirm the reduced unmet healthcare needs. This study used data from the National Health Information Database (NHID) and the difference in differences (DID) analytic framework. 96 and 121 patients were included in benefit and non-benefit cohorts, respectively. As a result, the beneficiary group's expenses were smaller than those of the non-beneficiary group (coef. = -1.24, p = 0.026). However, the beneficiary group had a greater amount of increase in hospitalization expenses before and after the introduction than the non-beneficiary group did (coef. = 1.66, p = 0.005). Our finding showed that the Seoul Sick Leave helped the precarious workers as they were able to use inpatient services when they needed. If it is to be scaled up to the national level, it should be applied all people to enhance universal health insurance in Korea.

Key messages:
Identified the effectiveness of the first sickness benefit system as it helped the precarious workers as they were able to use inpatient services when they needed.