Do You Really Value Your Employees?
You value a clean floor but don’t pay top dollar for the employee who cleans it. You want a spotless plate but rarely think about the person scrubbing it. You’re impressed by a well-designed space, but not the laborers who painted the wall the perfect burgundy chosen by a six-figure designer. You sip your whiskey sour, but do you consider the person who meticulously prepped the simple syrup to the proper bricks?
These unseen, undervalued roles are the foundation of nearly every hospitality success story—and yet, they’re often dismissed as "unskilled" or "less important." Welcome to the world of status bias, where privilege clouds our perspective and creates myths about the labor hierarchy.
The Myth of “Unskilled” Labor
Let’s address the elephant in the room: the term "unskilled labor" is a misnomer. Skills like cleaning, cooking, and maintenance require precision, discipline, and expertise, especially when performed at scale or under pressure. But because these roles often don’t come with a degree or a high salary, they’re dismissed as less valuable. This devaluation feeds into systemic inequalities, where the people performing these roles—disproportionately women, immigrants, and people of color—are underpaid and overlooked.
The Hidden Labor That Sustains Us
Beyond the physical work, there’s an invisible layer of labor that’s often ignored: emotional labor, planning, and problem-solving. Think of the bartender who keeps a smile through a 12-hour shift while managing difficult customers. Or the janitor who notices a safety hazard and quietly resolves it before anyone else notices. These contributions often go unrecognized, but they’re vital to a functioning workplace and society.
What Kind of Leader Are You Really?
Do you look at the ecosystem holistically? Leaders have the power to disrupt status bias and foster a culture of respect.
Here’s how:
Value the Whole Ecosystem: Recognize that every role contributes to the bigger picture. A restaurant doesn’t thrive without dishwashers, and an office doesn’t function without janitorial staff.
Pay and Praise Fairly: Ensure that compensation reflects the true value of the work being done, and publicly acknowledge contributions across all levels of the organization.
Listen and Learn: Engage directly with employees in every role. What are their challenges? What’s being overlooked? Listening is the first step to dismantling hidden hierarchies.
Educate Against Bias: Conduct training that highlights the importance of every role and confronts privilege-based assumptions about labor.
By reframing leadership to value and respect all labor, we create not just fairer workplaces, but stronger, more cohesive teams. Because at the end of the day, the floor doesn’t clean itself, and the whiskey sour doesn’t magically appear. It’s time we valued the people who make it happen.
Verified Hospitality believes this leadership style is imperative to successful operations.
