Literature Review: An Examination of Restaurant Employee’s Work-Life Outlook
An Examination of Restaurant Employee’s Work-Life Outlook
Park et al. (2021) explore how restaurant employees view their work-life balance and indicates that an individual’s support systems (both real and perceived) have a significant impact on their life satisfaction (p. 8). And indeed, Park et al. find that the amount of support an employee receives (or believes they receive) from their employer directly correlates with their current and future life satisfaction (pp. 6–7). In turn, life satisfaction influences employees’ productivity and intentions to leave the restaurant industry (pp. 1, 8). But although the study finds that those with high current life satisfaction are less likely to want to leave the industry, those with high future life satisfaction are more likely to want to leave (p. 8). The study additionally finds that individuals with high resilience (the ability to function normally when faced with adversity) are also more likely to want to leave the restaurant industry. Obversely, this means that employees with low resilience and poor life outlooks are more likely to continue working in the industry. It is these people, of course, that are most in need of social and organizational support systems. And as previously established, the Covid-19 pandemic heavily strained those few support systems that were already in place (p. 9).
Like Bufquin et al. (2021), Park et al. (2021) also close their study with practical recommendations for the industry (p. 9). These recommendations include training managers to be more supportive of employees by setting realistic goals, being a good role model, and so on. They also include more tangible strategies, such as implementing wellness programs and paid vacation time, conducting on- or off-site fitness and team-building exercises, and seeking employee input when implementing new policies and procedures. Overall, employers should seek to improve employee life satisfaction because it will contribute to organizational citizenship and loyalty among the other, more obvious benefits (p. 9).
