Key Points
- Anxiety, stress, social isolation negatively impact hospitality workers more
- Illicit and prescription drug use highest in hospitality sector -- Survey
- Lack of targeted support for the industry makes matters worse, vulnerability high due to temporary visas especially during COVID lockdowns
This story is a part of the SBS health and wellbeing initiative Mind Your Health launched on World Mental Health Day (10 October). Click to visit the SBS Mind Your Health portal, featuring digital stories, podcasts and videos in English and multiple languages.
In an astonishing finding by the Employee Associated Assistance Providers, a Sydney-based psychologist network, hospitality workers use illicit and prescription drugs more than those in any other industry in Australia.
Fifteen per cent of workers in this field suffer from clinical depression, according to recent survey.
“The lifestyle of people working in hospitality is deeply influenced by their job," Dr Roberta Gottardo explains to SBS Italian.
The Melbourne-based consultant psychologist saw a rise in the number of hospitality workers seeking help over the last few years.
Working weekends and nights means they cannot spend quality time with family and friends, or take time for themselves.Dr Gottardo
Recipe for stress relief
Mother-and-son restaurateur Sebastian and Luciana Pasinetti are trying to do things differently since opening Oko in May and more recently, Oko Rooftop and Café in Fitzroy, Melbourne.
Their focus is on the mental well-being of their staff.
“There is a massive spectrum of issues in the hospitality industry and some places are doing it right.
"But I think there are so many factors that contribute to a stressful environment and hospitality is kind of built around them,” Mr Pasinetti tells SBS Italian.
My mental health has been hugely affected by working in the industry, in nearly every workplace for the past 15 years.Mr Pasinetti
No room for error
“People working in hospitality are under constant pressure.
"It is an extremely fast-paced work environment where standards are very high. Making a mistake is not perceived very well,” explains Dr Gottardo.
“We do up to 13-or-14-hour shifts, with only a handful of hours between two shifts. If you have a managerial role, like a chef or a sous chef, for example, it is almost impossible to get some time off.
Often people working in hospitality are on a visa, they do not have a support network and tend to be even more vulnerable.Dr Gottardo
"I went to work even when I was unwell because asking for leave was simply out of the question,” Sarah* tells SBS Italian.
Claiming her right to “live a normal life outside work,” she decided to quit her job as a chef at a fine dining restaurant in Melbourne because the toll on her mental health and well-being was too high.
But, she loved her job.
Lonely planet
The fast-paced nature of the job, the isolation of shift work, the strife for excellence and the financial insecurity stemming from a high prevalence of casual work, make hospitality a highly stressful working environment.
There’s no support whatsoever from employers, our unions don’t do much… You can feel very lonely.Sarah
Kim* is on a work visa, awaiting her Australian permanent residency.
She works as a chef in a renowned restaurant in Sydney.
Although she suffers from severe stress disorders, anxiety and panic attacks, she feels she cannot just walk away.
She thrived mentally and physically during the pandemic, because she could rest, exercise and dedicate time to her loved ones and herself.
Mental health issues
As Dr Gottardo confirms, the pandemic aggravated some common mental health conditions affecting her clients working in the hospitality sector.
But the situation has not improved since the end of the lockdown.
“After the pandemic forced people in hospitality to stop and deal with uncertainty, things have gone back to ‘normal’ very fast.
Memebrs of the Oko's kitchen. Credit: Julian Lallo
"People did not have, as in other working environments, flexible agreements or a slower return to normality.
"The lack of personnel affecting the industry now means they have to work more to ensure the same pre-pandemic quality standards, and this causes a lot of pressure and stress," Dr Gottardo elaborates.
These stressors often manifest in aggressive behaviour, often falling into actual episodes of physical or verbal abuse and bullying.Dr Gottardo
Drinking problems away
One of the main issues according to Mr Pasinetti is access to alcohol.
Most hospitality venues reward their staff with an alcoholic beverage after their shifts.Mr Pasinetti
“Sometimes the high pressure can also be compensated with dysfunctional behaviours, like the abuse of alcohol or drugs,” confirms Dr Gottardo.
Before his latest food ventures, Mr Pasinetti worked three years in London for the , an organisation offering Mental Health First Aid training to the hospitality industry.
Back home at Oko, Mr Pasinetti decided to implement specific policies to ensure his staff’s mental well-being.
Luciana and Sebastian Passinetti Credit: Julian Lallo
“Alcohol is only allowed on a Friday and Saturday night after service and it is only one drink per person," he adds.
Setting things right
The policy introduces a traffic light system for the staff to rate their headspace before every shift, so that management and co-workers can offer help.
“It is a working battle to get that implemented at Oko, and make people feel comfortable to express their feelings.
I think people are not used to this kind of support, so trying to get it out of people has been a really big challenge.Mr Pasinetti
"But it is something that has been at the forefront of how we are running our business,"Mr Pasinetti explains.
“The traffic light system does help especially with productivity.
"Being a manager, it is really good to know that I can use that system to ask for support if I need it for a specific task, or that I can ask for time off,” says Mikayla Mani, company bar supervisor at Oko.
"After working for six years in hospitality, it was extremely refreshing to see that mental health is really valued and taken care of, and that boundaries between work and life are respected, " she adds.
Mr Pasinetti also claims Oko’s kitchens are the only ones in Australia that employ only women and queer staff.
A meal at Oko restaurant in Fitzroy. Credit: Julian Lallo
"The industry has looked at Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver for inspiration or to see how a kitchen is run.
"But having a different way of looking at the hospitality industry that is a little bit more supportive, has a little more understanding of people with children or other responsibilities, creating a safe space for queer people to really express themselves creatively has been really, really amazing," he concludes.
* not their real names.
