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Why service workers are so burned out

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(Image credit: Getty)

By Mark Johanson 13th October 2021

Long days and low pay already hurt service-sector workers.

But since the pandemic, angry customers and staff
shortages have made things even harder.
Article continues below

hen two Category 5 hurricanes hit the US Virgin Island of Saint John in quick
 hen two Category 5 hurricanes hit the US Virgin Island of Saint John in quick

W succession in 2017, it was the most devastating thing to happen to

restaurant owner Karen Granitz in her 50 years in the service industry. But
then the 65-year-old picked up the pieces, reopened her business and carried
on. “I could see a light at the end of the tunnel,” she recalls. 

Covid-19 has been another beast entirely. “There’s no end in sight and we’re not in
control, which is very unnerving,” says Granitz. The unprecedented circumstances created
by the pandemic ultimately forced her out of business. “I closed the restaurant this past
February, not because of a desire to be secluded from Covid, not because we weren’t busy
enough, not because I couldn’t get supplies and not because of the shocking
misbehaviour of the minority of the masses of tourists we got,” she says. The problem:
staff were so burnt out they stopped showing up to work. 

“Rude customers were causing tension in house, wearing masks was exhausting and my
people were scared, whether they admitted it or not,” she says. When staff didn’t show up
for work, Granitz was le to pick up the slack. “I am too old to be carrying on working 16-
hour days and doing the work, physically, of six people, so I said I would walk out at the
top of my game before a stretcher had to carry me out.” 

The World Health Organization recognised burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” in

2019. While it’s oen discussed in reference to office workers, studies show service-sector
workers are uniquely affected by burnout, thanks to a combination of factors including
long workdays, odd hours and a lack of regular time off. In many nations, including the
United States, they are oen under-paid, under-resourced and undervalued, with no sick
pay or holiday-pay provision. 

Right now, service-industry burnout could be worse than ever, due to a volatile mix of
added stressors brought on by the pandemic, including unruly customers and dire staff
shortages. It’s possible these high levels of burnout could play an important role in
helping companies better understand the phenomenon and make changes that could lead
to better workplaces. Yet that will be of little comfort to those experiencing daily
hardship in customer-facing roles.   
Customers have been taking pandemic-linked stress out on service industry workers, experts say
(Credit: Getty)

'Roll-your-eyes horrible’ customers 

Many service-industry workers can hardly remember the early days of the pandemic,
when they were lauded for their labour as essential workers. These days, people are more
likely to come across news of attacks on workers in restaurants, stores and airplanes –
oen as a result of their new role as enforcers of Covid-era health rules. Of course, one of
the quintessential tasks of a customer-facing job is dealing with problems, making these
workers uniquely positioned to have hostile interactions during the pandemic. 

Granitz says the past few months on Saint John have been the most volatile she can
remember, with tourists fighting to get on ferries, misbehaving on tours and putting
restaurant staff on edge each shi. “You’d have 100 fabulous, amazing people and then
five would show up that were unbelievably, roll-your-eyes horrible,” she says. 

In a recent survey of UK retail workers, 91% of managers said they’d noticed an increase
in mental-health issues among staff. Chief among the reasons: 88% of frontline retail
respondents said they had experienced verbal abuse in 2020, and 60% reported being
threatened by customers.

I am too old to be carrying on working 16-hour days and

doing the work, physically, of six people, so I said I would
walk out at the top of my game before a stretcher had to
carry me out – Karen Granitz
Jennifer Moss, author of new book The Burnout Epidemic, says this is likely the result of
20 months of being in a state of crisis, where workers are stressed out and, when they
interact with the public, are being met with high levels of stress in return. “We’re always
sort of at the edge right now and we’re not taking moments of pause before we react,” the
Ontario, Canada-based expert explains. “So, there is just a level of volatility that those in
the service sector haven’t necessarily dealt with before.” 

Moss says this increased friction can lead to heightened levels of cynicism and
 Moss says this increased friction can lead to heightened levels of cynicism and
hopelessness among service-industry workers as well as a sense that things are out of
control. As a result, they may become disengaged, anxious or experience a negative
personality change – all symptoms of burnout that are oen misconstrued as poor
performance. 

The cycle of burnout and staff shortages 

Studies show burnout is a key driver of employee turnover. So, it’s perhaps no surprise
that the service industry has been among the hardest-hit by the Great Resignation. 

Hospitality workers in the US have le their jobs in droves since shutdowns began in early
2020. Job vacancies in the UK hospitality industry are at the highest levels since records
began, with many leaving the workforce to study or re-train in a new field. A lack of
service industry workers in Australia has led to bidding wars in which chefs offered up to
AU$200,000 ($143,520; £106,911) salaries just to accept a gig.

Staff shortages and new, complicated ways of working have added to the burden on some
service sector workers (Credit: Getty)

As a consequence of these worker shortages, many businesses in the US have attempted

to raise wages to lure them back. Studies show they aren’t interested. According to a
Joblist report, former hospitality workers are transitioning out of the industry in search
of a different work setting (52%), higher pay (45%), better benefits (29%) and more
schedule flexibility (19%). Meanwhile, half of former hospitality workers looking for other
work say no pay increase or incentive would make them return to their old restaurant, bar
or hotel job. 
or hotel job. 

Kevin Oliver is the manager of a variety store in the US state of South Carolina, who has
lived the consequences of severe staff shortages. The 54-year-old, who has worked in
retail since he was 21, says he’s logged an average of 60 to 70 hours each week this past
year. There was a period of nearly eight months during which the only way he could take a
day off was to ask the other manager-level employee to work a 16-hour shi. 

“With those kinds of occurrences becoming more and more common, it’s no wonder some
of us have been burnt out,” he says. Instead of having work-life balance, “for the bulk of
the pandemic it's been mostly work, pretty unbalanced”. Oliver is leaving his job this
month to take on a new position with a non-profit that he says offers fewer hours and
higher pay. 

Industry exodus 

Moss says the pandemic has made it easier for burnt-out workers like Oliver to make
career changes. “We’ve all gone through 20 months of facing our own mortality,” she says.
“We have questioned, intentionally, what we want to do with our lives, what we want to do
with work. We’ve also learned high levels of emotional flexibility, which makes you much
more open to change.”

Half of former hospitality workers looking for other work say

no pay increase or incentive would make them return to
their old restaurant, bar or hotel job
If companies in the service industry want to keep their employees, they may need to start
playing a major role in combatting burnout. Among entry-level staff, Moss says the
relationship has long been transactional. “There is an expectation that they are going to
leave, and we need to stop thinking like that,” she explains. “That means changing the way
that we support those employees.” 

This could be allowing workers to share their gripes openly without fear of repercussions,
ensuring all assigned workloads are sustainable, checking in with employees to gauge
their wellbeing and making workers aware of clear steps for career advancement. 

“We’re in a paradigm-shiing moment in our workforce right now,” adds Moss. “Those
companies that did a good job of listening to people, caring about their mental health,
providing them with the support they needed, developing trust, building two-way
communication and feedback – those types of organisations are the ones that will see
their employees stay.” 

Moss hopes the current situation may serve as a wake-up call, heightening awareness of
burnout and its effects not just in office cubicles and hospital wards but also behind café
counters and store registers. And with more attention to the problem, perhaps all of us
 counters and store registers. And with more attention to the problem, perhaps all of us
can begin to reflect on our own interactions with service industry workers and start the
process of de-normalising the poor behaviour reported in recent months, too.

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