By Jessica Brill
Historically, employees in the foodservice and hospitality industry face unique stressors like long hours, inconsistent scheduling, minimal time off, little to no work-life balance, and often, unhealthy work environments. While these conditions have been highlighted in recent years, the focus on the industry’s culture and mental health crisis has been a long time coming.
As labour challenges persist for restaurant operators, studies show that 87 per cent of food and beverage workers experience burnout, 77 per cent report depression, and 84 per cent feel high levels of anxiety. However, these days, organizations like Toronto’s non-profit Not 9 to 5 are helping to raise awareness, providing valuable resources, and advocating for the mental health of hospitality workers and healthy work environments.
“Providing education and offering the necessary support to normalize the conversation around these issues creates more early intervention. This, in turn, makes space for people to identify mental health challenges and access the help they need before it escalates,” says Hassel Aviles, founder and executive director of Not 9 to 5.
The need for change
Because so many hospitality workers enter the industry at a young age and the existing culture is all they’ve ever experienced, they may not even be aware that something is wrong, illegal, or harmful. Often, these employees rely on restaurant owners and managers to lead and guide them in a healthy and responsible manner.
Hassel Aviles started her foodservice journey at 17, adding server, host, restaurant owner, entrepreneur, and more to her extensive resume throughout her career. While her responsibilities shifted and evolved, she was consistently exposed to the mental health challenges, substance abuse, and workplace trauma running rampant throughout the industry. However, in those days, the language and the tools to help with these challenges just did not exist, and discussions around mental health were not being had.
“Having these conversations means there’s less shame, and that results in less reliance on mal-adapted coping mechanisms like alcohol, substance abuse, and all kinds of other risky behaviour,” says Aviles.
As she moved up in the ranks, Aviles wanted to do her part to end the cycle by leading differently – and that’s when Not 9 to 5 began. Created in 2018 as a part of a partnership, Aviles has been managing operations solely since 2020, working to recognize the struggles that hospitality workers are facing and to offer crucial help and support.
An opportunity for learning
As the industry evolved and mental health became a topic of conversation, Not 9 to 5’s mission grew from raising awareness and promoting destigmatization to providing practical education and access to resources for industry workers.
“At the end of the day, a workplace does have a responsibility to promote the well-being of its employees and to prevent harm as part of a psychologically safe workplace, and that includes neglect,” says Aviles.
While COVID-19 shone a much-needed light on the industry, Aviles asserts that “this was an epidemic before the pandemic.” But that time period gave many people the opportunity to take a look at the culture as the industry paused, beginning to question how foodservice was being operated, from salaries to workplace conditions to labour and more.
A promising future
As understanding spreads and information about workplace conditions takes centre stage, how can we ensure that the industry continues to move in the right direction, and where does the responsibility lie in changing the behaviours so widely accepted in the past?
Aviles emphasizes that collaboration is key, and that a concentrated, combined effort will forge a path forward. “A systemic problem requires systemic solutions, from the government to society to organizational support to the employees themselves,” she says.
Aviles notes that, in food safety, for example, there are rules, and those rules are strictly enforced. However, this type of expectation and structure just doesn’t exist to address the wellness or safety of staff in the hospitality industry. And while she acknowledges that things are moving forward, there is still a lot of work to be done.
Improving education is the first step to lasting change, starting with employers. While there is often a broad lack of understanding about employee mental health and the need for support, there is also an often-overlooked crucial aspect of improved company culture – return on investment. Many operators are missing an important piece of the puzzle: there is high ROI for employers willing to take on the responsibility of employee well-being.
Frequent turnover leads to high costs, operational unpredictability, a disrupted work environment, and unhappy customers. Investing in changing that culture and improving the systems and processes benefits the staff, of course. But it also betters the business with higher retention rates, more effective risk management, stronger talent attraction, improved engagement in the workplace, and increased productivity. And as that investment grows, so, too, do those benefits to the business.
Investing in people
For restaurant operators, taking the steps to offer structure, resources, and support to teams may seem like a daunting and expensive endeavour, but small steps can reap lasting rewards. Restaurateurs need to get educated, spending as much time, effort, and investment as they can.
Aviles advises committing time and effort into having meaningful conversations in the workplace through staff meetings, one-on-one sessions, and including your team in the decision-making for your business. This helps them know they are supported and valued and incorporates their unique perspective into your solutions. “The old school hierarchy is no longer something that works, and companies need to flatten their organizational structure to include employees and have them feel invested in the decision-making process. That shows their employees are valued, supported, and that they matter,” says Aviles.
She suggests taking a strategic approach to mental health, similar to the way that operators often approach marketing or budgeting. Start by creating a mental health strategy at the start of the year and execute that plan with quarterly goals and expectations. Next, track and measure your successes and opportunities to help assess and improve your efforts. Lastly, repeat this process every year as part of your planning to stay committed to healthier employees and a healthier workplace.
For financial investment, consider sponsoring education, like training, workshops, and educational material, to create an environment where everyone is learning. Aviles stresses the importance of role modelling, too, suggesting that because this crisis has affected everyone from the top down, each staff member can be part of creating a positive and healthy culture.
On a larger scale, investing in substantial support and resources like benefits and medical solutions can also help encourage other businesses to compete by offering similar benefits. These types of steps raise the industry as a whole, iproving culture and resulting in meaningful, long-term industry-wide change.
A look ahead
Aviles and her team plan to continue their advocacy work and public speaking, along with providing workshops and offering resources to those in need. They have partnered with Smart Serve and Green Shield for the remainder of the year, providing access to the Smart Serve Cares program that offers support and free therapy, along with additional materials, including Not 9 to 5’s certification course, called CNECT (Change Needs Everyone Coming Together). The course is online and self-led, directed to managers wanting to learn more, offering education and upskilling, and providing much-needed usable tools. “We need to talk more, listen more to each other, and hold space for these conversations to create permanent, powerful shifts,” she stresses.
Collaboration and the desire to do better go a long way in making strides for today and for the next generation of hospitality workers. “At the end of the day,” says Aviles, “I just want to leave this industry better than how I found it and help others do the same.”
