For café and restaurant staff, receiving a complimentary beverage or meal after finishing a gruelling shift may seem like an appropriate compensation. However, could these benefits—which are standard in this sector—be concealing more significant problems?
Casual work benefits have been a significant part of the culture in Australia's hospitality industry for a long time. common For restaurants and cafés to offer their staff a complimentary on-duty meal or significantly reduced menu options. In certain bars and pubs, having a closing-time drink is common practice. well-appreciated tradition .
Less clear is how these common benefits are affecting workers' legal rights.
To investigate, we surveyed 383 Australian professionals from the hospitality sector participated. These individuals were employed at various establishments including cafes, bars, and hotels—ranging from big chain operations to smaller local enterprises—throughout Australia. Their job titles encompassed positions like chef, bartender, guest experience attendant, waiter, manager, and barista.
We inquired about their employment agreements, their rights regarding things such as breaks and overtime, along with any additional benefits they got. Additionally, we encouraged them to express, using their own words, what changes could create fairness at work. The findings reveal a concerning scenario.
Precarious work
Over one in every three participants (34%) reported not having any documented terms of employment, even though this is legally required in Australia.
As one participant explained:
In my whole career, I've only ever gotten a written contract along with the statutorily mandated breaks from just one employer.
Almost half said they missed out on their rest breaks, which are meant as an entitlement to protect health and safety .
Approximately 12% received wages below the minimum rate, and nearly half reported missing out on their due overtime or penalty rates. The industry saw extensive non-adherence to these rights, a trend particularly stark in smaller establishments.
‘Perks’ of the job
Meanwhile, unofficial benefits continue to be intricately embedded in the workplace traditions of the hospitality industry.
Approximately half of the participants (44.1%) mentioned receiving additional perks aside from their standard compensation. The most frequent benefits included complimentary or reduced-cost meals (57%), followed by availability to alcohol (28%).
Several employees mentioned additional perks like laundry facilities, transport services, or even holiday presents. Such complimentary offerings were typically not officially documented and usually relied on the generosity of supervisors.
Such perks can blur the line between appreciation and obligation, which are offered as moral licenses to sidestep legal entitlements. We argue this widespread culture of perks is a distraction from unfair work practices, especially for younger workers who make up most of the hospitality and service workforce .
For staff who lack experience, these "perks" might seem like standard components of their role, which can make it more difficult to recognize when their legal entitlements are being neglected.
What workers really want
When questioned about what would make their jobs fairer, participants predominantly requested written agreements, guaranteed wages, and safeguards against mistreatment – rather than additional perks.
As one cook expressed it:
Unpaid steak dinners won't cover my rent or prevent my employer from reducing wages for smoking breaks.
Our findings indicate that employees who had formal agreements were considerably more prone to receiving their lawful rights, such as adequate rest periods and compensation for extra hours worked, when contrasted with those lacking such agreements.
Why is this important? Because upholding rights goes beyond ensuring equity. It’s about securing the long-term viability of a sector that we all depend on.
Research demonstrates that when companies depend on unpaid work or neglect fundamental rights, they undermine fair competition, lead toworker exhaustion, and push talented individuals away from the industry.
This impacts the standard of service, staff consistency, and ultimately the encounters of all those who dine out, travel, or partake in Australia’s tourist attractions.
What ways can we employ to resolve this?
Resolving the issue begins with well-defined, written employment agreements, particularly in smaller establishments where casual approaches tend to prevail. For employees and their loved ones, this involves not settling for a complimentary drink as an alternative to job stability.
For business proprietors—many of whom operate without malicious intent—it involves obtaining assistance to adopt equitable procedures via user-friendly resources, models, and straightforward instructions, like those provided by the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Salary and Benefits Resource and employment contract templates tailored to the industry.
For those in policy-making roles, this entails enhancing supervision alongside boosting education efforts. The aim should be to ensure that adherence isn’t merely a formality, but rather a transformative cultural change making equitable and safe employment the norm within the sector.
Let benefits stay as benefits — and not distractions from rights.
The authors are not employed by, advising, holding stocks in, or receiving financial support from any entity that could gain from this article, and they have declared no additional associations outside of their university positions.
