Employee Experience in Retail and Hospitality

Work, Employment & Society http://wes.sagepub.com Employee experience of aesthetic labour in retail and hospitality
Chris Warhurst and Dennis Nickson Work Employment Society 2007; 21; 103 DOI: 10.1177/0950017007073622 The online version of this article can be found at: http://wes.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/21/1/103

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British Sociological Association

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Work, employment and society
Copyright © 2007 BSA Publications Ltd® Volume 21(1): 103–120 [DOI: 10.1177/0950017007073622] SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore

Employee experience of aesthetic labour in retail and hospitality
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Chris Warhurst
University of Strathclyde

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Dennis Nickson
University of Strathclyde

ABSTRACT

Interactive service job growth in the UK is significant. Analysis of labour within these services has tended to focus on employee attitudes, framed through emotional labour. Such analysis is not incorrect, just partial. Some employers also demand aesthetic labour, or employees with particular embodied capacities and attributes that appeal to the senses of customers. Reporting survey and focus group data, this article explores aesthetic labour as it is experienced by interactive service employees in the retail and hospitality industries. Issues examined are recruitment and selection; image and appearance; uniforms and dress codes; skills and training. By extending awareness of aesthetic labour so that both employee attitude and appearance are

Citations: http://wes.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/21/1/103 Downloaded from http://wes.sagepub.com at AUT LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION on May 15, 2010 Downloaded from http://wes.sagepub.com at AUT LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION on May 15, 2010 104 March 2007 of this new economy (Crouch, 2004) Downloaded from http://wes.sagepub.com at AUT LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION on May 15, 2010 Employee experience of aesthetic labour Warhurst & Nickson Downloaded from http://wes.sagepub.com at AUT LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION on May 15, 2010 106 Downloaded from http://wes.sagepub.com at AUT LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION on May 15, 2010 Employee experience of aesthetic labour Warhurst & Nickson Downloaded from http://wes.sagepub.com at AUT LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION on May 15, 2010 108