A Qualitative Analysis of Immigrant Latinx Housecleaners' Experiences of How Power Relations With “Employers” Influence Working Conditions in New York City: The Safe and Just Cleaners Study

Abstract

Background

Housecleaning work has been characterized as precarious employment with unstable work hours, arbitrary and low pay and benefits, and exposures to chemical, physical, and psychosocial stressors. Understanding how interpersonal power dynamics between workers and clients, a component of precarious work, contributes to work exposures can inform and improve prevention programs.

Methods

We used reflexive thematic analysis of data from seven focus groups with Latinx immigrant housecleaners in New York City to explore workers' experience of interpersonal power dynamics with their clients—whom they referred to as their “employers”—and its influences on working conditions.

Results

Employer direction and monitoring varied and mostly reduced workers' autonomy to choose products, sometimes leading workers to complete tasks in more hazardous ways. Housecleaners reported using larger quantities of products, products with stronger scents, and more physical exertion to increase the efficiency of their cleaning, to complete tasks quickly, and to please their clients. Allotted time, tasks, and pay were interconnected, often resulting in negative reports about health and well-being. As immigrants, they also experienced discrimination and intimidation, which compounded their anxiety due to their employment insecurity. Nevertheless, participants learned and navigated high variance in employers' cleaning preferences and attempted to take control over the conduct of their work, when possible, and sometimes expressed self-advocacy.

Conclusions

Housecleaners' precarious employment arrangements affect how they navigate interpersonal relationships with employers, which impairs their working conditions and occupational exposures. Improvements in labor and social protections, such as designing supportive policies and training for workers and employers, are needed to improve working conditions.