Historic victory for maids in the battle against hotels. The collective known colloquially as kellys (those who clean in hotels) managed to get a Balearic hotel chain (MarSenses) to recognize the hardness of their work, especially for the elderly, and was the first, after long negotiations with workers’ representatives, to approve an agreed reduction in working hours to 32 hours per week for those over 58 years of age. For years the group has been calling for improved working conditions across Spain, where tourism is one of the main economic activities.
“MarSenses is a very important step and it is one that other hotel chains should take,” underlines Sara del Mar García, president of Kellys Unión Baleares, the organization that brings together almost 4,000 rulers of the archipelago. Indeed, he assures that the latest agreement on hospitality in the Balearic Islands, signed on 8 July, establishes the obligation for all companies, regardless of their size, to measure the workload of cleaners and take measures in this regard, even if they are given a deadline until April 2028, which, in his opinion, “gives them” a margin of two and a half years to avoid having to review their employment policy. “We want to retire healthy and this is because there may be early retirements depending on the health of each worker,” he points out.
Regardless of retirement age, García believes it is essential to reduce the workload assigned to each employee. “The average daily cleaning varies between 20 and 30 rooms. It depends on many factors, given that the rooms are larger in luxury hotels and the degree of cleanliness is not the same if the hotel is on the beach or in the city or if it is aimed at adults or families.” He also reports that the volume of work is much greater than that indicated in the agreement, since of the eight hours of work per day, two of them must be dedicated to cleaning the common areas of the hotels.
Iberostar and Melia
For now, MarSenses is an exception in the almighty hotel sector of the Balearic Islands. Among the large ones, only Iberostar and Meliá, the hotel chains of the Fluxá and Escarrer families, have taken steps, even if timid, in that direction. Iberostar currently has more than 1,500 people in its apartments team in Spain and offers a reduction in working hours with no reduction in salary for those over 60 (around 8% of the group total), although it does not specify requirements, limits or exceptions. “We promote support programs for 27% of the department’s new hires. In this way, people arriving at the company have access to training support that facilitates learning and offers a friendly introduction to the department, the job and the hotel,” say sources from the Balearic chain.
Meliá assures that they have been working for more than two decades to improve the working conditions of domestic workers, an essential group and, at the same time, one of the most exposed to physical risks. “25 years ago we pioneered installing lift beds at Meliá Palma Marina, and today more than half of our hotels in Spain have them, reducing the lumbar load by up to 30%. Furthermore, we promote ergonomic measures, health and wellness programs and certified workplace safety systems. Although we do not have a specific plan to reduce working hours, we continue to make progress to reduce physical load and improve well-being, especially for older workers,” they say.
Reduction of absenteeism
MarSenses has not only pioneered this reduction to 32 hours for the 58+ age group. The chain also became an exception to the norm by implementing working conditions that reduced the working day to 37.5 hours a week for its 515 employees this year. “We took a first step last year with a first reduction from 40 to 38.5 hours per week and this year we took the second step with another reduction to 37.5 hours,” says Rodrigo Fitaroni, general director of MarSenses, in an interview with EL PAÍS.
The reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours that Sumar wanted to approve for all workers in Spain, and which ultimately did not go forward in the second week of September due to the votes against by PP, Vox and Junts, until that date became one of the main battlehorses of the tourism sector due to the impossibility of applying it due to the strong seasonality of the activity and the need to work split hours. Hotels, travel agencies and even airlines have tried to defend themselves from this measure, through the lobby Exceltur, which warned that this reduction would have a negative impact of 2,348 million euros on the entire economy. They calculate they would have to spend hiring new staff to fill the void left by the 295 million hours of work lost each year.
Fitaroni underlines that the reduction of working hours a kellys reaches 32 hours and the daily workload reaches eight cleanings, when the industry average can reach 20 or 30. For the general manager of MarSenses, these pioneering measures to support work-life balance and employee well-being have a non-monetary benefit that far outweighs the economic cost. “Compared to an average absenteeism in the sector of 16%, which has become a headache for most entrepreneurs, ours reaches just 4%.” Another fact that makes the manager proud is that the company is in fourth place in the ranking of the best companies to work for in Spain in the section of companies between 251 and 500 employees.
