Nora, a 30-year-old waitress at a high-end New York City restaurant, has been working as a server on and off for the past 12 years and struggling with depression and anxiety for seven. The long hours, inconsistent wages, and constant pressure to keep up appearances have taken a toll on her mental health, she says.

“With other jobs you have the ability to hide your mental illness more,” said Nora, who asked to withhold her last name to avoid issues with her current workplace. “Working as a server with mental illness demands you compartmentalize and shut that anxious depressive part of you off. You don’t have time to be in your feelings or else with a fast-paced restaurant and in finer dining, you will be eaten by sharks.”

‘Working as a server with mental illness demands you compartmentalize and shut that anxious depressive part of you off.’ Nora, a 30-year-old waitress who works in New York City

The nature of service industry jobs that rely on tips makes employees — especially women — more susceptible to mental-health issues, a study published Tuesday in the American Journal of Epidemiology found. It surveyed 2,815 women and 2,586 men ages 24 to 33 years and found women in tipped positions are much more likely to report depression, sleep problems, and stress.

“The higher prevalence of mental health problems may be linked to the precarious nature of service work, including lower and unpredictable wages, insufficient benefits, and a lack of control over work hours and assigned shifts,” lead author Sarah Andrea, a Ph.D candidate in epidemiology at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, said.

Some tipped workers make 71% less than the federal minimum wage and are twice as likely to live in poverty than untipped workers, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute. They are also more likely to experiences hostile behavior or sexual harassment on the job, a separate 2015 study published by the Canadian Journal of Law and Society found.

In several states across the U.S., campaigns to raise the minimum wage for tipped employees are gaining momentum. Gov. Cuomo of New York is considering raising the minimum wage for tipped employees to $15 per hour, an increase of nearly double from the current minimum wage of $8.65. Critics argue that such an increase may lead to surcharges for customers.

Working in unpredictable, unsafe environments is not easy, particularly for female workers. Sexual harassment by customers can lead to depression a study released in September 2017 showed. These issues have a more pronounced effect on women, who make up 56% of all service workers and 67% of all tipped workers, the study showed.

‘You don’t have time to be in your feelings or else with a fast-paced restaurant and in finer dining, you will be eaten by sharks.’ Nora, a 30-year-old waitress who works in New York City

Despite these challenges, servers are expected to put on a happy face if they want tips. “I had one manager that yelled at me because I wasn’t smiling enough,” Nora said. “I had so many anxiety attacks before work at that job because I couldn’t just have my focused working face on, I had to be smiling.”

Not all employees are treated equally in the service industry. Women servers are also held to higher standards than men who work in the service industry, a 2011 study published by the Journal of Labor Research found. It showed only women whose service is rated as “exceptional” earn equivalent tips to men.

Pretending to be OK with demanding or just plain creepy customers takes its toll. “The crazy thing is you’re supposed to do this job while making it look effortless, making sure you’re always positive, making sure that you don’t snap at the customer because they are always right and you need them to like you so they pay you,” Nora said.

Get a daily roundup of the top reads in personal finance delivered to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Personal Finance Daily newsletter. Sign up here.

Source link