The role of aesthetic labour in human resource management practices: A qualitative research on the subject

The aim of the study is to examine the role of aesthetic labour in human resource management practices and to present a descriptive framework related to aesthetic labor experiences. The study, in which the phenomenology pattern was adopted, focused on flight attendants, sales consultants, human resources and store managers in the aviation and retail sectors. In this context, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 people that contains of 12 female employees and 11 managers. In the research, criterion, maximum diversity and snowball sampling strategies from purposive sampling methods and interviews were conducted face-to-face, on the phone or in the form of online video conversation. The data obtained from the participants were deciphered and a code booklet was developed. Categories and themes were determined by open and axial coding. Content analysis method was used in the research and Maxqda 2020 Analytics Pro program was used to visualize the data. Findings of research has been presented together with the themes of "recruitment", "employee training", "appearance rules and disciplinary practices", "service delivery and employee-customer interaction", "performance evaluation", "employee reward", "reflections of beauty indicators on working life", "the most distinctive feature of the profession", "results of aesthetic labour", and "dismissal". The meaning of aesthetic labour was tried to be revealed by describing the experiences of the participants. In the result of the research, it has been seen that candidates are evaluated according to the aesthetic criteria determined for their appearance, speaking style and attitudes in the recruitment interviews. Employees have been taken training about hair, make-up, grooming, uniforms and customers by aim of improving aesthetic labour. It has been revealed that disciplinary practices, surveillance and warnings are experienced intensively. Employees have to give importance to speaking styles, bahavior, smell, and appearance in interactions with the customers. It has been concluded that customers are important factors in the discipline of employees, aesthetic labor makes employees feel good psychologically and provides customer pleasure and continuity by organizational view.