As USC students rush to get to their nine a.m. classes, the same group of women sit at a table chatting, laughing, and exchanging pleasantries with one another on their lunch break. They are facility workers - the people who work behind the scenes to keep the campus clean and beautiful everyday. These essential workers can be found all over campus, yet few stop to wonder what goes on inside their lives and how they are able to service such a large university.
Dímelo had the opportunity to sit down with Barbara, Alicia, Guadalupe, Blanca, and Evelin to learn more about their stories.
Their main employer is Aramark, a food and facility services provider that operates in numerous other universities across the country; however, these five women solely work on the USC campus.
Their range of experience in facilities ranges with Alicia being employed at USC for as little as nine months and Guadalupe who has been with the university for as long as forty-three years. “Guadalupe is the one with the most experience, our great director,” Evelin remarked. The women look up to their senior coworker and can depend on her for guidance to complete work tasks. Daily duties for facility workers include cleaning offices, auditoriums, student lounges, lobbies, kitchens, and bathrooms and the work can be very demanding.
Early morning shifts and language barriers have been the biggest challenges for these women in their line of work. “If one goes to sleep late, they can feel sleepless. You have to wake up at two in the morning and others at three,” claimed Evelin. This can be especially difficult when also factoring in the commute to campus.
Running on little sleep, they clean until 12:30 in the afternoon to ensure everything is ready prior to student arrival. Communication was another issue as Blanca explained, “the only barrier has been our language.” Exchanges with building managers to ensure worker’s rights can be tough when others don’t speak Spanish. “At times because of the communication, we don’t know how to defend ourselves or the words don’t flow,” Evelin expressed.
In terms of workplace improvements for Latino hospitality workers, the women mainly wanted work areas to be reduced. Workers feel overwhelmed when cleaning a large portion of a building as it can be too much to tackle for just one person. They suggested two people for each work area as a solution to this issue. “We have a lot of work to do. If you notice, she does this whole building, so the annexes, the bathrooms, and all of that. I think this would be a good change,” suggests Evelin.
Despite these setbacks, the women genuinely enjoy their work. Guadalupe comically added, “yeah, and you like it more once you see the check.” The company provides them with many benefits including vacation time, sick days, personal days, and extra time off for Christmas. Aramark can also help them professionally. “They give you opportunities to grow,” Alicia stated.
According to Aramark’s Careers website, their Frontline Education Program can provide “eligible hourly employees full tuition coverage to earn an undergraduate degree from a top-tier university.” There is also a tuition reimbursement program for salaried employees where eligible individuals can get reimbursed “up to $5,250 for tuition and course-related fees.”
Overall, these women saw their workplace as a calm and inclusive environment. Three of the women are from El Salvador, while the other two are from Mexico. However, Blanca adds, “Here people come from all different cultures…there are people from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the Philippines.”
Additionally, maintaining close friendships among coworkers enlivens their workplace experience. The majority expressed that the relationships they fostered at work were essential in making their daily routines enjoyable and bearable. As Evelin emphasized, “Someone has to like what they’re doing for them to be able to do it with enthusiasm.”
And their impact doesn’t stop within the confines of USC buildings, rather these women have been able to cultivate a cultural exchange with individuals on campus. “Sometimes we can act as a teacher for the students because many do not know Spanish and many are learning and practicing with us, including the managers,” Blanca explained. Encouraging others to learn their language has been very rewarding for these women, especially as they see them improving in their comprehension skills.
These women’s dedication goes beyond the spaces they clean. As the cornerstone to campus life, they have gone beyond their janitorial roles by building relationships and bridging cultural divides with students and colleagues alike. As Blanca states, “the experience we have here in this job is beautiful because we have that opportunity.”