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This thesis examines hotel worker’s experiences of organisational restructuring and job transitions during the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws on four empirical papers based on 45 semi-structured interviews conducted in a constrained labour market shaped by fluctuating demand, pandemic restrictions, organisational restructuring and extensive use of short-time work (STW). 

The analysis captures insights from hotel workers across multiple post-restructuring labour market statuses, illustrating job transitions across internal and external labour markets as well as the liminal space in between. Two papers focus on workers who remained in employment and includes experiences of extensive STW, while the other two examine workers who faced job loss. Across all groups, restructuring brought substantial changes to work and employment conditions: remaining workers faced fluctuating workloads, hours and income, as well as changed roles and reduced career prospects; redundant workers, on the other hand, often entered underemployment and faced constrained mobility, although some saw chances for a new career. 

The thesis examines outcomes for workers by integrating theories of internal and external labour markets, restructuring strategies, job transitions, and established restructuring outcomes categories: Victims, Endurers and Survivors. To capture experiences overlooked within existing frameworks a fourth category, Liminals, is introduced. To analyse these transitions, the thesis develops the Job Transition Model, a visual and analytical model grounded in theoretical and empirical insights from this thesis, applied here to understand job transitions in the context of organisational restructuring involving extensive STW implementation.  

Overall, the thesis offers a more nuanced understanding of restructuring involving STW, demonstrating the interconnected nature of internal and external labour markets, and the complex transitions workers navigate during organisational restructuring. 

This is a thesis about hotel workers’ experiences of organisational restructuring and job transitions during the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws on four empirical papers based on 45 semistructured interviews conducted in a labour market shaped by fluctuating demand, pandemic restrictions, organisational restructuring and extensive shorttime work (STW). The analysis captures insights from hotel workers across multiple post-restructuring labour market statuses, illustrating job transitions across internal and external labour markets and the liminal space in between. Across all workers, restructuring brought substantial changes to both work and employment conditions.  

The thesis integrates theories of internal and external labour markets, restructuring strategies, job transitions and established restructuring outcomes categories: Victims, Endurers and Survivors. To capture experiences overlooked within existing frameworks a fourth category, Liminals, is introduced. To analyse these transitions, the thesis develops the Job Transition Model, a visual and analytical model grounded in theoretical and empirical insights from this thesis, applied here to understand job transitions across labour markets in the context of organisational restructuring involving extensive STW implementation.