‘It’s wonderful in a way, because of the craziness and the stress’: Hospitality workers’ paradoxical experiences of precariousness

This interview study investigates employees’ experiences of precariousness and motivations for joining and remaining in Tyrolean hospitality, using a context-sensitive framework comprising objective and subjective aspects of precarious employment. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we examined micro, meso and macro factors surrounding precariousness and intersectional aspects influencing sector entry and retention. The article extends the framework by identifying the normalization of precarity in neoliberalism as a hidden mechanism. This process shapes paradoxical rationalizations of detrimental conditions by emphasizing positive work experiences, obscuring the true impact on workers’ health and well-being, and perpetuating the status quo in the hospitality sector.