Current Problems

Understanding Barriers

Interviews

We knew that Berkeley has already provided various resources to ensure worker health and safety, but workers are having trouble accessing them. We wanted to understand what those barriers were.
We conducted 7 interviews with RSSP custodial and dining staff at various on-campus residential facilities including Clark Kerr, Unit 1, and Unit 3.
The two main objectives of our interviews were to understand how we could make our needs assessment tool the most accessible to employees and to learn about workers' experiences with health and safety at UC Berkeley.

Findings

Food and Housing Insecurity

Currently, UC Berkeley RSSP custodial and dining staff face alarmingly high rates of food and house insecurity as well as homelessness. Surveys conducted by the UC Berkeley Basic Needs Center prior to the pandemic illustrate that:

Over 70% of custodial staff and about 84% of dining staff face housing insecurity and homelessness
About 63% of custodial staff and 83% of dining staff face food insecurity

For more information on the data collected, see the fact sheets created by the Basic Needs Center below.

RSSP Custodial Data 2020 Pre-Covid.pdf

RSSP Dining Data 2020 Pre-Covid.pdf

Technological Proficiency

RSSP custodial and dining employees have varying degrees of technological proficiency. All employees have access to smartphones that are issued by the university as well as computers on campus, but many employees still have trouble navigating websites and resources.

After conducting interviews, it was evident that employees preferred the needs assessment tool to be administered on paper rather than in a digital format. At the same time, they wanted a format that could maintain their anonymity. Moreover, they wanted questions to be structured in a multiple-choice format.

Language Preferences

RSSP custodial and dining employees have varying language preferences. Many employees have some proficiency in English. However, not all employees feel the most comfortable with English. With all resources being provided to employees solely in English, it creates inaccessibility and a lack of awareness about where to access resources and ask for help.

After conducting interviews, it was evident that employees needed resources to be available in multiple languages, especially Spanish and Mandarin.

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