Maintaining Value: How University Janitors Gain Status on the Job

Abstract

A university campus is a critical site to analyze the day-to day experiences of custodial staff and to examine the practices janitors employ to manage the negative social attitudes commonly associated with their positions. Building on service work literature, this paper asks how janitors create more value and meaning within low-status jobs. With data collected from in-depth interviews, observations of worksites at a public university, and in the janitors’ local union office, I argue that within higher education institutions, janitors find ways to add value to their jobs in two ways: taking on non-compensated roles such as parental surrogates or university historians and participating in various types of resistance on a personal and/or community level. Participating in these processes, the janitors themselves report feeling more fulfilled in the job, and they establish the importance of their work, beyond the broom and mop.