Abstract
This study investigated the working conditions and job satisfaction of school cafeteria, according to their employment type in Chonbuk, South Korea. Self-administered questionnaires were collected from 401 elementary, middle, and high school cafeteria employees. The data showed significant differences between regular and irregular employees. These factors were: previous work experience (p<.001), type of school (p<.001), the style of foodservice at a school (p<.001), the type of foodservice system (p<.05), and the number of meals served each day (p<.001). The working conditions for regular and irregular employees were significantly different with regard to several factors: these were union membership (p<.01), how they were paid (p<.05), their total working hours (p<.01), and difficulty of using their holidays (p<.01). Approximately 80.5% of the subjects were dissatisfied with the working conditions after the introduction of countermeasures for irregular employees. Results indicated that the average employee job satisfaction level was 2.53, but that there were not significant difference in the level of job satisfaction when comparing regular and irregular employees. The item employees were most satisfied with was having responsibility over meals for young students (3.37). They were least satisfied with their salary (2.00). An interesting issue for future study would be to determine the factors that could improve job satisfaction whilst satisfying the employees' needs which in turn would improve the quality of foodservice.
