Hidden in Plain Sight: The Dynamics of Work Exploitation in Fast-Food Franchises in Peru

Labor movements have undoubtedly achieved a significant milestone in legalizing the prohibition of the most inhumane forms of work exploitation. However, exploitative relationships remain a common feature in many well-established industries, a problem aggravated by neoliberal policies implemented worldwide. Despite its persistent prevalence, this topic has not received substantive attention in the management sciences. Drawing on business ethics and critical management approaches, this article seeks to delve into the dynamics of work exploitation in fast-food franchises in Peru using thirty-one in-depth interviews with workers and documentary analysis of corporate policies and regulations on human resource management. The study focuses on three dimensions of work exploitation—insufficient economic compensation, workday alterations, and work overload—describing the specific practices and elucidating the mechanisms through which they are perpetuated in the organizational contexts analyzed. This study is significant because it renews interest in this phenomenon within the discipline and highlights the adverse effects it has on workers in this industry. At the same time, it is also a call for managers to assume their responsibility to provide workers with fair and adequate compensation, stable work hours, and manageable workloads.