Thai Wai or Burmese Copy?

Next time you’re politely greeted at a hotel, it may not be by Thai staff !

Thailand – The Land of Smiles. If there’s one thing that this country is known for across the world, it’s the happy, smiling people. And hand-in-hand with this goes the ‘wai’ – that endearingly-polite gesture with both hands being raised together towards the face. But the next time you walk into a hotel or restaurant and receive a wai in greeting, it might not be a ‘Thai wai’. It could just as easily be offered by a person from Myanmar.

Behind this is a long and not altogether happy story. It’s a saga where cheap labour, exploitation, and shady dealers were at one time the main players. But today it’s also a prime example of wrongs being righted, corruption being addressed and humane policies being put into place. Because today, everything’s changed, and very much for the better.

In Thailand, as with anywhere else, people from poorer areas have always moved to the big cities in search of work. Today, even on Samui, there’s a huge and accepted population that has come from the rural areas in the North and North East. But this is fair enough. They are paid the same as other Thai workers, and they are only too pleased, as this is a higher wage than they can expect in the region where they live.

But the same can’t be said about workers from Myanmar – or at least, that’s the way it used to be. They are coming in from another country. One where there are fewer opportunities and pitifully low pay. By simply crossing the border into Thailand they can earn 300% more, even on a low wage. And that was what caused all the problems. Without registering and having a work permit, they are illegal. But that was too expensive for greedy employers.

And so, right up until 2017, there was an estimated four million illegal unskilled workers in Thailand, many of them from Myanmar, not being able to speak either Thai or English, living in tin-shed ghettos in appalling conditions, and being paid one-quarter of that which a comparable Thai worker would expect. They were exploited ruthlessly.

The construction and fishing industries were the worst culprits, being harder to regulate or control, unlike big, permanent places like factories or hotels – although it was quite usual to see the odd one or two doing menial work like room or washroom cleaning, or fetch-and-carry work in restaurants. But in July 2017, the Thai government issued an ultimatum – declare yourselves and register for work, or face huge fines or up to five years in prison.

Today there’s been a sweeping change. The whole process is controlled and regulated, with official Thai agencies liaising with their counterparts in Myanmar. Legal jobs are offered at negotiated wages, and with employer-sponsored work permits attached. And, out of all this, something very interesting has emerged.

A significant number of these people are now working in the hotel and hospitality industry. I talked about this at length with a Thai colleague who has been managing hotels in the Krabi region for the last 18 years. Currently, in his 4-star hotel of 104 rooms, he’s legally employing 77 staff, 11 of whom are Burmese.

“There are a lot of reasons why all of us now in the industry are turning to Burmese staff,” he told me. “We’re not an international hotel, and our biggest cost is paying our staff. We have to keep wages as low as possible, and so the quality of the Thai staff we attract is poor; they are unmotivated, not interested in the work and move on quickly. On the other hand the Burmese are anything but lazy, learn quickly, are polite and responsive and, because they are earning far more money than they could at home, are highly motivated.”

And he went on to tell me that, with everything now being legal and official, the most sought-after staff are those who have some education and training. “They can speak excellent English,” he continued, “and so they go straight onto the front desk at reception. It’s the same anywhere that they come into regular contact with our guests – particularly in our two restaurants. One restaurant manager is Burmese and two of the wait-staff came with her from Burma. Altogether eight of our restaurant staff are Burmese. And the best thing is that they spend two hours, every night after work, studying English together in their own time.”

And so they next time you check into a hotel, or are greeted by a smiling hostess who shows you to your restaurant seat, look again. You might never imagine that behind that lovely smile and charming Thai wai there’s actually a person from Burma!

Dimitri Waring