“If there is no garbage, we do not exist”. A photovoice research on cleaners doing dirty work

Purpose This photovoice study aims to explore how cleaners experience dirty and invisible work in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach This research is twofold. The authors first used the photovoice technique, which is one of the visual data collection techniques, to elaborate on the phenomena. The data were obtained with the participation of seven people (four women and three men) from building cleaners working at two public universities in Turkey. Three photographs were requested from each participant and selected nine photographs were described and analyzed among the collected 21 photographs. In addition to photovoice research, five interviews gave insight into the cleaners’ experiences in the second stage of the study. Findings This research revealed that participating cleaners experienced invisible dirty work and they felt undervalued, despised, treated as “second class/low-level people” and stigmatized. Practical implications This study recommends that university administrations defend the rights and dignity of cleaners at work, provide services to support their inclusion and increase staff awareness. Originality/value This study sheds light into an understudied area which is the building cleaners’ invisible and dirty work experiences and how that impacts their lives via a photovoice research.