Are we ready for them? Overseas-qualified social workers' professional cultural transition

Developing sociocultural competence in a new country is essential for migrants practising social work within new and distinct cultures. An argument for interventions needed to support the cultural transitioning of a migrant social work workforce is made, informed by findings from a mixed methods study of the experiences of overseas-qualified social workers in New Zealand. One of the main findings relates to migrant social workers' professional adaptation to the new environment. We focus the discussion here on how the perceptions and practices regarding the cultural dimensions of the transition informed their adaptation. Although this is a highly contextual example of social work practice in a foreign setting, the dynamics have equivalents in many international contexts as migration of labour is common globally. We argue that a greater focus on the migrant workforce is required in debates on globalisation. The discussion of the findings will highlight the need for culturally informed interventions to enable an increasingly global workforce to successfully make a professional cultural transition.     

Building a stable workforce: recruitment and retention in the child care and early years sector

The paper presents findings from research aimed at identifying effective approaches to the recruitment and retention of child care workers, conducted to assist the UK Government's Childcare Strategy. The paper explores the practices and views of child care employers, Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships (EYDCPs) and child care workers in a range of settings (including day nurseries, playgroups and out‐of‐school care). Two key issues explored in the paper are the need for greater employer responsibility for increasing diversity in the child care workforce; and for a stronger emphasis on staff retention, through improved human resource practices in parts of the child care sector.     

城郊社区外来工文化生活状况的调查研究——以浙江绍兴城郊社区为例

关注城市农民工生活现状，保障他们的合法权益，使他们在异乡能安居乐业，更好地为当地经济建设和社会发展服务，深受各级政府组织关注。本调查的关注点是城郊社区外来工的文化生活状况。调查显示，该市城郊社区外来工收入相对较高，但影响外来工文化生活质量的主、客观因素依然存在，仍迫切需要政府、社会和用工单位的关心帮助和积极引导。     

Explaining organizational variation in flexible work arrangements: why the pattern and scale of availability matter

This study examines flexible work arrangement (FWA) availability in 2009 in a sample of 545 American employers. While most employers offer FWAs to some of their workforce, few offer these to the majority of their workers. Those employers that offer flexible work options tend to rely most heavily on flexibility in the scheduling and place of work. Seldom do organizations make options of reducing work and/or pausing work available to majority portions of their labor forces. Industry sector, labor market conditions, and organizational cultural support of flexibility are predictive of wide-scale FWA availability. This study reveals that FWAs remain out of reach for most workers, but that some conditions may foster greater availability.     

Local Produce,Foreign Labor: Labor Mobility Programs and Global Trade Competitiveness in Canada*

Abstract Temporary visa workers are increasingly taking on a heightened profile in Canada, entering the workforce each year in greater numbers than immigrant workers with labor mobility rights (Sharma 2006). This paper examines the incorporation of foreign workers in Canadian horticulture under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). I argue that foreign labor supplied under the SAWP secures a flexible workforce for employers and thus improves Canada's trade competitiveness in the global agrifood market. Using multiple research strategies, I track the evolution of Canadian horticulture in the global market and the transformation of labor in this industry. I outline the steady growth in the employment of temporary visa workers in the horticultural industry and show how they have become the preferred and, in some cases, core workforce for horticulture operations. The benefits of SAWP workers to employers include the provision of a workforce with limited rights relative to domestic workers and considerable administrative support in selecting, dispatching, and disciplining workers provided at no cost by labor supply countries. I conclude that the SAWP is a noteworthy example of the role of immigration policy in regulating the labor markets of high‐income economies and thus ensuring the position of labor‐receiving states within the global political economy.     

"They Have More Money but I Speak Better English!" Transnational Encounters between Filipina Domestics and Taiwanese Employers)

This article explores how Taiwanese employers and Filipina migrant domestic workers negotiate their class locations and identities, with an emphasis on the symbolic struggles surrounding linguistic exchanges in transnational contexts. Taiwanese newly rich employers validate their middle-classhood with the consumption of migrant labor service and the investment of English tutoring for their children. Filipinas flee underpaid middle-class occupations in their stagnant national economy to work as foreign maids; they maneuver their linguistic capital, inherited from the American colonizer, to enhance their status vis- -vis Taiwanese employers. This South-to-South employment relationship illustrates the ambiguous micropolitics of producing class boundaries. The English language serves as a means of symbolic domination and resistance in their daily communication and job negotiation.     

Increasing minority employment: Are you ready to recruit?

To increase employment from desired race or gender groups, employers nearly always first turn to recruiting from outside their organization. But a few years after such initiatives are undertaken, diversity numbers typically remain low or even decrease, turnover among recruits from the sought‐after groups is high, and the efforts are threatened by their recurrent cost. Employers need to break this fruitless cycle by thinking more strategically. Without an inclusive organizational climate that retains and fully utilizes minority employees after hire, simply recruiting more such employees will not lead to sustainable changes in workforce demographics. Drawing on empirical research, this paper describes six “red flags” that identify workplaces not ready to recruit. Only after organizational changes address the deficiencies identified by the red flags will the time for minority recruitment be at hand. But by then special focused recruitment may not be necessary; when employers change their workplace cultures to become truly inclusive, word gets around.     

In the Shadow of Working Men: Gendered Labor and Migrant Rights in South Korea

Based on ethnographic research in South Korea, this article investigates the gendered production of migrant rights under the global regime of temporary migration by examining two groups of Filipina women: factory workers and hostesses at American military camptown clubs. Emphasizing gendered labor processes and symbolic politics, this article offers an analytical framework to interrogate the mechanisms through which a discrepancy of rights is generated at the intersection of workplace organization and civil society mobilization. I identify two distinct labor regimes for migrant women that were shaped in the shadow of working men. Migrant women in the factories labored in the company of working men on the shop floor, which enabled them to form a co-ethnic migrant community and utilize the male-centered bonding between workers and employers. In contrast, migrant hostesses were isolated and experienced gendered stigma under the paternalistic rule of employers. Divergent forms of civil society mobilization in South Korea sustained these regimes: Migrant factory workers received recognition as workers without attention to gender-specific concerns while hostesses were construed as women victims in need of protection. Thus, Filipina factory workers were able to exercise greater labor rights by sharing the dignity of workers as a basis for their rights claims from which hostesses were excluded.     

Social partners cooperation for reduction of musculoskeletal disorders in agriculture

The European social partners in agriculture recognize the considerable frequency of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in the sector which has negative consequences for workers, employers, social security systems and hence for the whole society. They made an agreement in 2005 to tackle this problem and their main interest was finding good practices 'on the floor', with the involvement of the farmers and farming industries. A partnership with researchers from 4 different organisations across Europe, was created, taking into account both academic partners and/or partners experienced with the agricultural sector. GEOPA-COPA acted as a network partner with all the EU agriculture organisations. The project partners proposed a methodology how to collect the good practices. In total, 103 company visits were organised and 55 additional reports were collected. More than 140 good practices were defined going from easy, low-cost solutions to highly technological, more expensive solutions. All this information is disseminated via the project website (www.agri-ergonomics.eu) and summarised in 6 brochures. This paper focuses on the methodology to set up the ergonomic project with social partners.     

Barriers to evidence based practice in accommodations for an aging workforce

According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, the number of workers over age 55 is projected to increase significantly over the next twenty years, with this demographic group projected to comprise as much as twenty percent of the workforce by 2015 [12]. Accommodating the functional limitations of a large number of older workers may prove challenging for employers; however, policies and practices shaped over the course of the next few decades could allow aging workers to remain a valuable part of the US economy. Given these considerations, it is useful from a public policy perspective to determine the degree to which employers are currently addressing the accommodation needs of older workers. This paper presents the results of a study that attempted to determine the extent to which a sample of Fortune 500 employers was currently accommodating older workers. The study's methodology (in particular, its use of semi-structured telephone interviews) is reevaluated and new options (such as anonymous online employer surveys) are considered for the valid and reliable collection of data on accommodations for older workers.     

‘More like a daughter than an employee’: the kinning process between migrant care workers,elderly care receivers and their extended families

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the intersections of formal and informal care in the relationships that develop between elderly care receivers and their families and migrant domestic care workers and their families. The domestic migrant care literature has tended to focus on two main ‘hidden costs’ of this ‘care-chain’: the ‘care exploitation’ of paid carers by their employers and the ‘care drain’ impact on the family members left behind by the migrant. In this paper, we employ a care circulation framework to examine the process of becoming kin-like – or ‘kinning’, which remains relatively under-explored and warrants further research. An analysis of this process of kinning helps to highlight how the domestic space of care receiver homes are transformed – through the negotiation of relationships with migrant care workers – into transnational social fields that bring the diaspora worlds of the migrants into the everyday worlds of the locals.     

The structural disempowerment of Eastern European migrant farm workers in Norwegian agriculture

Since the 2004 EU enlargement established one European common labour market, a large number of Eastern Europeans have taken up seasonal employment as hired farm workers in Norwegian agriculture. Much attention in the public has been given to the potential for ‘social dumping’ of these migrating workers, as they are considered prone to exploitation by farmers looking for cheap and docile labour, and subject to low-wages and poor labour conditions. In response to these threats, Norway implemented labour regulations (‘transitional rules’) that established minimum standards for wage levels and labour conditions, combined with registration and supervision of the incoming labour force. Nevertheless, reports from the field indicate that many of the westward migrating labour force experience work conditions that are far poorer than prescribed by the labour regulations, as these are not implemented at the farm level. In this paper, we discuss the social processes that result in this mismatch between state regulations (e.g. transition rules) and the actual experiences of migrant workers building on dual labour market theory. Analysing qualitative in-depth interviews with 54 farm migrants, we argue that there are two sets of factors underlying the poorer working conditions observed on the farms: Firstly, the structural disempowerment of migrant workers, which gives them weak negotiating positions vis-à-vis their employers (farmers); and secondly, the migrant workers' frame of reference for wage levels, in which poor payment levels by Norwegian standards are found acceptable or even good when judged by Eastern European wage levels. While a number of works have described the exploitation of farm migrant labour, we demonstrate in this paper how national immigration and agricultural histories, structures and present policies configure the labour–capital relations at farm level in the Norwegian case.     

The UK Migrant Cap,Migrant Mobility and Employer Implications

Advocates of the “borderless world” thesis suggest that migrant workers can benefit from employment opportunities available everywhere, with workers simply migrating towards these opportunities. However, as global inequalities widen and potential global mobilities develop, states are “managing” migration. Individual migrant “agency”, its structuration, and the subsequent experiences of migrants and employers, can restrict such mobility. Consequently, there is a need to describe and problematize the new strategies. This article considers these issues with reference to the emerging impact of the migrant cap on non‐European Economic Area (EEA) migrants to the United Kingdom (UK). It explores the links between immigration and employment rights and the implications for migrant mobility. Policies of “managed migration” frequently do not take into account issues of geography and intra and inter regional competition for migrants by employers operating in sectors with skill shortages, or differential migrant “agency” in the form of their skills and attributes. This may impinge on the effectiveness of such approaches and on economic prosperity at a national, regional and local scale.     

The Employers' View on Older Adults as Staff in Early Childhood Education Services

Abstract

Changing demographics report increases in the number of older women that will modify the structure of the workforce. The aim of this qualitative study is to examine the employer's views on employment for women, 50 years and above. It consists of interviews with 19 employers in New Zealand early childhood services. The findings show an acknowledgement of the strengths that the older women bring to their work. Further, a number of benefits of employing older adults are identified. The employers raised some issues and concerns, such as the older adult's hesitancy in accepting changes. The findings also identify work conditions that might be unsuitable for older adults. Despite the challenges, older women have the potential to make a valid contribution, in which their skills and strengths are utilized in ways that do not exploit them.     

Racial Ideology and Hiring Decisions in Silicon Valley

This article examines the hiring practices of assembly workers in the high technology industry in Silicon Valley. While recent works have viewed the significance of race question with empirical analysis of the labor force, this study focuses on the employers and their subjectivity in making recruitment and hiring decisions. The ethnographic data reveals the central role of racial ideology in the recruitment and hiring process. Furthermore, the data demonstrates how racial ideology can have both an exclusionary and an inclusionary function in shaping the composition of the workforce. Based on the findings, I propose a greater sensitivity to employer racial bias in recruitment and hiring decision making and call for a more nuanced approach to examining racial inequality.     

Regulation on Migrant Workers’ Employment in the Israeli Construction Sector

This article deals with a reform in the regulation on employment of migrant workers which was implemented in the Israeli construction industry from 2005. This corporations‐based arrangement replaced a restrictive employment arrangement which tied the employee to a specific employer. The new regulation of work conditions and wages, coupled with a significant reduction in the number of work permits issued to construction, has improved work conditions and wages paid to migrant workers, and made their employment less attractive to employers. The reform also included elements designed to reduce the illegal employment phenomenon and to encourage migrant workers to leave the country at the end of their contracts. However, the new arrangement still restricted the mobility of migrant workers to some extent and had negative consequences such as a significant rise in the broker fees demanded of workers.     

I Love What I Do,But… A Relationship Management Survey of Millennial Generation Public Relations Agency Employees

Millennials, those born in 1982 or later, represent the largest and most racially diverse generation, as well as the fastest-growing segment of the workforce. They have been characterized in the popular press as being entitled and lacking a strong work ethic. Millennial agency practitioners were surveyed to determine how they rate their relationships with their employers. We also explored the role of gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. We asked respondents to identify the stresses they experience in those relationships and to suggest ways in which their employers could improve relations. We find that respondents love what they do, but…     

Invisible Development? Remittances for Housing and Transnational Reproduction Strategies among Migrant Households in Colombia

In recent years, the Colombian government has embraced the migration‐development agenda by designing programmes to channel remittances to key sectors such as housing and finance,in an attempt to institutionalise migrant households’ transnational economic practices. However, little is known about migrant households’ multifaceted transnational practices, their broader impact on households’ and localities’ socioeconomic development and migrants’ engagement with these migration‐for‐development programmes. Drawing on qualitative data collected along the Colombia‐UK migration network, this paper contrasts the narrow interpretation of development that underpins the migration‐development agenda, as exemplified by the remittances‐for‐housing programmes implemented in Colombia, with the more nuanced social and economic contributions that remittance‐financed housing investments have for migrant households’ and communities’ socioeconomic development. Thus, it provides a more nuanced interpretation of development to account for the often invisible, socioeconomic spinoffs that occur in the process of migrant households’ attempts to produce and reproduce their livelihoods transnationally.     

Trapped workers,urban freedoms and labor control in Brazilian agriculture: Evidence from Southwest Goiás

Labor entrapment in Brazilian agriculture is not limited to ‘marginal geographies’ or sectors, but is a troubling presence at the core of some of the country's most developed and urbanized agricultural regions. This paper looks at the conditions of labor resistance and control in a dynamic and highly urbanized agricultural region of central Brazil that may explain the use there by employers of entrapped workers from distant regions. Commercial agriculture is intensely seasonal and sensitive to the quality and timing of delivery, so the fulfillment of labor demand continues to be a central concern of rural employers despite arguments for surplus labor. In the context of rural exodus, Brazilian farmers can no longer count on a flexible supply of residential workers. The article considers the importance of two ‘urban freedoms’ derived from the migration of rural workers to cities during the last 35 years. One is the increasing presence of labor unions and regulation in wage markets. The other is the creative strategies that households develop to weaken their dependence on agricultural work. To understand these strategies, gender relations within and outside of the household are taken into account. The paper ends by critically examining the argument that wage compression is the reason that employers in Brazilian agriculture resort to labor replacement in dynamic regions.     

A Model for Managed Migration? Re‐Examining Best Practices in Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program

This paper situates Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) within the policy and scholarly debates on “best practices” for the management of temporary migration, and examines what makes this programme successful from the perspective of states and employers. Drawing on extensive qualitative and quantitative study of temporary migration in Canada, this article critically examines this seminal temporary migration programme as a “best practice model” from internationally recognized rights‐based approaches to labour migration, and provides some additional best practices for the management of temporary labour migration programmes. This paper examines how the reality of the Canadian SAWP measures up, when the model is evaluated according to internationally recognized best practices and migrant rights regimes. Despite all of the attention to building “best practices” for the management of temporary or managed migration, it appears that Canada has taken steps further away from these and other international frameworks. The analysis reveals that while the Canadian programme involves a number of successful practices, such as the cooperation between origin and destination countries, transparency in the admissions criteria for selection, and access to health care for temporary migrants; the programme does not adhere to the majority of best practices emerging in international forums, such as the recognition of migrants’ qualifications, providing opportunities for skills transfer, avoiding imposing forced savings schemes, and providing paths to permanent residency. This paper argues that as Canada takes significant steps toward the expansion of temporary migration, Canada’s model programme still falls considerably short of being an inspirational model, and instead provides us with little more than an idealized myth.