Understanding migrants' lives and work: Key findings and methodological lessons from a study on migr

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Understanding migrants' lives and work
Key findings and methodological lessons from a
study on migrant elder care workers Virpi
Timonen and Martha DoyleSchool of Social Work
and Social Policy Research Seminar11th February
2009 Project carried out in association with
the MILES project funded by NORFACE.

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Outline of Presentation

• Background / Rationale / Originality
• Aims
• Methods
• Sample
• Limitations Lessons
• Key Findings
• Implications Policy Research

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Background / Rationale

• Ireland rapidly transformed from a sending into
  a receiving country - early stage of a heavy
  and growing reliance on migrant workers in some
  sectors.
• Ireland one of only three EU countries to offer
  unrestricted access to workers from 10 new EU
  countries -- experiences of new European vs.
  non-EU migrants.
• Care system that is moving away from a heavy
  reliance on families towards a more mixed system
  where different types of formal care gaining in
  importance.

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Rationale / Originality

• While there is a steadily growing corpus of
  research focused on professional / medical
  migrant workers in the health and social care
  sectors there is little research on non-medical
  (migrant) carer workers.
• Paucity of literature on the relationship of
  migrant care workers with their work colleagues
  care recipients.
• Lack of / inadequate social protection among
  migrant workers is sometimes argued to constitute
  a new social risk gaining new insights into
  how this group manages risk, both privately and
  with the help of social policies.

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Aims The study sought to

• Scope migrant carers perceptions of carework and
  explore possible inter-group differences between
  European, South Asian and African carers
• Gain an understanding of migrant care workers
  relationships with care recipients, colleagues
  and employers
• Explore how migrants reconcile their work and
  (transnational) family care responsibilities
• Gain an insight into migrant care workers
  understandings, experiences and aspirations
  regarding their social protection and the Irish
  welfare state

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Methods

• Exploratory study
• Subject matter not easily quantifiable, no
  sampling frame -opt for qualitative methods
• Initially decided against using employer
  gate-keepers
• To combat over-dependence on small number of
  networks respondents accessed via 20 migrant
  organisations
• When this and networking supplies dried out,
  adopted the employer route.
• 40 semi-structured interviews with care workers
  across 3 care sectors

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Sample Recruitment

• 30 gift voucher as incentive
• Informal care sector - Importance of gatekeepers
  and snowballing
• Some groups (South Asian) easier to access than
  others
• Over-research of African community
• Some organisations wary of further research
  cynical about whether research will bring any
  benefits to the community
• Language difficulties in two instances carers
  requested that interviews be completed together
  because of language difficulties

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Sample Region / Sector
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Sample Region / Type of employment
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Limitations Lessons

• Strong possibility of social desirability bias
  esp. with regard to relationship with care
  recipients receipt of benefits
• Inherent difficulties in researching the grey
  labour market
• Small sample size required us to cluster migrants
  by broad region of origin (Africa, Europe, South
  Asia) unable to explore whether intra-group
  differences existed within these categories.
• Non-probability sampling small sample size -
  clearly not possible to claim that the findings
  representative of the migrant care workforce in
  Ireland
• Would have benefited from closer look at
  situation in the sending country
• Would have benefited from a longitudinal approach

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Analysis

• The framework approach
• Pope, Ziebland and Mays (2000).
• Five stages
• Familiarisation with the raw data
• Identification of a thematic framework
• Indexing of the data while applying the thematic
  framework
• Charting or rearranging the data in line with
  the thematic framework
• Mapping and interpretation of the data with the
  use of charts, tables and typologies.

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Understanding migrants' lives and work
Key Findings

• Draws on
• Timonen, V. and Doyle, M., In Search of Security
  Migrant Workers' Understandings, Experiences and
  Expectations Regarding 'Social Protection',
  Journal of Social Policy, 38, (1), 2009
• Doyle, M. and Timonen, V., The Different Faces of
  Care Work Understanding the Experiences of the
  Multi-Cultural Care Workforce, Ageing Society,
  29, 2009
• Timonen, V. and Doyle, M Caring and Collaborating
  Across Cultures? Migrant Care Workers
  Relationships with Care Recipients, Colleagues
  and Employers(being revised for Social Politics)
• Doyle, M. and Timonen, V., Obligations,
  Ambitions, Calculations Migrant care workers
  negotiation of work, sareer and family
  responsibility (being revised for European
  Journal of Womens Studies)

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Key Findings Differences in experiences by RoO

• Experiences of European, South Asian and African
  carers significantly different
• African racism and discrimination
• You meet a lot of them that would make you hate
  this job, that you can sit down and say oh my
  God, I hate doing this job, because you might go
  to peoples houses to help them, but the person
  you go to, even if they dont see you they hate
  you, they say, do this, do that, all things you
  shouldnt be doing and when you meet other people
  that work with them and they say oh, is that what
  you are doing there, Ive never been told to do
  this, then youd be asking yourself why,
  sometimes, you say is it because I am Black or
  something, sometimes the way they would talk to
  you, the way they would treat you, you would hate
  yourself.
• European expected mobility
• So, after a time I found you know a few good
  places. Now Im really good And always for me
  it was something funny but something very sad you
  know I couldnt find anything in the beginning
  and now everybody is Oh My God would you like to
  apply? And now I work with people with
  disabilities. And its very interesting for me
  and really I like to work with them.

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Key Findings Differences in experiences by
RoO

• Asian dependency on employer,
• Im getting used to it as they say, cause Im
  old already, and Im getting used to it, in terms
  of kind of other relationships with other people
  and the work, cause if you accept something, you
  will get used to it, if you dont really accept,
  you will never settle, adjusting is only the
  thing, when you go to a new place.
• N.B. These differences to some extent entangled
  with sectors from which sampled (see tables on
  sample composition) also tend to have different
  legal / citizenship / employment status
• ? Does not mean that ethnic characteristics
  unimportant but rather, that they tend to overlap
  with factors that create, reinforce and
  perpetuate (dis-)advantage

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Key Findings Relationships with care
recipients

• Domiciliary care close relationships, (mutual)
  dependency, evidence of racism but usually
  filtered out by clients initial veto
• Institutional care multiple care recipients,
  heavy workloads, cognitive impairments more
  accounts of racism these universally
  understood and ascribed to illness, lack of
  understanding etc.
• Social desirability bias, but many lengthy,
  detailed, heart-felt descriptions of close
  relationships indicative of genuine affection

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Key Findings Relationships between care
workers

• Considerable inter-cultural and inter-racial
  tensions in the horizontal working relationships
  in institutional care settings
• Barriers to communication such as poor language
  skills, but also from perceived differences in
  productivity and approaches to work.
• Inter-racial tensions sometimes existed between
  workers of the same nationality.
• By and large, the experiences of Irish co-workers
  was positive, however, there were a number of
  significant instances where care workers believed
  that they had been mistreated or deliberately
  ignored by Irish co-workers.

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Key Findings Relationship with Managers

• Institutional settings respectful, distant,
  usually amicable but in some cases aggrieved due
  to constant critique, lack of positive feedback,
  monitoring, unsafe work practices
• Most preferred Irish managers. Exception those
  who shared nationality with manager some
  apparent nepotism
• Domiciliary infrequent contact with agency
  managers flexibility appreciated
• Live-in domiciliary care recipients family as
  de facto managers elements of mutual
  affection, gratitude, but also dependence,
  exploitation, family-like relationships, complex
  currency of favours and counter-favours

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Key Findings Reconciliation of Work and Personal
Care Responsibilities
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Key Findings Obligations

• Those with co-present children (17) typically
  worked night-shifts or part-time in order to
  discharge their care responsibilities toward
  their children
• They relied almost exclusively on informal
  childcare arrangements
• Where the parent(s) was /were in need of care, it
  was typically provided by siblings who had
  remained in the country of origin.
• Remittance to family members and extended kin
• I shoulder everything, because my estranged
  husband never gives anything, so from the house
  they children are renting, from the education,
  the food allowance, everything they need, and
  also for my mother, if they get sick, I send over
  money

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Key Findings Calculations

• Decision to remain in Ireland closely related to
  family responsibilities and existing networks
• Transnational mothers The negative consequence
  of the geographical distance were counterbalanced
  by the improvements in their childrens education
  and lifestyle
• Ten arrived with spouse the remainder as
  independent migrants
• Networking with migrants varied according to
  region of origin
• Important to find work immediately the 3 Cs.
• Step down on career progression ladder viewed
  as temporary stepping stone.
• For some paid employment of secondary importance
  my achievement is my children.

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Key Findings Ambitions

• Long-term aspiration to remain living in Ireland
• Return home upon retirement
• Im planning to stay here for as long as Im
  still able to work, cause even though my
  children are already finished their education,
  I have my brother and sisters children, that I
  would like to support and helpif I can take one
  or two of my children here to Ireland I can go
  back home already, they can support me
• Short-term transient experience 3- 5years
• Irrespective desire for personal and occupational
  advancement evident
• However emigration status rendered some dependent
  on their employer

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Key Findings Understanding of Social Security

• Did not conceive social security as being
  associated with traditional state-based
  protection
• Not of relevance
• Dissociation Perhaps result of qualifying
  periods which can make access to benefits
  difficult
• Security emerged from investments other than
  traditional social security entitlements
• I came here to get an apartment in PolandIt
  took two years to buy the apartment. I wont get
  a job with the same wages when I go home, it will
  be a lot lower, but I dont mind, I will feel a
  lot more secure since I have my own apartment and
  some savings
• Instead of relying on the formal benefit
  structure, many chose to devise their own plans
  for coping with period of sickness.

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Key Findings Experience of the Irish Welfare
State

• Almost half had in the past or were at the time
  of interview receiving one or more social
  security benefit.
• Africans refugee-specific and means tested
  benefits
• South Asian universal child care benefits
• Cost and lack of trust as reasons for seeking
  health care in CoO
• Public sector workers afforded more benefits
• Informal care workers loosely defined
  employment contracts

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Key Findings Expectations of future social
security

• Small number claim back their PRSI contributions
• Saving accounts generic long-term/crisis/securit
  y
• Career Progression long-term residency
• Hoping something wont happen
• I just hope that these things sickness,
  disability, unemployment wont happen but it
  does happen so we are not in control of the
  condition or situation. No matter what we have to
  accept it, its a fact

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Implications Policy Research

• Future more unequal and segmented care
  workforce?
• Acknowledging the barriers and obstacles faced by
  some populations of care workers
• Anti-discriminatory workplaces and practices in
  the long-term care sector
• Strive for a better understanding of the changing
  profile and needs of both care recipients and
  their (migrant) caregivers