WORK>INT: Assessing and enhancing integration in workplaces

January 2014 – June 2015
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Overview

This project explores the micro-level experiences of integration through a case study of a sector of the economy that is increasingly reliant on migrant labour: healthcare. Migrants represent a growing share of the healthcare workforce in Europe and their role is increasingly crucial for the functioning of this sector. However, there is limited knowledge of the dynamics, obstacles, strategies and practices relating to integration at workplace level, from the perspectives of migrant workers, and particularly those at the higher-skilled end of the health sector workforce.

Research is conducted across five European cities (Dublin, Hamburg, Oxford, Madrid and Turin) using a single framework to allow for in depth cross-country comparison. COMPAS researchers will be responsible for assessing and analysing the state of integration of migrant workers in the UK health sector. The primary research will focus in particular on daily work and interpersonal interactions among workers within the hospital; on the degree of inclusiveness of workers from diverse cultural, religious and social backgrounds in the hospitals; on the valorisation of migrant workers’ skills and on their contribution to the competitiveness and efficiency of the health structures. In doing so, the project will focus attention on the importance of workplaces as sites of integration and also look at the roles that public authorities, employers and workers’ organisations can play in this area.

Principal Investigator

Hiranthi Jayaweera

Researchers

Helen McCarthy

Funding

European Integration Fund