Introduction
From the 1990s, many European welfare states have experienced significant shifts in the division of responsibilities in long-term care between the state, the family and the market. Reorientation was driven by demographic challenges and by the broader socioeconomic context, but also by policies including cash for care schemes, market orientation in service provision or a re-emphasis of the role of families as care givers. This had impacts on the provision and organisation of long-term care, and it supported, in some European countries, a redistribution of unpaid family care work to care services provided by low-paid migrant workers. With care transferred into a commodity, migrant care work, often provided in a live-in arrangement, becomes a substitute for care work provided by family members. As such it involves not only practical, hands-on tasks, but also emotional and interactive demands.
This article focuses on the emotional demands and experiences migrant care workers in private households are faced with and investigates how these are shaped by welfare regulations on migrant care work. In the empirical analysis, based on qualitative interviews with care workers, the focus is on Austria as a target country of migrant care workers from Central and Eastern Europe. In the next section, the article starts with an overview of visible and non-visible aspects of care work and explores how policies have shaped a growing ‘transnational division of care(ing) labour’. The particular context of the Austrian migrant care regime is then introduced. With these underpinnings, the empirical analysis explores the emotional experiences of migrant care workers in private households and contrasts these with the literature.
Care work at the intersection of migration, emotions and welfare regulations
Abel and Nelson (Reference Abel, Nelson, Abel and Nelson1990: 4) define care as the basis for sustaining the ‘social fabric’ of mankind. Care includes many facets, such as receiving, giving and providing care. And, it is essential for developing and sustaining relationships (Himmelweit, Reference Himmelweit2007). In line with the traditional assignment that care(ing) work is women's labour, unpaid and provided because of love and obligation (Bock and Duden, Reference Bock, Duden and Dozentinnen1977), women still bear the main burden of care work. Changes in social structures and the promotion of dual-breadwinner models, however, led to difficulties in reconciling paid work and care labour, while welfare states were reluctant to respond adequately to these needs (for example, Hoff et al., Reference Hoff, Feldman and Vidovicova2010). One option increasingly used in many Western European countries is partial outsourcing of social reproductive work to paid workers in the private household. These individualised care arrangements are mostly established in the private realm with a highly informal or semi-informal character (Österle et al., Reference Österle, Bauer and Haidinger2011). This reintroduces the ideologically unpaid and domestic character of care work and commodifies private obligation and responsibility for care provision. The development is characterised as a growing ‘feminised’ and ‘foreignised’ low-wage care market (Leòn, Reference Leòn2010: 412), where again women, but from poorer regions of the world, provide care labour in wealthier countries. This causes not only a redistribution of reproductive tasks from the family to migrant care workers, it is also a way to commodify the emotional component of care work to migrant care workers.
Invisible elements of care work
Care labour can take different forms and involves a variety of tasks with some more visible and valued than others. Care(ing) for older people with long-term care needs requires diverse hard and soft skills and is often solely based on experience. Some definitions of care work assume a professional understanding and point at the development of human capabilities (health, skills, proclivities) (England et al., Reference England, Budig and Folbre2002: 455). Others, like Anderson (Reference Anderson2000), go beyond this and emphasise the 3Cs of reproductive work (cleaning, cooking, caring) that refer to the overlap of domestic and care activities. But care work does not only involve care and domestic tasks. Feelings and emotions are involved when giving care, taking care of and caring about the person who is in need (Fisher and Tronto, Reference Fisher, Tronto, Abel and Nelson1990). Working tasks range from highly intimate (body and emotional work) to less-intimate tasks (for example, household work) (Yeates, Reference Yeates2011).
Often it is the moral and the emotional aspects of care work that lack recognition (for example, James, Reference James1992). Not least, this results from disregarding these aspects in economic theory, which presumes altruistic behaviour and intrinsic motivations for care work (Folbre, Reference Folbre, Folbre and Bittman2004). By focusing on emotional features of care work, Hochschild (Reference Hochschild1983: 7) points to the display of emotions by considering specific rules. She draws an important distinction and refers to emotional behaviour in private and work-related situations. Socially predetermined ways of expressing emotions are followed in the private sphere by doing emotion work. In contrast, emotional labour applies to the individual management of emotions on the basis of implicitly and/or explicitly specified behavioural rules that are anticipated and desired at the workplace. Behaviour can become strained when expectations on emotional display do not comply with the inner feelings and natural reactions (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild1983).
The emotional component of care is closely connected with demands for high levels of interactive work. Together, those elements represent the fundamental basis for good care work relationships (James, Reference James1992; Wharton, Reference Wharton2009). Also, particular personal attitudes and behaviour of care worker and care recipient generating respect and trust are of relevance. Care receivers hold a unique position as they simultaneously act as employers and as recipients of the care service (Weishaupt, Reference Weishaupt, Böhle and Glaser2006; Wharton, Reference Wharton2009). Live-in care arrangements combined with the component of emotional labour are likely to create even stronger emotional bonds for the care worker. The informal nature of commodified care settings might in turn exert influence on other involved actors, in particular the care recipient (for example, Timonen and Doyle, Reference Timonen and Doyle2010). England (Reference England2005: 390) identifies an ‘emotional hostage effect’ when unequal relationships and power distribution lead to vulnerable positions in the care relationship.
James (Reference James1992) pointed at organisation as a further component of care work. Care labour mostly is about ‘action and reaction and consists of day-to-day responses’ (James, Reference James1992: 500) to often unpredictable and imponderable conditions. Depending on the physical and psychological situation of the person in need of care, it requires the care worker to constantly adapt, which again involves emotional and practical tasks.
Migrant care work in Europe
Over the past two decades, many European countries have seen major long-term care reforms with impacts on the distribution of long-term care responsibilities between the family, the state and the market (Österle and Rothgang, Reference Österle, Rothgang, Castles, Leibfried, Lewis, Obinger and Pierson2010; Ranci and Pavolini, Reference Ranci and Pavolini2013). Reforms included extensions in long-term care coverage and the introduction of cash for care payments, and went along with market-based care approaches and a re-emphasis on individual responsibility (Ungerson and Yeandle, Reference Ungerson and Yeandle2007; Pavolini and Ranci, Reference Pavolini and Ranci2008). But even with extensions in public support, strong family orientation and the difficulties in reconciling work, family and care obligations have increased the demand for comprehensive service alternatives (Lewis, Reference Lewis2006).
Countries in Central Eastern Europe share strong family orientations. In long-term care, very limited public provision and unaffordable private services further contribute to the important role of the family as care giver (Österle, Reference Österle2011). At the same time, economic and labour market problems in these countries drive many to search for employment in Western Europe. For women, care work became an economically attractive option (Haas et al., Reference Haas, Steiber, Hartl and Wallace2006; Lewis et al., Reference Lewis, Campbell and Huerta2008), even more so as the demand for care work facilitated entry into Western European labour markets before labour market liberalisation.
This stimulated a growing migration of care workers from Central Eastern Europe towards Western Europe. Williams (Reference Williams2011: 2) argues that ‘not simply the absence of state provision but rather the restructured nature of state support’ serve as promoters of the supply of and the demand for migrant care workers. Migrant care arrangements have primarily appeared in countries with a strong familialistic orientation and the provision of cash benefits without pre-defined use. In some countries (for example, England and the Republic of Ireland), migrant care workers are predominantly employed by the private sector outside the private household (Cangiano et al., Reference Cangiano, Shutes, Spencer and Leeson2009; Doyle and Timonen, Reference Doyle and Timonen2010; van Hooren, Reference van Hooren2012). In Southern European countries (for example, Italy, Spain and Greece), the legal or illegal status of migrants is constitutive for live-in or live-out employment, supporting a ‘migrant in the family’ care model. (Bettio et al., Reference Bettio, Simonazzi and Villa2006: 272; Lamura et al., Reference Lamura, Chiatti, Di Rosa, Melchiorre, Barbabella, Greco, Principi and Santini2010; Leòn, Reference Leòn2010; Lyberaki, Reference Lyberaki2011). In Austria, and similarly in Germany, live-in employment in private households is used as an alternative to public services and family care (Neuhaus et al., Reference Neuhaus, Isfort and Weidner2009; Schmid, Reference Schmid, Larsen, Joost and Heid2009).
Commodifying care responsibilities and transferring them to migrant workers has multiple implications. On the micro level, when private households become workplace and home, implications arise due to an isolated atmosphere and vulnerable working conditions that create dependency and exploitation where regulations provide little room for control (for example, Lutz, Reference Lutz2004; Anderson, Reference Anderson2007; Doyle and Timonen, Reference Doyle and Timonen2009). With transnational living situations, separations arise from the family left-behind in the country of origin. A macro level perspective mirrors the importation of ‘care and love from poor countries to rich ones’ (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild, Ehrenreich and Hochschild2002: 17) and the generation of losses for source countries’ long-term care systems and family resources (Lutz, Reference Lutz, Gather, Geissler and Rerrich2002, Reference Lutz2004). The result is a ‘care drain’ (additional to the brain drain phenomena), a more hidden trend that refers to the loss of informal and formal care resources in the home of care work migrants (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild, Ehrenreich and Hochschild2002: 17). Redistributing care obligations further prompts an ‘international division of reproductive labour’ (Parreñas, Reference Parreñas2005). This is reflected in global care chains when women fulfil care needs in wealthier countries, while care obligations towards dependent children and older relatives left behind are redirected to the nuclear family or to another migrant woman from an even poorer country (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild2000, Reference Hochschild, Ehrenreich and Hochschild2002; Yeates, Reference Yeates2009; Lutz and Palenga-Möllenbeck, Reference Lutz and Palenga-Möllenbeck2012). The emotional and psychological costs for leaving children and older family members behind are tremendous for all involved parties and require specific strategies in handling transnational care obligations (for example, Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila, Reference Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila1997; Parreñas, Reference Parreñas2005; Ducu, Reference Ducu2009; Piperno, Reference Piperno2012).
Context and method
The focus of this empirical study is on live-in migrant care workers in Austria originating from Central Eastern Europe. Long-term care in Austria is characterised by strong family orientation. Public support for long-term care includes a comprehensive cash for care system and social services (Österle and Bauer, Reference Österle and Bauer2012). Objectives of autonomy and empowerment of the user, support for family caregiving and the user-driven development of the social services sector were the explicit objectives when introducing the cash for care system in 1993, while the emerging use of twenty-four-hour migrant care work in private households was unintentionally facilitated. A growing awareness of care as a commodity, geographical proximity to Central Eastern European neighbour countries and socioeconomic differences between Austria and home countries of migrant care workers served as additional drivers for the development.
Until 2006, migrant care work in Austria was a grey economy sector based on irregular employment. But, in contrast to other countries, Austria has seen a distinctive and comprehensive effort to regularise twenty-four-hour migrant care work from the year 2007 (Österle and Bauer, Reference Österle and Bauer2012). First, migrant care workers were entitled with a legal care work permit as labour market entry for Central Eastern European citizens was limited at that time in Austria. Second, a new provision allowed care work in private households to be based either on employment by care users, their families or a social service provider, or on self-employment. In order to allow for the work time arrangement of the original grey care market solution with two migrant live-in care workers providing care work on a biweekly or monthly shift, self-employment became the predominant form. Third, the general assumption of twenty-four-hour care as a substitute for family care is mirrored by an absence of distinctive qualification requirements and quality criteria. Fourth, a financial support scheme for twenty-four-hour care was introduced. The main aim here was affordability; twenty-four-hour care should not be more expensive for users than it was before the regularisation. By the end of 2011, 31,500 migrant care workers were providing twenty-four-hour care work in private households in Austria. In a European comparative perspective, the Austrian migrant care work regime is unique because, (a) care workers are almost exclusively from Central Eastern European countries, (b) work arrangements are almost exclusively live-in arrangements with biweekly or monthly shifts of two care workers commuting between Austria and the respective home country, and (c) the comprehensive regularisation of this originally grey market economy.
Against the background of the particular features of the Austrian migrant care regime, the empirical analysis attempts to explore the perspectives of migrant care workers concerning their emotional experiences. The analysis builds on fourteen interviews with care workers from the dominant source country, Slovakia (11), and from Bulgaria (3) providing care labour to older people in Austrian private households. Interviewees were recruited via two Austrian placement agencies. Two of the interviewees were men, twelve were women. They were between twenty-four and sixty-three years of age. On average they had been care workers in Austria for between four and ten years. Interviews were conducted between November 2009 and January 2010 in rural and urban Austria.
Migrant care work, welfare regulations and emotional experiences
Following the interviews we identify three domains where the particular care work arrangement and the regulatory context shapes emotional experiences of care workers. First, the transnational organisation of the care job results in a space of ‘living in-between’ for the care worker. Second, informal characteristics of the care service make the balance of becoming ‘a quasi-family member’ and keeping ‘distance’ a major challenge. Third, the regulations that apply to live-in care work in Austria tend to create specific burdens and demands in work-related situations.
Living in-between
Migrant care work in Austria is based on a rotational system, with two care workers replacing each other on a biweekly or monthly basis. The live-in arrangement allows a combination of working abroad and living in the home country without extra expenses for a second household. Together with the earnings perspective, this cost-saving constellation works as a prime motive for migrant care workers to take on such a care job in Austria (Österle and Bauer, Reference Österle and Bauer2010). But transnational commuting entails various psychological and emotional constraints and burdens. Being a migrant care worker involves dealing with problematic socioeconomic circumstances in the Central Eastern European home country while providing demanding care work for older people abroad. Workers point at emotions and sorrows that have to be faded out once the geographical borderline is reached.
Life is a bit like schizophrenia. After the border you have to press the button, because there [at the Austrian workplace] are other problems than at home. It's . . . like schizophrenia . . . (Female care worker from Slovakia, aged 35, two young children)
The feeling of being torn is an emotional condition often experienced by migrants, who refer to the blurring of identity, nationality, culture and belonging (for example, Vertovec, Reference Vertovec2001; Ryan, Reference Ryan2008; Skrbis, Reference Skrbis2008). And such feelings might be even stronger among care workers who are part of transnational family constellations and who have transnational care obligations towards children or towards parents in need of long-term care (for example, Ryan, Reference Ryan2008; Svasek, Reference Svasek2008). In our study, the majority of interviewees had children from kindergarten age to teenagers, but also children who were already grown-up. Those with young children at home had arranged for them to be cared for by their sister, their mother or their unemployed husband. These transnational arrangements are similar to other studies of Eastern European care and domestic workers in Germany and Italy (Lutz and Palenga-Möllenbeck, Reference Lutz and Palenga-Möllenbeck2012; Piperno, Reference Piperno2012). Two interviewees in our study also had parents at home who were in need of care. Confirming the family orientation in caring for the older generation (Daatland et al., Reference Daatland, Herlofson and Lima2011), care responsibilities in these cases were divided between siblings for the time of absence of the care worker. What emerges is a new care work division within Europe. While Central Eastern European care workers provide paid long-term care in wealthier Western European regions, their care obligations are redirected to unpaid family members, but are rarely found to be replaced by other paid migrant women, as anticipated in the global care chain concept (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild2000, Reference Hochschild, Ehrenreich and Hochschild2002; Lutz and Palenga-Möllenbeck, Reference Lutz and Palenga-Möllenbeck2011, Reference Lutz and Palenga-Möllenbeck2012).
The transnational family situations were accompanied by a variety of difficulties and constraints. But, for our interviewees, feelings of guilt or sorrow for their biweekly or monthly absence were quasi-justified by the attractive earnings that help improve the living standard of the family and, more importantly, provide children with better education. Compensating for the inability to provide direct love and care to those left behind with material goods is a typical strategy applied in transnational family constellations (Parreñas, Reference Parreñas2001). It is also a strategy that helps those migrants coping with transnational commuting and the emotional constraints this causes. However, several studies focusing on the transnational family dimension have shown that considerable consequences can emerge at least from long-term separation (for example, Hochschild, Reference Hochschild2000, Reference Hochschild, Ehrenreich and Hochschild2002; Parreñas, Reference Parreñas2001, Reference Parreñas2005). So far, this aspect has not been sufficiently studied in relation to work based on shorter term commuting within Europe.
Quasi-family member and distance
Giving care to older people goes in hand with a high level of informality. Working as a live-in care worker makes the private household a place where living and working overlap. The establishment of a successful relationship is therefore a most important but difficult task. Developing a ‘good’ care relationship is influenced by the particular care arrangement, the length of time over which care is provided or the behaviour and characteristics of care receiver and care giver (for example, Walsh and Shutes, Reference Walsh and Shutes2012). Concerning the interpersonal level, the application of positive feelings in the working context can help establishing mutual trust as an indispensable condition for successful care relationships (Wharton, Reference Wharton2009). Some interviewees explicitly highlight the ‘chemistry’ between two persons that helps them to get along well with each other.
And the chemistry . . . that is important when I get in contact with the client for the first time. The chemistry [between client and care worker] has to be good. Because if the chemistry is bad, the client can do whatever she likes to, she always will find anything that doesn't suit. (Female care worker from Slovakia, aged 35)
The ‘chemistry’ as a basis for social cooperation is influenced by attitudes and behaviour of care recipients and care workers. Respectful and emphatic behaviour can help to create feasible conditions. It also helps to develop relationships that are built on mutual trust and cooperation (Timonen and Doyle, Reference Timonen and Doyle2010). Considering the care recipient, studies have shown that positively rated care relationships can also derive from the degree the person cared for is dependent on the care worker (Degiuli, Reference Degiuli2007; Timonen and Doyle, Reference Timonen and Doyle2010). In live-in care arrangements, this degree is very likely to be on a high level and might be expected to force care users to positive collaboration. In some cases, however, interviewees report uncooperative behaviour and negative attitudes of their clients.
Not every family is satisfied. I . . . have been working for a woman, a witch. She hassled me. She refused to eat. It was nearly impossible to do my job. I couldn't do anything she liked. Nothing, nothing. It was a terror. She is not a good woman. (Female care worker from Slovakia, aged 57)
The care user's behaviour reflects the unequal distribution of power and rights due to the care consumer's multiple roles in the care relationship. Clients of care workers act as employers, service receivers and as co-producers of the care service (for example, Wharton, Reference Wharton2009). Care users that refuse collaboration can strongly harm the care relationship. And it places live-in care workers in a situation of financial and emotional dependence. Similarly to Da Roit's (Reference Da Roit2007) findings, one interviewee used the term ‘modern slave labour’ to describe her perceived status in the care arrangement. Conditions of live-in arrangements can generate an ‘emotional hostage effect’ (England, Reference England2005: 390) for the care worker, but also for the care recipient (see for example, Ayalon, Reference Ayalon2011), because it considerably influences negotiations of status and dynamics of power in the care relationship (Wharton, Reference Wharton2009).
Hochschild (Reference Hochschild, Ehrenreich and Hochschild2002) argues that inadequate welfare state responses to a changing social world lead to ignoring the impacts occurring for migrants in transnational care work situations. Families as employers often regard care workers independent of their context, and additionally expect them to act like a family carer (with love, warmth and caring behaviour) (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild, Ehrenreich and Hochschild2002). In live-in arrangements, care workers, often unintentionally, engage in family-like care relationships, which can create tough (emotional) conditions and dependence. Implicit expectations, but also the regulatory features of live-in arrangements, tend to tighten the continuum between giving care and caring about someone, and smooth the transition of emotional labour to emotion work carried out at the workplace (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild1983).
Finding the right balance between empathy and distance is therefore one of the most difficult challenges expressed by interviewees and was seen as a necessary prerequisite to prevent emotional deficits for oneself.
Yes, a bit of empathy, but not too much empathy, because at the beginning, I brought in a lot of empathy, and when my first client died, I was emotionally disturbed. I returned home [to Slovakia] and a colleague of mine asked me ‘You look disturbed. What's going on with you? Are you sick?’ Well, and then I thought I have to teach myself to keep distance. (Female care worker from Slovakia, aged 48)
Emotional detachment and moral obligation are likely to become features of care arrangements where care relationships tend to be intimate and emotionally constructed (Degiuli, Reference Degiuli2007; Walsh and Shutes, Reference Walsh and Shutes2012). This makes it even more difficult to draw a line between work and the personal relationship, even though formalised arrangements might positively increase this possibility (Ungerson, Reference Ungerson2005). In contrast to Hochschild's findings, the inability to be present for their own family was generally not transferred into higher emotional commitment for the cared-for person among our interviewees (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild, Ehrenreich and Hochschild2002). Despite the intimate, family-like care relationship, the attempt to distinguish between work and personal detachment displays a more professional, distance-oriented understanding of the care job. Shorter term commuting of care workers, rather than longer term stays, seems the major explanatory factor for this.
A strategy to create feasible conditions in the care relationship is the management of feelings. Hochschild points to the risk that the management of one's own feelings harms oneself emotionally. She distinguishes between ‘surface acting’, where emotional dissonance persists between inner feelings and outward emotional behaviour, and ‘deep acting’, where organisationally expected display rules are incorporated (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild1983; Zapf, Reference Zapf2002). Serious concerns arise from deep acting as it unnoticeably leads to an alienation of one's own feelings. In contrast, surface acting tends to cause visible psychological consequences, such as emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild1983; Brotheridge and Grandey, Reference Brotheridge and Grandey2002). Interviewees in this study point at the disparity between producing appropriate emotions while suppressing their real feelings. The application of surface acting is used to create a harmonious atmosphere which is regarded as important for the interpersonal level in the care work context.
Dealing with her is easy, that's not a burden. But sometimes . . . sometimes there are other reasons, because you can't constantly be in a good mood. People feel this and I always try to show a good mood. But sometimes . . . that's not easy. (Female interviewee from Bulgaria, aged 24)
To some extent, motivational factors and reciprocity in the care relationship can help balance out negative components of emotional labour and other work role demands (Folbre and Weisskopf, Reference Folbre, Weisskopf, Ben-Ner and Putterman1998; Walsh and Shutes, Reference Walsh and Shutes2012). In fact, our interviewees positively valued the rewards of helping older people and were strongly motivated by the aspect of enhancing their soft skills from their close work with older people. In addition, care workers in this study were even able to enrich the care arrangement with care experiences gained in previous family or professional care settings.
The making of burdens and demands
Twenty-four-hour care work is a service relationship that combines personal and professional demands, that requires soft skills and hard skills, and that is based on constant face-to-face interaction. The interactive component can become even more difficult as migrant care workers often only have a basic knowledge of the foreign language. Difficulties related to inappropriate language skills can have strong impacts on the care relationship, on emotional experiences and on the quality of care work (for example, Timonen and Doyle, Reference Timonen and Doyle2010; Walsh and Shutes, Reference Walsh and Shutes2012). However, regulations in Austria neither reflect this complexity in qualification requirements nor in any specific support scheme recognising the particular demands of these live-in arrangements.
Considering the psychological and physical conditions of the care recipient, twenty-four-hour care work requires a daily adjustment of work schedules (James, Reference James1992). These unpredictable situations lead to feelings of ambiguity and uncertainty that interviewees perceived as highly stressful.
That's always like setting a bomb. You don't know what is tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Or with the client. (Female interviewee from Slovakia, aged 50)
Unpredictable working situations and emotional demands mostly arise from the specific clientele of the twenty-four-hour care service. Users of this care service are often people with severe illnesses or disabilities, including dementia and/or severe physical disabilities (see also Degiuli, Reference Degiuli2007; Karakayali, Reference Karakayali, Figatowski, Kokebe and Meyer2007). The need for professional knowledge and the accurate handling of clients and situations means that many care workers encounter their psychological, emotional and physical limits, as regulations have failed to provide qualification requirements and regular professional supervision. Interviewees refer to the need for professional soft skills to create feasible working conditions, an extremely challenging task when care workers report aggressive behaviour and emotions like fear and depression when talking about clients.
I am scared. That's sick people. Suffering from the Alzheimer disease . . . For me it is also difficult. She is a difficult client. Psychologically, for me, but for her too . . . I have to live her role, like mine, yes. Afterwards I have to go for a two-hours walk. That's normal. (Female interviewee from Slovakia, aged 57)
A lack of qualifications can cause inadequate responses to severe cognitive impairment, which then can have a negative impact not only on the quality of care, but also on the care relationship, and can lead to communication difficulties and/or aggressive behaviour of clients (Degiuli, Reference Degiuli2007; Timonen and Doyle, Reference Timonen and Doyle2010). Unlike health and nursing professionals, whose training enables them to cope with challenging diseases and situations, workers in twenty-four-hour care neither have a sufficient educational basis (except for those with original training in nursing) nor the opportunity to receive support via coping programmes
As a consequence of biweekly or monthly shifts with twenty-four-hours availability and little free time, some interviewees perceived isolation and expressed feelings like loneliness to describe their situation. Such feelings were more dominant among interviewees placed in remote rural areas. Frequent contact with other migrant care workers was considered as necessary in order to cope with work-related burdens.
Every time when we have free time, we meet up. Otherwise this is not possible. That would be like in a mental institution. (Female care worker from Slovakia, aged 35)
Contact with other migrant care workers can be facilitated by agencies’ involvement in the placement process. A major strategy to support the rotational system, for example, is the organisation of carpools. To facilitate the organisation of these carpools, placement organisations attempt to place care workers from one home country area in one receiving country area. This also makes it easier to get into contact with other migrant care workers. Social networks are therefore not only important for job-seeking purposes (for example, Doyle and Timonen, Reference Doyle and Timonen2010). Personal contacts also turn out to be used as coping and socialising strategy in a rather isolating work environment. Social contacts outside the workplace referred to by our interviewees might partly explain differences to studies where migrant care workers developed stronger commitment and emotional attachment to their employers due to unavailable social support (Hochschild, Reference Hochschild, Ehrenreich and Hochschild2002).
Conclusion
In some European countries, mainly in Central and Southern Europe, migrant care work has become an important element of the respective long-term care systems. The Austrian case is particular in at least three ways: (a) care workers are almost exclusively from Central Eastern European countries, (b) work arrangements are live-in arrangements with biweekly or monthly commuting between Austria and the respective home country and (c) a comprehensive regularisation of this originally grey market economy.
The commodification of care work and its redistribution from the family to migrant care workers is strongly determined by migration, employment and long-term care regulations. In recent years, a number of studies have explored the impact of these regulations on various aspects of the organisation and the provision of care work. Also, emotional experiences of migrant care workers have been studied, but mostly with a view to global developments or with a view to longer term migratory flows. In this particular case, the focus is on shorter term commuting. The particular live-in arrangement allows a biweekly or monthly alteration between care work in Austria and staying in the country of origin. The study confirms many of the emotional demands and constraints the literature has identified, but they are shaped by the specific arrangement. The regulatory context is of particular importance for these outcomes.
Self-employment and live-in arrangements result in informal, family-like features of care work relationships, despite the fact that it no longer is a grey care market. This creates challenges for care workers in defining their own position and in ensuring distance in the care relationship. In establishing a legal alternative to the previous grey economy of migrant care work, affordability, together with legalisation, was the main objective. As a consequence, qualification requirements for care workers, a system of quality assurance and migrant care worker support programmes have not been incorporated in the reform. This does not only imply risks in terms of the quality of care, it also has potentially negative impacts on care users and care workers, left in slippery positions when meeting in an intimate and largely informal relationship with an often unequal power distribution. Additional risks arise for migrant workers as they are experiencing emotional demands and constraints in the particular transnational setting.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Anniversary Fund of the Austrian Central Bank (OeNB, Grant No. 14386).
