Foreign workers in social sector after a year and a half - where do we stand now?

A year and a half has passed since the official launch of the Foreign workers in social sector project in February 2022. The main objective of the project is to remove barriers and create equal opportunities for foreign workers, to support their inclusion in the social care labour market. 

In the first year of the FWSS project, partners carried out an extensive analysis of the employment of foreign workers in the Czech Republic, France, Belgium, Austria and Greece. The analysis is based on the information available for each country, and the data collected from a survey and interviews conducted to employers and foreign workers in social services. The report and summary for each country is available on the project website.

In the following six months, the Federation of European Social Employers, in cooperation with all project partners, prepared Guidelines and Recommendations for HR managers and managers in social services. In June 2023, the second project coordination meeting was held in Brussels to discuss these guidelines and finalise the document which will be available in several languages. The purpose of this document is to set out guidelines and recommendations on the recruitment and employment process of foreign social workers, to help remove barriers and create equal opportunities for foreign workers and thus promote their inclusion into the social services labour market.

In the remaining 12 months of the project, a training programme for managers and HR managers in social services on the employment of foreign workers will be developed, both in face-to-face and online formats. In early 2024, this training programme will be pilot tested in several partner countries. If you want to learn more, keep an eye on the Foreign Workers website!