Care and ethnicity

In recent years several national campaigns and initiatives have focused on getting more people with non-Danish ethnic background to work in elderly care.
This report identifies, how to best recruit and, not least, retain employees of non-Danish ethnic background, and it describes the consequences of the new employee composition for the culture of care, the working environment, and managerial style.
The survey shows that employees with ethnic non-Western backgrounds in particular find it important that the study programme is not too academic or too long, that there is job security, and that the job gives status and career possibilities.
However, the new employees are facing challenges in their job: Language might cause difficulties for some people, whilst others are exposed to racism, and they also seem more reluctant to comply with the fundamental principles of elderly care e.g. assisting in “help for self-help”. This places demands on managers, who must ensure that the employees are well equipped to deal with this type of work.
The survey is based on qualitative interviews with managers and a major questionnaire survey among employees and managers in selected municipalities. This survey has been financed by the Health Insurance Foundation.