Working Lives Research Institute
Dr Sonia McKay, Dr Eugenia Markova and Tessa Wright
November 2007 to October 2008
ACAS
In October 2007 ACAS commissioned the Working Lives Research Institute (WLRI) to conduct a small-scale pilot case study on the motivation and business models involved in employers’ decisions in hotels and catering and in construction to use migrant rather than long-term resident labour. The proposal for the study grew out of earlier research conducted by WLRI that had shown that a high proportion of migrant workers are employed indirectly through agencies or labour providers. The scope of this pilot project therefore aimed to include both an investigation of decision-making concerning the direct employment of migrant workers, and of decision-making in favour of sourcing labour through employment agencies, in those cases where labour was sourced through this method.
This research study aimed to investigate employer use of migrant labour to explore the procedural and employment relations’ challenges that may arise as a consequence of their use. The study was seen as being specifically relevant to ACAS, which has a major interest in understanding the dynamic processes within the UK labour market and in promoting cohesion. The study therefore also aimed to inform ACAS in both respects to enable it to improve the quality of its interventions, as the number of requests from migrant workers increases.
The research has been conducted utilising the following methods:
The selection of the case study companies and the case studies themselves were conducted between Febraury and August 2008. A draft report was prepared for ACAS in October 2008.