Rural Temporary Migrant Workers: Adjustment and Integration in Portugal

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the main adjustment difficulties encountered by temporary immigrants and to identify the ways in which organizations received them and implemented integration strategies. Using a sample of three human resource managers, six supervisors and 50 immigrants of varying nationalities, the results revealed that although immigrants claimed to feel largely integrated in the new society and the organizations where they worked, the supervisors argued that integration and adjustment practices directed at immigrant workers were almost non-existent. The practices carried out by the organizations were primarily related to the work aspect, alongside a degree of support with bureaucratic issues and in some cases the provision of Portuguese language courses. Studies on rural immigrants are scarce, especially with regard to organizational integration practices. Managing a diverse workforce is one of the great challenges of modern organizations, hence immigrant workers’ integration is critical not only for the individuals themselves but also for the performance and success of the companies as a whole.

Temporary migration and inequalities in the Asian–European migration system

“…Temporary migrants are often left out in integration policies and particular programs because their integration is “not considered necessary, given their intended temporary residence or employment in the country” (Collyer et al., 2020: 2). For example, in Portugal, except for language courses, integration support to temporary migrants is minimal (Sousa et al., 2020). In the UK and Canada, there is hardly any support given to low-skilled migrant workers (Samuk, 2020).…”

Childlessness, personal social networks and wellbeing at advanced ages: a cross-sectional study in a Southern European familistic welfare state

“…As a familistic welfare state, Portugal is characterised by a pervading ideological assumption that families have significant caring responsibilities and that state interventions only come to the fore when family members exhaust their capacity to support each other (Wall et al, 2001;Sousa and Figueiredo, 2004;Tavora, 2012). The emphasis placed on the informal care sector in Portugal is illustrated by recent data from the Portuguese National Institute for Statistics (Statistics Portugal, 2020), indicating that approximately 10 per cent of the resident population (estimated at ten million) provides some form of informal support, of whom 65.37 per cent are women.…”

“…In this sense, despite the aforementioned efforts made by policy makers during recent decades in establishing a network of long-term care provision services, reliance on families and unpaid care-givers persists, as care for older people continues to be understood as a family responsibility (Lopes, 2016;WHO, 2020). Regarding family carers of older persons, research findings compiled in the EUROFAMCARE report (Sousa and Figueiredo, 2004) allow the identification of two major groups: (a) those aged 65 or more, usually the spouse (approximately 20% of all family carers) and (b) those in the 45-55 age range, usually daughters or daughters-in-law (approximately 64% of all family carers). A recent study conducted with data from the fourth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (Pego and Nunes, 2018) suggests that it is the absence of a spouse that determines resorting to someone from outside the household, and children usually deliver this outside care (38.66% of all informal carers not living with the care recipient).…”