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Between Virtual Intimacy and the Transfer of Family Members to the Workplace. Strategies of Migrant Care Workers to Deal with the Temporary Separation from Their Families in Poland

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Kniejska P.

Studia Migracyjne - Przegląd Polonijny

2015

vol. 41

issue 3 (157)

123–138

Labour migration between Poland and Germany poses challenges for migrant care workers as well as for their families. Migrant care workers have to develop strategies to compensate for their physical absence in the daily lives of their family members. Nevertheless, working in the domestic care, especially the so-called 24-hours-care offers several possibilities to deal with these challenges. The goal of this study was to find out how migrant care workers from Poland organize their family lives from a distance and to what extent do their employers or clients commit themselves for the cause. For the purpose of this study 26 problem-centred semi-structured interviews with mainly female and a few male commuter migrants from Poland were carried out. The data analysis identified two strategies of organizing family life during absence. One group fosters a so-called intimacy from distance or virtual intimacy. They use various media, for example the internet, mobile or landline phones, to almost continuously stay in contact with their families in Poland. The other group manages to create conditions at their workplace which allow them to bring along their family members (mainly small children) for a short period of time or even for the whole duration of the employment. This solution depends on an agreement and cooperation with their clients. It appeared that the presence of family members at the workplace brings both families (of migrant workers and of clients) closer and creates a fictive kinship. In some cases it leads to conflicts. The understanding on behalf of the employers and the possibilities to stay in an intense and regular contact with their family influence the migrants’ work satisfaction, increase their ability to cope with stress and encourages an extended sense of the term ‘family’.

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1 Studia Migracyjne - Przegląd Polonijny

1 Kniejska P.

1 2015

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Between Virtual Intimacy and the Transfer of Family Members to the Workplace. Strategies of Migrant Care Workers to Deal with the Temporary Separation from Their Families in Poland