New Migrants in Residential Aged Care: Managing Diversity in Not-for-Profit Organisations

Abstract

This paper draws on qualitative interviews with migrant Indo-Asian and African personal care workers and registered and enrolled nurses employed by two not-for-profit residential aged care organisations in Australia: AnglicareSA and Resthaven Inc. The paper examines the way these culturally and linguistically diverse staff talk about the safe organisational environment provided by their employers, while in the wider Australian environment, low levels of hostility towards migrants and refugees are a constant cultural force. We demonstrate the impact of these organisations’ foundational ethics and values that influence how human resource diversity management strategies impact on the quality care provided to residents. We argue that this ethic and these human resource strategies act as conduits for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) staff to integrate into the workforce and as a mechanism in assisting new migrants to transition into the wider Australian society, while at the same time enriching the care of the older persons.