Carolin Schütze

Working with migrants can challenge the usual expectations and routines of the workforce in welfare institutions. Bureaucrats respond differently depending on their own background and they can resort to different coping strategies, such as, ‘othering’ their migrant clients. Organizational pressures such as integrating new public management processes add to these challenges and can result in existential insecurity amongst bureaucrats; their ontological security is challenged which can have a knock-on effect on their work, that of the institutions they work for and outcomes for their migrant clients.

Racial bias of staff at welfare institutions can result in negative outcomes for minority clients. Staff are not only professionals, but also individuals with personal beliefs and values. While the overriding organisational culture may be to give equal services to all clients, the attitude of staff and other work pressures might influence their approach with particularly migrant clients. Recent research recommends combining organisational theory and theory on racial attitudes to illuminate the issue e.g. that increased workload and stress can cause welfare professionals to fall back on perceived stereotypes of clients.