European Policy Analysis
stays as more flexible than they actually were in the two cases and one even explained that they could stay up to 2 years . However , they both admitted that the usual scenario is that there is a sort of rotating system forming where two or three live-ins share one family and switch after 6 or 8 weeks .
The head of one agency in Germany explained the procedure of the employment of a live-in as follows : first , the live-in receives the profile of a potential family for employment . If they approve , their own profile will be sent to that family and if these again approve as well , the live-ins are usually sent there for 6 weeks to 2 months .
But that does not mean that it will really work like that . That means that when after a week they do not get along , then we better get them back and get someone new before they club each other to death . Because of that , those are just guiding length . It could be the other way around just as well , that she only wanted to come for six weeks , but then feels good there and they all get along so well that I get a call from the family and the agency abroad gets a call from the live-in , I would like to stay longer . Then we make that possible of course , why should we separate people that get along well ? But that is why you cannot say that there is a special rotation system in place , because it is totally different in each case . ( Head
of a German agency for live-ins )
She further explained that liveins also decide for themselves if they want to go back to work in Germany immediately , they might also take their vacation time or they work in their own country for a while . The agencies abroad are also active in the care business in their home countries and the live-ins have the possibility to work in their countries C of origin .
There are of course some who say this is too difficult for me , I want to go home , well , then we just send a new one . ( Head of German agency for live-ins )
This statement also shows that there is no shortage of labor in this subsector , at least that is the way it was portrayed by this informant . Apparently there are enough potential employees in the pool of the agency abroad to easily replace live-ins in Germany . One of the family employers also clarified that the length often depended on different circumstances , for example if the mother ( the person in need of care ) had to go to the hospital , if the live-ins already had their next assignment by the agency or sometimes there was an event in their country of origin , which they wanted to go back to .
The establishment of a rotation system with the same live-ins depended on the families and the live-ins themselves . When both contacted the agencies and expressed the wish to repeat employment with a certain family , the two agencies interviewed said that they would make that possible . The agreement had to be mutual though , if either the live-in or the family did not wish for a repetition , it would not be organized .
They often agree to that among themselves , when they feel comfortable the ladies also like to come back . So , both have to want that , the client just as the lady or the gentleman . We do not push
C
In order to legally post workers in Germany , foreign agencies have to be active in the labour markets of the countries of origin as well ( Lorenz 2010 ).
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