Like many other countries worldwide, Germany is affected by a shortage of skilled labour, especially in the healthcare sector. As a result, healthcare facilities, employers, and agencies aim to close the skills gap by recruiting international skilled workers, mostly from lower-income countries. Simultaneously, the outflow of skilled workers impacts the economies of these countries of origin with already fragile health systems.
Regardless of the disparities that arisen, health worker migration has increased over the past decades. How could these inequalities be addressed, knowing that migrants belong to the most vulnerable groups on the job market, especially in the healthcare sector? Which instruments are needed to guarantee sustainable and ethical recruitment practices from abroad and equal rights and ethical treatment of skilled workers in their new workplace?
To address these challenges, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel in 2010.
How a Global Code finds implementation on the European, national, local level and then workplace level will be the focus of the IQ online-seminar. Altogether, the IQ online-seminar will allow attendees to understand how several international ethical recruitment codes are implemented on different policy levels. Finally, as a practical example, the King's College Hospital London will present their international recruitment practices.
Speakers from the World Health Organization, European Hospital and Healthcare Employers' Association, the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and the National Health Service (NHS) will give 5 minutes-presentations.
The webinar is hosted by the Network IQ ("Integration through Qualification"), Germany's flagship programme to promote the integration of migrants into the labour market.
Key questions will include:
- What is the purpose of the Codes of Practice and Conduct for ethical recruitment in the health sector?
- Why is ethical recruitment being important?
- How are Codes of Practices implemented globally and on a European as well as a national scale?
- What role do social partners and trade unions play?
- Which stakeholders need to be involved on a national level for the applicability of such a code?
- To what extent is a Code of Practice preventing labour shortage in countries of destinations and countries of origin?
- How does the implementation of a code work on the institutional ground?
- How can health care employers contribute to fair and just recruitment on the local level?
Speakers:
- Ibadat Dhillon, Technical Officer, Human Resources for Health Unit, WHO, Geneva
- Simone Mohrs, Policy Officer, European Hospital and Healthcare Employers' Association, Brussels
- Sarah Cliff, Policy Manager, UK Department of Health and Social Care, London/Leeds
- Adele Bunch, Programme Lead, NHS Employers, London/Leeds
- Peter Absalom, Associate Director Workforce Operations, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London
Moderators:
- Fabienne Braukmann, Research Officer, IQ Dissemination Project/ebb GmbH, Cologne
- Fabian Junge, Public Relations Officer, IQ Dissemination Project/ebb GmbH, Cologne
Please register via mail by 19 April 2021 and indicate your name, your organisation and project:
online-seminar(at)ebb-bildung.de
The IQ online-seminar will take place
21 April 2021, 1 pm – 2:30 pm (CEST), via zoom. After registration, you will receive a link to the zoom-meeting for the seminar.
