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There is widespread scholarly recognition that migrant long-term care (LTC) workers experience relatively poorer work conditions than local LTC workers. We focus here on the ways in which migration and employment regulation intersect in formal LTC markets to produce working conditions for migrant workers. Drawing on cross-national comparisons between Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom we explore: firstly, the forms of employment regulation that can protect migrant LTC workers or expose them to additional risks; and secondly, how migration regulation can work to amplify employment protection gaps for certain groups of migrant workers. We find that while historically there have been better employment protections in Australia and the Netherlands, the reshaping of work in all three LTC systems creates a context within which migration regulation can exacerbate the risks of precarious work for migrant workers and for those on temporary visas in particular.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore emerging issues in the application of the "dual agenda" model of gender equitable organisational change aimed at improved work life outcomes in two large Australian organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe research project used the collaborative interactive action research (CIAR) methodology that underpins the dual agenda change approach. Within both organisations, a multi‐method approach was used, including formal interviews, focus groups and ethnographic‐style observation and interaction, as well as the analysis of a wide range of organisational documentation. The paper focuses on the challenges both for the researchers and the organisations in keeping gender on the agenda, drawing on the identification of work practices and work‐life policies that impede organisational effectiveness and gender equity and the subsequent work culture diagnosis for each organisation.FindingsThe way in which the "gender problem" within an organisation is framed is strategically important. An understanding of "gender" as "women" not only marginalises gender equity as a business goal and its links with organisational effectiveness, but also works to silence men's interests in better work/life outcomes. A refocusing on the "ideal worker" was found to be more inclusive not only of men but also valuable in highlighting the ways in which organisational work/life policies may be undercut by business pressures and long hours, poor job design or management discretion. However, challenges remain in linking gender equitable organisational change to organisational effectiveness, especially in organisations which are restructuring and contracting in size.Originality/valueProvides a frank account of the challenges in making the links between gender equity, organisational effectiveness and work life issues that is valuable for both academics and practitioners. The "dual agenda" approach is methodologically important as it engages both "outsider" academics and "insider" organisational members in an action research process directed at gender equitable organisational change.

Paid work promises pathways to financial security and wellbeing for families, yet variable scheduling and low pay can interfere with the routines and rhythms of family life, and contribute to caregiving challenges and stress. Using qualitative data from a survey of retail workers, this article shows how Australian employment policies have enabled flexibility practices to be strongly oriented around the needs of employers, reducing employees' resources for care. We develop the concept of 'care theft' from employees' accounts of the ways flexible scheduling and low pay converge to transform and deplete their temporal, financial and ethical resources for care. As an extension of 'time theft' and alternative to individualised notions of 'work-family balance', care theft helps make visible the ways employment practices strip resources for care from working people, and shift risk to low-income families and communities.