Recruitment of IT-professionals from India in the ICT-sector: The Case of Sweden and Denmark

Abstract

This research project addresses migration management, recruitment strategies and employment of international IT-professionals from India in the ICT-industry in Sweden and Denmark. IT-professionals have mainly been recruited from EU-countries through the network of EURES, but recently both Scandinavian countries have introduced recruitment measures to attract and facilitate migration of highly skilled employees, such as IT-professionals, from outside the EU. The Swedish migration management, introduced in 2008, is strictly demand driven whereas the Danish system, introduced in 2002, is both demand- and supply driven. By comparing the Swedish liberal migration management system and simple recruitment measures used by the Swedish employers with the ?tough? Danish migration management system and relatively complicated recruitment measures required for Danish employers, differences and similarities between the two systems can generate a better understanding of how the processes of migration management systems and recruitment strategies interact in the two labor markets.
This project employs a multidisciplinary theoretical approach with a broad perspective on globalization, organizational management and the micro social processes involved in the recruitment practices and selection. The methodology applied is based on mixed methods such as quantitative data from national statistics and qualitative interviews with HR managers and leader from four companies in Sweden and Denmark.

Keywords:

Employment/Recruitment , Globalization, Labour standards/rights, transnational, recruitment

Description

The main research objective of the study is to investigate the different recruitment strategies of employers, facilitated by the Swedish and Danish migration management systems (Nordic Council of Ministers 2010a, Hviid, 2010, DNCSR, 2011). By recruitment strategies is meant the practices by which the organization recruits its new employees using different channels to advertize and attract new employees, such as ?intra-corporate transfers?, the services of agencies or agents, headhunting from universities, the Web or social network recruitment (The Danish Immigration Service, 2008: 3: 14). Recruitment strategies and practices are investigated in order to examine whether the migration regulation in Sweden and Denmark affected the diverse recruitment strategies used by the ICT-companies and why. In addition, forms of different types of ?employability? will be analysed in relation to gender, ethnicity and age. Gender is a significant factor in the composition of employees in the ICT-sector, where a large majority are male employees, and female employees are often recruited for their ?soft? skills in communication (Evans, Glover, Guerrier and Wilson, 2007). In addition, ethnicity in the international recruitment is an important factor, since many of the recruited IT-professionals come from India, but they only constitute a small minority of employees in ICT-businesses in Sweden and Denmark. Finally, age is important as the majority of the IT-professionals are young, single males. The study analyses how gender, ethnicity and age are negotiated in the recruitment practices.

Publications

Hviid, Kirsten, Smith, L. Hardman, Frydendall, Karen B. and Flyvholm, Mari-Ann (2013). 'Visibility and Social Recognition as Psychosocial Work Environment Factors among Cleaners in a Multi-Ethnic Workplace Intervention'. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 10, 85-106; doi:10.3390/ijerph 100110085. ISSN 1660-4601. www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph.

Report: 'Det store TTA-projekt. Process-, effekt- og økonomisk evaluering' (2012). Copenhagen: The National Centre of the Workenvironment. ISBN 978-87-7904-246-9. 2012.12.06. http://www.nrcwe.dk.

Hviid, Kirsten, Flyvholm, Mari-Ann (2010). 'Udenlandsk arbejdskraft i Norden' sammenfatning af landerapporter fra forprojektet til Nordisk Ministerråds globaliseringsprojekt. Copenhagen: The Nordic Council of Ministers. ISBN:978-92-893-2153-2. URL: http://www.norden.org/da/publikationer/publikationer/2010-588.

Hviid, Kirsten, Jensen, F. W., Olesen, K. and Flyvholm, Mari-Ann (2010). 'Rekruttering af udenlandsk arbejdskraft: Indvandreres arbejdsmiljø og tilknytning til arbejdsmarkedet i Danmark.' Copenhagen: The Nordic Council of Ministers. URL: http://www.arbejdsmiljoforskning.dk/da/projekter/~/media/Projekter/NMR-Globalisering/DK-Landerapport---NMR-glob

Other Academic Output

Poster-presentation: Visibility and recognition as psychosocial factors in work environment interventions among cleaners with immigrant background. Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark(P). ICOH-WOPS 2010


'Street life versus Youth Clubs- Crime prevention measures in a suburban area of Denmark.' EUCPN Conference, STOCKHOLM 9-10TH December, 2009.

'Challenges at the bottom of Danish Society- Experiences of Irregular PRC Chinese and Ukrainian workers, Social Strategies and Transnational Networks.' 14th. International Metropolis Conference, 14-18th September, 2009.