Integration at work: Migrant healthcare professionals in two Spanish hospitals

Abstract

Organisations’ logics play a crucial role in the integration of immigrants. This article aims to contribute to the relatively unexplored field of immigrant integration in organisations by analysing the workplace integration of healthcare professionals in two Spanish hospitals. Analysis shows how the lack of an official integration strategy in Spain does not seem to have significantly affected inclusion mechanisms of healthcare migrant workers in two large Spanish hospitals. Organisations’ internal logics indeed represent a relevant variable to understanding the process of integration and how conflicts can be de-escalated in organisations. As interviews reveal, workplace integration is not perceived as a cultural problem to the extent that healthcare professionals adapt to the way of working and establishing relationships in each hospital. Differences among professional categories are more important than ethnic diversity since immigrant integration is considered a question of professional rather than cultural assimilation. Yet, major obstacles to immigrant integration seem to proceed from the existing barriers to permanent employment of third-country nationals and cumbersome administrative procedures for foreign credentials recognition.