Migration Intermediaries and Codes of Conduct: Temporary Migrant Workers in Australian Horticulture

Over recent decades, developments in network governance have seen governments around the world cede considerable authority and responsibility to commercial migration intermediaries for recruiting and managing temporary migrant labour. Correspondingly, a by-product of network governance has been the emergence of soft employment regulation in which voluntary codes of conduct supplement hard (enforceable) legal employment standards. This paper explores these developments in the context of temporary migrant workers employed in Australian horticulture. First the paper analyses the growing use of temporary migrant labour in this industry. It then describes how different types of intermediaries interact with this workforce. The paper then outlines both hard and soft employment regulations, and contrasts them with actual employment conditions, questioning how a network governance approach has affected this vulnerable workforce. The paper concludes that changes in network governance of migration and employment relations have emasculated formal legal regulation, leaving market forces to operate without effective or ethical constraints at the expense of the public good.     

Capitalizing on the cultural and linguistic diversity of mobile talent: lessons from an Australian study

Abstract

To date, acknowledgement of where culturally and linguistically diverse talent is located in organizations has been largely neglected in scholarship, policy and practice. As such, we have limited understanding of whether or not we are ‘capitalizing’ on the capabilities of culturally and linguistically diverse workers and, the implications of not doing so. Accordingly, the paper sheds light on the cultural and linguistic diversity (CALD) of the talent pipeline and senior leadership suite in multinational professional services firms located in Australia by surveying over 4000 staff members. The paper presents how we identify, measure and evaluate CALD in a meaningful way by drawing on insights offered by talent management and diversity management researchers, which informs the development of a unique methodological tool to survey respondents. As such, in addition to the empirical contribution, the paper also contributes to a broad field of scholarship while signalling lessons for senior managers and policy-makers.