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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Feb 19.
Published in final edited form as: Labour. 2016 Spring;77:37–71. doi: 10.1353/llt.2016.0029

Table V. Work Organization Observed at Sites.

Canada Germany Norway
Ontario British Columbia Manitoba North Rhine/Westphalia Oslo & Bergen
Task Oriented / Relational Highly task oriented & Strict division of labour Task oriented & Strict division of labour Task oriented with relational elements Relational and team oriented care Relational and team oriented care
Health, Social and Dietary Care:

  • Separated

  • Mixed

  • Integrated

 Separated: Minimum number of dietary staff is mandated. Work generally involves delivering food to unit, setting tables, doling food onto plates and washing dishes after the meal is complete. Separate activities with little or no time for care aides to perform this work. Separated: Food service employees perform food delivery and provision duties. Separate activities coordinator, with care aides having little or no time for social care. Mixed: Workers perform a variety of duties that don’t conform to strict categories but there are still divisions of labour between professional and non-professional staff. Integrated: Unit level care workers plan, organize and cook the meals and assist residents with eating, and perform social care during the day in addition to scheduled activities. Integrated: Unit level care workers plan, organize and cook the meals and assist residents with eating and perform social care during the day in addition to scheduled activities.
Responses to needs of residents Reactive, under-staffed and focused on completing individual tasks; frantic work pace. Reactive, under-staffed and focused on meeting individual tasks; frantic work pace. At times reactive due to less than optimal staffing but also responsive to the needs of residents in that the work is shared and more relational than in homes with a strict division of labour Resistive to austerity controls by having many apprentices and government sponsored welfare/work jobs and thus many more people to provide care. Diligent but calm work pace. Enough staff to be Responsive to the needs of the residents and a diligent but calm work pace.