Being a new immigrant or a refugee was noted as a challenge by our participants – largely because it translated into a lack of Canadian experience to employers. Regardless of the type of care setting in which they work, the immigrant care workers in our study describe how they are working more than one job due to lack of full time work provided by employers, and how they feel isolated at work because they are so busy. Despite a generally good rapport between the workers and their employers, some immigrant care workers feel that they are assigned heavier workloads by their employers because they are immigrants. Most of the interviewees report that their relationship with Canadian as well as with other immigrant co-workers is similarly good, but some note that their Canadian co-workers tend to complain about their language challenges in particular, their accent. Some setting specific concerns include how homecare workers report that they are often asked by the employers or their families to do additional work not included in their job contracts. Similarly, live-in caregivers report how they are often expected to be available at all times because of their live-in status. Indeed, the effect of immigration status on employment opportunities and conditions was particularly important in the case of live-in-caregivers because they are restricted from working for another employer than the one who sponsored them.

Because immigrant care workers have taken on more than one job to make ends meet, they were placed in a position to be able to compare the work across settings. The majority of the respondents feel that nursing homes are more demanding work places than home care, hospitals or retirement homes due to heavier work load, more difficult patient conditions and an overall shortage of staff and supplies. Most felt that this had important implications for quality of care (discussed below).

The findings of this study also show that immigrant care workers in long-term and homecare settings experience a high level of isolation both at home and work. They do not socialize during their breaks at work mostly due to the lack of time and organization of staff in LTC settings. They have a few friends, mainly from their native countries, but they do not see them very often due to busy schedules. Integration services do not play a big role in lives of this group of workers - they are used largely when they need a more technical kind of help (for translation of papers, for instance). In the case of more complex life issues, the workers rely on help of family, friends and sometimes ethnic organizations.