Fair Recruitment of Migrant Workers

Why fair recruitment matters

Labour migration is an integral part of global labour market dynamics. While some countries are more affected than others, labour migration affects every country and region of the world. People leave their countries for a variety of reasons, including poverty, lack of economic opportunities, discrimination, conflicts and crises, and climate change. Whatever the migration experience of individuals, data show that the majority of migrants are in fact migrant “workers”, moving from one country to another in search of decent work and income opportunities for themselves and their families. Similarly, employers in destination countries hire migrant workers for a variety of reasons, including shortages of workers with the needed set of skills locally. However, evidence also shows that employers might prefer migrant over national workers because migrant workers tend to be willing to accept lower wages, poorer working conditions, more demanding or overall less attractive jobs, and jobs in isolated and inhospitable locations. This can open the way for unscrupulous actors to engage in abusive practices.

Migrant workers are at particular risk of labour exploitation. In comparison to non-migrant workers, international migrant workers are three times more likely to be in forced labour (based on ILO estimates in 2022). The root causes of these vulnerabilities are often related to unfair recruitment practices that are, among others things, based on false promises about the terms and conditions of employment at destination, charging of exorbitant recruitment fees and related costs to workers which might lead to debt bondage, restriction of workers’ freedom of movement or freedom to change employment, and confiscation of their travel or identify documents. 

The recruitment of workers across borders has become a multi-billion-dollar industry, and one of the least regulated. Labour brokers are directly responsible for ensuring fair recruitment practices, but companies that hire workers through labour brokers have a shared responsibility to ensure compliance with relevant national and international human rights and labour standards throughout the recruitment processes. Whether they recruit directly or through a labour broker, companies’ due diligence obligations in recruitment are of critical importance, in particular if they are recruiting from a region or into a type of occupation where risks of forced labour are known to be high.

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives include overarching objectives about human rights in business, and sub-objectives that break down the objectives into smaller learning steps and apply the insights to the fishing industry.

1. Human rights issues related to migrant labour: Understand how common recruitment practices can lead to systematic human rights risks for migrant workers. Sub-objectives: learn about key global and regional labour migration trends and understand the economic and legal dimensions of labour migration, including the factors leading to vulnerability of migrant workers, to discrimination and to exploitation. 
2. Recruitment practices and challenges: Discuss corporate responsibility for human rights along the global value chain. Sub-objectives: understand the role of recruitment in the context of labour migration and become familiar with different available guidance frameworks, such as the ILO’s general principles and operational guidelines. 
3. Possible management solutions: Reflect on how management must be an important part of providing holistic solutions. Sub-objectives: be able to explain why fair recruitment is important to business and develop concrete business solutions related to the fair recruitment of workers.

How the teaching resource is structured and how to use it

This resource focuses on fair recruitment of migrant workers, providing an overview of common recruitment practices, data about the characteristics and trends of labour migration, information on common challenges that workers face and the drivers of these challenges. The document presents examples from practice from different sectors, industries and guidance documents for businesses (including recruitment businesses) as well as advice for contextualizing the learning experience to different audiences. 

The session outline starts with an introduction to set the stage, depending on, e.g., the course, level, and country in which the resource is used (Unit 0), followed by three main units that introduce labour migration trends and main issues (Unit 1), zoom in on recruitment practices and challenges (Unit 2), and address possible management solutions (Unit 3).

The resource is tailored to be taught during one session of a 2-to-3-hour duration but can be customized to different formats.

The teaching resource consists of core documents, background material, and examples of teaching experiences. The core documents include a standard session outline and presentation slides. The background material includes reports and media sources that can be assigned to students. The teaching experiences document adaptations of the teaching resource by business school lecturers from different countries and disciplines.

Standard slide deck and teaching notes

Background Material

General:

• ILO Frequently Asked Questions on Fair Recruitment.
• ILO (2019). General principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment and definition of recruitment fees and related costs.
  • Overview of relevant definitions and key principles of fair recruitment.
• ILO Fair recruitment hub.
  • Knowledge hub with thematic contributions on examples of good recruitment practices, effective labor inspection, and capacity-building.
• Fair recruitment due diligence toolkit.
  • A step-by-step guide for businesses on how to ensure fair recruitment of migrant workers, developed by the ILO and commissioned by the EU.
• Establishing Fair Recruitment Processes.
  • An ILO online training toolkit available in English, Spanish and French (as an interactive self-learning tool or as PDF).
• ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative Strategy 2021-2025. Taking stock, moving forward.
• ILO Global database on fair recruitment.
  • Definition of fees and related costs in national laws and policies.

Regional Material:

• Baltic Sea.
  • Guidelines to prevent abusive recruitment, exploitative employment and trafficking of migrant workers in the Baltic Sea region (Liliana Sorrentino and Anniina Jokinen, 2014).

Studies on progress and case studies:

• Global study on recruitment fees and related costs.
  • A comparative study covering laws and policies of 90 countries, as well as bilateral labour agreements and multi-stakeholder initiatives.
• ILO Infostory.
  • Ensuring fair recruitment, what the ILO has achieved.
• Promising practices on fair recruitment.
  • A selection of relevant practices brief descriptions.
• Case study on the impact of Covid-19.
  • Locked down and in limbo. The global impact of COVID-19 on migrant worker rights and recruitment.
• NYU Stern (2017) – Making Workers Pay.
  • Report on recruitment-related costs for migrant workers in the Gulf constructions industry.

Relevant Video Materials:

• Definition of recruitment fees and related costs.
• A guide to fair recruitment of migrant labour.
• Guidelines for fair recruitment of migrant labour – Governments.
• Guidelines for fair recruitment of migrant labour – Enterprises.
• Guidelines for fair recruitment of migrant labour – Trade Unions.
• Making Fair Recruitment a Reality.
• Lured by a job, trapped in forced labour.

Teaching Experiences

Feedback and Questions

Are you looking for an expert to join your class as a guest speaker? Did you use the teaching tool and would like to share your experiences and/or materials? Do you have feedback or questions? 

Feel free to reach out to Julianna LaBelle, bhr@gbsn.org