Background information Recruitment and Retention issue has been part of HOSPEEM and EPSU work programme since the early stages of the hospital social dialogue committee; In 2006 HOSPEEM and EPSU agreed to work on Recruitment and Retention “identifying common position for cross-border recruitment of hospital personnel” (EPSU-HOSPEEM work programme ); The European Social Partners set up a working group on this issue in December

Code of Conduct on Ethical Cross-Border Recruitment HOSPEEM and EPSU signed the Code of Conduct on Ethical Recruitment on 7th April 2008 (World Health Day): To be followed-up and implemented by HOSPEEM and EPSU members within 3 years Twelve key principles and commitments: High quality healthcare, accessible for all people in the EU Registration and data collection Workforce planning Equal access to training and career development Open and transparent information about hospital vacancies across the EU Fair and transparent contracting Registration, permits and recognition of qualifications Proper induction, housing and standards of living Equal rights and non-discrimination Promoting ethical recruitment practices Freedom of association Implementation, monitoring and follow up 3

JOINT EVALUATION REPORT on use of instrument by Social Partners in the EU27, adopted on 5 September replies to questionnaire from 14 MS 8 Social Partners have made use of the Code NL: Employers’ and Trade Unions’ joint report on use and implementation UK: Code of Conduct for cross-border recruitments (2004), (seven guiding principles + best practice benchmarks for recruitment agencies) Dissemination and implementation thanks to: – Translation – Joint Steering Committees – Seminars or meetings with members of trade unions and employers organisations, public authorities at national and local level – Internet, user guide and other forms of assistance 4

To note: The CoC can be a useful tool for both sending and receiving countries Why did employers and/or trade unions not make use of the CoC? Prolonged freeze of collective agreements No cross-border recruitment in the country, i.e. no immigration (of any quantitative importance at least) Lack of formally agreed translation of CoC Other priorities 5

Social partners’ perspective With regard to cross-border recruitment and retention Issues : Tackling present and future shortages of healthcare professionals. In specific areas significant dependence on migrants workers Recognition of professional qualifications For emigration countries: attractiveness of national labour market to increase retention of skilled staff Role of Social Partners as gatekeepers for ethical recruitment Challenges: Making the best use of limited financial resources. Better use of national workforce resources Improved and easier cross-border recognition of professional qualifications Induction and efficient use of migrant health workers (language skills, training). Need for language training as a precondition for migrant healthcare workers to start working Increasing the representation of migrant workers (i.e. by TU membership) For emigration countries: urgent need to improve working conditions, convergence of wages towards EU average, improvement of the quality of public services 6

Implementation in the Netherlands Results: Principles integrated in collective agreement Code of conduct and evaluation grid accessible to stakeholders in Dutch and English and posted on the StAZ website Clear overview of measures/gaps in relation to the implementation of Code of Conduct Certification scheme and agreement on black list of recruitment agencies not complying with ethical recruitment practices and publication on StAZ website Long term objective: database for comparable data and information on migration and migrant health workers Steps taken: Issue taken up as important by StAZ Board and referred to the special StAZ Europe working group Translation of the Code of Conduct in Dutch for accessibility of stakeholders Meetings especially dedicated to the Code of Conduct Evaluation of the code of conduct in light of legislation and initiatives by Dutch authorities, agreements between special partners and initiatives taken by social partners 7

Thank you for your attention! For more information on HOSPEEM and EPSU and on outcomes of the SSDC HS referred to in presentation: CoC ECBR (2008): hospeem-epsu-code-of-conduct/ Joint Evaluation Report: 8