Finnish Institute of Occupational Health media release 25 September 2025

The growing labour shortage threatening the social welfare and health care sector can be partially counteracted by recruitment of care personnel from abroad. Successfully integrating care personnel recruited from abroad into the work community can involve many kinds of challenges: linguistic, professional and social. A recent study by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health looked for solutions to these challenges. Based on the research results, a practical guide for organizations recruiting personnel from abroad has now been published.

The entire work community supporting the development of language skills

Adequate language skills are a key concern for care personnel recruited from abroad. Therefore, quality targets must be set for language teaching, even as early as when the personnel are provided training in their country of origin. However, that is not enough.

“When recruiting employees from abroad, special attention must be paid to supporting the newcomers’ development of Finnish or Swedish language skills at work. This is also essential from the point of view of employees’ inclusion in the work community, their use and development of professional skills as well as their well-being at work,” says Barbara Bergbom, Chief Specialist at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

The organization can support the development of language skills with language workshops, language courses, language mentors and various ready-made materials, such as vocabularies or instructions in simplified language.

“However, real work-related situations offer a particularly great opportunity to learn the language needed at work. It is essential that the members of the work community have the capacity to operate in a multilingual work community and support the language learner. In addition, the work community should have an encouraging and open-minded attitude towards work-in-progress language skills,” says Bergbom.

Supervisors supporting both the recruited personnel and the work community

Care personnel recruited from abroad need the support of a supervisor in their new circumstances. The work community also needs support, as there is often a need to renew operating methods as the personnel becomes more international and multilingual.
 
“The supervisor should support the work community in the necessary changes, such as the introduction of language-aware operating models. Phrasing and agreeing on common rules clarify the operating methods and help personnel feel committed to adopting new practices. In addition, it is important to promote an inclusive culture and psychological safety,” summarises Researcher Mirkka Vuorento from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

“In the initial phase, some of the work and tasks must be reorganised, for example, with regard to making entries in patient records or providing customer service over the phone. When new care personnel are recruited from abroad, their language skills must be taken into account in the organisation of work and tasks. However, the aim is to develop their language skills to a level that enables them to carry out all the tasks included in their work,” says Vuorento.

The aim should be to ensure that the care personnel are able to make full use of their professional competence. This requires those who have completed a degree or a vocational qualification in nursing outside the EU and the EEA to carry out additional studies and develop sufficient language skills as specified by the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira).

Read the guide (in Finnish)

Further information

Barbara Bergbom, Chief Specialist, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, barbara.bergbom [at] ttl.fi, tel. +358 43 824 3765
Mirkka Vuorento, Researcher, The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, mirkka.vuorento [at] ttl.fi, tel. +358 50 512 6841