An Employer Sui Generis: How Placement Agencies are Changing
the Nature of Paid Childcare in the Czech Republic

C 2015

An Employer Sui Generis: How Placement Agencies are Changing the Nature of Paid Childcare in the Czech Republic

SOURALOVÁ, Adéla

Basic information

Original name

An Employer Sui Generis: How Placement Agencies are Changing the Nature of Paid Childcare in the Czech Republic

Name in Czech

Zaměstnavatel Sui Generis: Jak agentury na hlídání dětí mění povahu péče o děti v České republice

Authors

SOURALOVÁ, Adéla (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

1. vyd. Farnham, Employers, Agencies and Immigration: Paying for Care, p. 151-167, 17 pp. Research in Migration and Ethnic Relations Series, 2015

Publisher

Ashgate

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Kapitola resp. kapitoly v odborné knize

Field of Study

50402 Demography

Country of publisher

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Publication form

electronic version available online

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14230/15:00082199

Organization unit

Faculty of Social Studies

ISBN

978-1-4724-3322-0

UT WoS

000370631300009

Keywords (in Czech)

péče o děti agentury komodifikace

Keywords in English

childcare agencies commodification

Abstract

ORIG CZ

V originále

This chapter deals with a newly emerging actor in the paid childcare market in Czech Republic: care placement agencies that employ nannies in order to offer caregiving services to their customers (children’s parents). Drawing upon qualitative interviews with owners of agencies and the analysis of their web profiles, this chapter focuses on a double process of commodification of childcare which takes place along with the “selling” of the particular type of nanny to customers. I argue that in so doing, the agencies offer a working relationship which is different from the more widespread direct relationship between employer and employee, in addition to offering a different kind of care. The agencies are the employers of the nannies and from them the customers buy the care giving service. It is thus not only a matter of intermediation: over the course of the whole service provision the nanny is an employee of the agency, paid by the agency with money received by the customers. This logic of employment guarantees to customers that they are buying a “professional” service. Consequently, parents no longer look directly for a nanny; instead they look for an agency from which they can buy the services of the desired nanny. In this way, the traditionally two-sided employer-employee relationship is replaced by three-sided cooperation between customers, expert employers, and employees. It also transforms the trust which is present in the relationship: it is not the individual nanny who is trusted by customers, but the agency and its expert knowledge which makes the service trustworthy, reliable, and attractive (despite the cost) for particular customers. Paid childcare is transformed from an intimate activity into a relatively rigid sequence of tasks that are defined by the expert knowledge and carried out by professionals. Care placement agencies convert paid childcare into work on the side of the nannies, and into a qualified service to be purchased on the side of customers.

In Czech

Kapitola se věnuje agenturám na hlídání dětí v České republice. Vychází z rozhovorů s majitelkami agentur a sleduje, jak se v jejich prostředí definuje péče o děti jako služba, kterou si mohou potenciální zákazníci a zákaznice zakoupit. Agentury "prodávají" určitý typ chůvy, spíše než partikulární jednotlivkyně. Tím prezentují své služby jako profesionální a kvalifikované. Tradiční vztah placené péče vznikající mezi dvěma stranami (zaměstnankyně-zaměstnavatelka) je nahrazen třístranným vztahem mezi klienty, expertními zaměstnavatelkami a zaměstnankyněmi.

Citovat

SOURALOVÁ, Adéla. An Employer Sui Generis: How Placement Agencies are Changing the Nature of Paid Childcare in the Czech Republic. Online. In Anna Triandafyllidou, Sabrina Marchetti. Employers, Agencies and Immigration: Paying for Care. 1st ed. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015, p. 151-167. Research in Migration and Ethnic Relations Series. ISBN 978-1-4724-3322-0.

@inbook{1214378,
   author = {Souralová, Adéla},
   address = {Farnham},
   booktitle = {Employers, Agencies and Immigration: Paying for Care},
   edition = {1.},
   editor = {Anna Triandafyllidou, Sabrina Marchetti},
   keywords = {childcare agencies commodification},
   howpublished = {elektronická verze "online"},
   language = {eng},
   location = {Farnham},
   isbn = {978-1-4724-3322-0},
   pages = {151-167},
   publisher = {Ashgate},
   title = {An Employer Sui Generis: How Placement Agencies are Changing the Nature of Paid Childcare in the Czech Republic},
   year = {2015}
}

TY  - CHAP
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AU  - Souralová, Adéla
PY  - 2015
TI  - An Employer Sui Generis: How Placement Agencies are Changing the Nature of Paid Childcare in the Czech Republic
VL  - Research in Migration and Ethnic Relations Series
PB  - Ashgate
CY  - Farnham
SN  - 9781472433220
KW  - childcare agencies commodification
N2  - This chapter deals with a newly emerging actor in the paid childcare market in Czech Republic: care placement agencies that employ nannies in order to offer caregiving services to their customers (children’s parents). Drawing upon qualitative interviews with owners of agencies and the analysis of their web profiles, this chapter focuses on a double process of commodification of childcare which takes place along with the “selling” of the particular type of nanny to customers. I argue that in so doing, the agencies offer a working relationship which is different from the more widespread direct relationship between employer and employee, in addition to offering a different kind of care. The agencies are the employers of the nannies and from them the customers buy the care giving service. It is thus not only a matter of intermediation: over the course of the whole service provision the nanny is an employee of the agency, paid by the agency with money received by the customers. This logic of employment guarantees to customers that they are buying a “professional” service. Consequently, parents no longer look directly for a nanny; instead they look for an agency from which they can buy the services of the desired nanny. In this way, the traditionally two-sided employer-employee relationship is replaced by three-sided cooperation between customers, expert employers, and employees. It also transforms the trust which is present in the relationship: it is not the individual nanny who is trusted by customers, but the agency and its expert knowledge which makes the service trustworthy, reliable, and attractive (despite the cost) for particular customers. Paid childcare is transformed from an intimate activity into a relatively rigid sequence of tasks that are defined by the expert knowledge and carried out by professionals. Care placement agencies convert paid childcare into work on the side of the nannies, and into a qualified service to be purchased on the side of customers.
ER  -

SOURALOVÁ, Adéla. An Employer Sui Generis: How Placement Agencies are Changing the Nature of Paid Childcare in the Czech Republic. Online. In Anna Triandafyllidou, Sabrina Marchetti. \textit{Employers, Agencies and Immigration: Paying for Care}. 1st ed. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015, p.~151-167. Research in Migration and Ethnic Relations Series. ISBN~978-1-4724-3322-0.

Detailed Information on Publication Record