Irish companies are not hiring foreign workers just to bring down costs, but because foreign nationals are often more reliable and enthusiastic than their Irish counterparts, a new survey has shown.
Only 16 per cent of human resources managers at 152 companies polled for law firm BCM Hanby Wallace said lower costs were a factor in employing workers from the 10 EU accession states.
The survey was published in Dublin yesterday at an employment conference aimed at addressing the opportunities and challenges arising from the influx of foreign workers to Ireland.
More than 40 per cent of companies said the main reason for taking on foreign workers was because they weren't receiving job applications from Irish people.
However, 30 per cent of respondents said foreign nationals were more reliable and more interested in their job than Irish employees.
Overall, more than three-quarters of the companies surveyed described their experience with foreign workers as "positive." Some 57 per cent of them plan to hire more foreign nationals in the year ahead.
The survey follows a report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) that found no significant evidence of displacement of Irish workers since the EU expanded two years ago.
The ESRI warned, however, that displacement has the potential to become a significant issue if the social partners and the Government did not agree some new measures, such as the protection of workers' rights, strengthening of the Labour Inspectorate and extending collective agreements.
Employers, too, need to adapt their behaviour and standards within the workplace to meet the needs of employees from different religions and races, according to Gary Byrne, managing partner at BCM Hanby Wallace.
"Many employers take active steps to ensure there is not direct discrimination. Indirect discrimination, however, is more difficult to anticipate in many cases," Mr Byrne said.
He pointed to a recent decision by the Labour Court in favour of a claim from a Nigerian employee on the grounds of race.
The employee, who had lived in Ireland since 1999, was dismissed by an undisclosed company for alleged theft. During the case, evidence was given that it was the employer's policy to prohibit staff from speaking in a language other than English while at work.
"The company introduced a rule in good faith and with the best of intentions but it turned out to be an example of indirect discrimination against employees whose first language is not English," Mr Byrne said.
