"Friend-ish": home care workers, ‘social labour’ and managing the boundaries of the carer relationship

A rise in services sector employment has led to increased attention on the myriad forms of labour workers must enact as part of their jobs. In this study, we extend prior studies to develop the concept of ‘social labour,’ whereby home care support workers—as an example of an increasingly large part of the services economy—need to actively manage the relationship boundary between the professional services they perform and the personal relationships that may develop. This is especially likely given repeated interactions between the workers and the clients, and the commodification of the ‘loving care’ that the aged care sector emphasises as a value-add of their services. Drawing on interviews with fifty older adult consumers, we find that home care support workers need to engage in social labour through 1) following the lead of clients who set out the terms of the relationship and the degree of sociality, 2) managing the potential dual role of a ‘support worker’ and a ‘friend’, and 3) meeting the social needs of clients vulnerable to isolation, as well as attending to clients at vulnerable times. Our findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between care workers and consumers, and the negotiation of the professional role that care workers must engage in as an additional aspect of their employment. As Australian Government programs and the community care sector increasingly acknowledge the value of social support and companionship, greater attention is needed to this aspect of employment of care work, with its attendant implications for both workers and clients