On 21.10.2022  the Kick-off meeting of the Grant Project “Postcare 2.0: Informing the Care Services Workers on Posting Rules” was held. This meeting was organized in an online format and all project partners attended the very  event.

The meeting was opened by Prof. Grażyna Spytek-Bandurska, a representative of the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs – project beneficiary, and after welcoming and presenting themselves and the project, the participants were asked to make a short presentation of the organizations and their institutions. The project consortium is composed of organisations from 5 EU Member States (Poland, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands, Lithuania) and 1 Candidate Country (Serbia), bringing together Partners from both sending and receiving countries in terms of the flows of the posted workers.

After their introduction, the project expert, Dr. Marek Benio, Vice-President of the European Labour Mobility Institute (ELMI) presented the project, its milestones, deadlines, surveys, and events that will happen in the upcoming period.

Dr. Benio, who then presided over the meeting, underlined that the Project will be complementary to the recently-completed EU-funded project entitled: “POSTCARE. Posting of third country nationals in care services – the current state of play and scenarios for the future” (POSTCARE 1.0.). He recalled that the POSTCARE 2.0. is a research project aimed at building evidence basis. The new project uses the findings of the research and the knowledge produced to inform the workers (third-country nationals employed in one EU countries and posted to work in other EU Member State (for example Germany) and employers posting third-country nationals on the conditions of posting. The POSTCARE 2.0 will build on the findings of the POSTCARE 1.0. and aim at providing information to the posted workers on the rules of posting in the live-in care services, where undoubtedly the need for such information has not yet been fulfilled.
After the break, there was Q&A time where the expert answered to questions of the participants. Most commune questions were about next project activities, including the Online International Working Meeting as well as the establishment of the Online Information Centres. The former, aimed at developing the rules of work, objectives, code of conduct and overall operability of the information centres to be set up further on, will commence with a session aimed at building a bridge with the findings of the research of the POSTCARE 1.0 project. Participants discussed how to best carry it out to obtain the best possible outcome and build the momentum for further work during the Project. The other most commented topic was indeed the issue of the formation of the Online Information Centres. Given that Project development provides for case studies dealt with by specific advisers, recommendations and solutions presented by these advisers to the workers and employers are to be presented via the Online Information Platform, the Participants discussed the modalities of both sourcing and presenting such information to the audiences and how to best reach them. At the end of the meeting, when all was summarized, the project beneficiary thanked everyone for the productive and good meeting, and wished the best to the participants.

On 23 January 2023, the first Online Information Exchange Meeting took place as part of the Grant Project “Postcare 2.0: Informing the Care Services Workers on Posting Rules.” The meeting was held online and attended by Advisors and two representatives from each Partner. The objective was to develop rules, objectives, and a code of conduct for Information Centres related to posting workers.

The meeting began with a session linking the findings of the previous POSTCARE 1.0 Project and aimed to create synergy, share information about EU law implementation, and influence the development of Information Centres for posting. Dr. Marek Benio presented the legal framework for hiring and posting third-country nationals in Live-in Care Services, emphasizing the complementarity of POSTCARE 2.0 with POSTCARE 1.0 and addressing new issues like Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on working conditions.

The exchange focused on resolving emerging issues for the Online Information Centres, which were to be operational in various Partner Countries. Ideas were shared about providing advice to workers and posting entrepreneurs through online communication channels like Zoom, Skype, and social media.

The meeting also discussed Ukrainian citizens residing and being posted from Partner Countries, with data showing significant numbers in Poland and the Netherlands. Additionally, Dr. Benio extended an invitation to all Participants to participate in the European Labour Mobility Congress 2023, where a panel would cover the topics addressed in the POSTCARE 2.0 Project.

The meeting concluded with expressions of gratitude and well-wishes from Prof. Grażyna Spytek-Bandurska and Dr. Marek Benio to all Participants and the Organizing Team.

On 31 March 2023, the Online Information Exchange Meeting was held within the framework of the Grant Project “Postcare 2.0: Informing the Care Services Workers on Posting Rules”. The overall aim of such Online International Meetings, as described in the Project’s Concept Note, has been to develop the rules of work, objectives and code of conduct for the Online Information Centres. They were to build energy effects, share the information about the implementation of the EU law, influence the work of the above-mentioned Online Information Centres, build capacities of trade unions and employers, providing the relevant information to third-country nationals, the initiatives held by the Info Centres etc. The very events were meant to be devoted to the international exchange of ideas, and viewpoints on the work being done by the Advisers’, the problems faced by the posted workers and relevant employers posting workers. Meetings were meant to be interactive and everybody was to be able to speak out their opinion, structure the discussion and take part therein. The events were not meant to be strictly instructive but rather participative by means of e.g. breakout sessions, brainstorming activities, group discussions, etc. The participants were meant to deliberate on the key issues facing e.g. the third-country posted workers in care sector as well as the issues of the very sector in general, as well as topics related to the better application of the Posting of Workers Directive (PWD) at the national level.
The very meeting embraced all the above-mentioned requirements. It was organized in an online format and it lasted one day. 2 representatives per Partner as well as the Advisors took part therein. The meeting was divided into two parts (Part I – internal – from 10:00 to 12:00 and the Part II – external – from 12:30 to 14:00). The second part of the meeting also constituted the Online Informative Seminar (ELMC Warm-up discussion) – organized for social partners (workers’ and employers’ representatives) and public authorities as per the Grant’s Application.
The event unfolded as follows:
The meeting was opened by Prof. Grażyna Spytek-Bandurska, a representative of the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs – Project Beneficiary. The initial opening was followed by the Part I of the meeting. During that Part, each Partner briefly presented (10 minutes) the first impressions / last obstacles concerning the functioning of the Online Information Centers. The following issues were tackled: practical obstacles (including the format of the Centres), best practices (inter alia – the manner of dealing with persons asking their questions), channels of communication to be used, types of questions, etc.
Following the break, time came for the Part II of the meeting. It consisted of a discussion panel moderated by Dr. Marek Benio with two experienced Guest Speakers: Mrs. Iwona Przybyło and Mrs. Bożena Adamczyk (who superseded the previously-announced Mr. Tomasz Piłat of the Polish Association of Home Care Providers [PSOD], unable to make it to the meeting for professional purposes). What was particularly interesting and practically very useful for the numerous participants of this part of the meeting was the fact that both Guest Speakers are extremely experienced in their respective fields – Mrs. I. Przybyło as a registered nurse and a mentor for live-in caregivers posted from Poland to Germany as well as a speaker at numerous industry conferences (she represented Caregivers’ Academy [Akademia Opiekunek] organization) and Mrs. B. Adamczyk – a Polish entrepreneurs posting live-in caregivers and herself also a live-in caregiver being posted when a situation demands it. Both Guest Speakers talked first at lenght about their practical experiences and then developed arguments concerning the preannounced topics for discussion. Therefore their interventions centred on quality of live-in care services (as seen from the standpoint of all actors across the live-in care spectrum – especially from the perspective of caregivers, families of the persons taken care of and those persons themselves), training (and how it could / should be carried out to be actually effective for the future good quality live-in care services). Then the speeches of both experts tackled the sensitive issues of matching live-in care needs with skills, recruitment, as well as the staff turnover (which may be seen as one of the major challenges for the future of the industry, also when it comes to posting third-country nationals in live-in care).
As expected, the very interactive interventions were puntuated by very many questions from participants and the intense discussion and exchange of views lasted to the very end of available time. The debate was streamed to a wider audience including participants of the European Labour Mobility Congress in Krakow, as one of the objectives of the POSTCARE 2.0 Grant Project was to blend the subject of our Project with the agenda of the ELMC in Krakow on 24-25th April 2023 to create futher grounds for exchange of experiences, building capacities and furthering knowledge and information within the sector of live-in care services concerning the posting rules and their practical and relevant usage.
Then the Partners confirmed their commitments concerning the Online Information Centres (and their operations in Poland, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Serbia) as well as the Recommendations and Solutions to be presented by the advisers to the workers and posting entrepreneurs would be presented via the Online Information Platform and the Report on the Info Centers’ Activities.
Last, but not least, Dr. M. Benio invited again all Participants to take part in the European Labour Mobility Congress 2023 – the biggest event on posting of workers in Europe. Dr. Benio recalled everybody that one Panel within the Congress would be dedicated precisely to the issues covered by the POSTCARE 2.0 Project, making it extremely relevant for all interested participants and the useful exercise for the purposes of the very Project.
In the absence of futher issues and given that the Meeting agenda was duly covered, Prof. G. Spytek-Bandurska and Dr. M. Benio thanked everyone for the meeting and adjourned it.

The representative of the project beneficiary organization (Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs), took the floor in order to present the agenda of the meeting. There was presented the project progress as well as all participants presented themselves.

Afterwards, next on the agenda was Tour de table on the topics of the national POSTCARE Info Labs – information, clarification of doubts. It was a great session because the partners could present the Info Labs experiences; those who have not organized them yet and had some doubts- also could meet the clarifications. Some of the partners requested that the Info Lab days to be organized in face to face and to be properly documented with List of attendance and photos, as well as hybrid. The partners who have organized the Info Lab days have shared the main topics they have faced regarding the posted workers in the care sector. Therefore, during the whole duration of the meeting there were breakout sessions, brainstorming and group discussions.

This meeting was as a hub milestone for getting information how to further proceed, what activities shall be done and in what timeframe.

Preparation of a national report and recommendations and solutions documents have been clarified what is expected to be offered, and the guidelines for them have been presented. Also the partners were informed about the video that have to be prepared, as well as the 3 fiches and General report of the OIC work in all partner countries.