Not a 9-5: Examining the Care Labor of Workers In Toronto’s Immigrant and Refugee-Serving Sector through the Lens of Clock & Process Time

Background and Purpose: The neoliberal system privileges clock time, which is linear, regimented, and judges individuals’ productivity by how much of their time is spent accumulating capital. However, clock time does not account for the provision of care and nor does it see this labor as productive. Care is better characterized by process time, which recognizes that time is enmeshed in social relations and caring for others is nonlinear and unpredictable. Scholars have examined the tensions between clock time and process time regarding unpaid care work and paid care work in day cares, which have contributed to the devaluation of this labor. This negatively impacts those performing care, who are disproportionately women. However, this analytic frame is rarely extended to ‘non-traditional’ care fields, such as social service provision. This paper examines findings from a qualitative dissertation project with women frontline workers in Toronto’s immigrant and refugee-serving sector, who are important to Canada’s social and economic development. It explores how the clock time and process time tension is also apparent in their work.

Methods: This paper draws on data collected via semi-structured interviews. Thirteen participants were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling. All were either first- or second-generation immigrant women of color. The interview protocol included questions regarding their immigration trajectories, their experiences with employment in Canada and/or countries of origin, and how they made sense of their current jobs, their working conditions, and Canada’s immigration regime. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded on Dedoose, and analyzed using thematic analysis and grounded theory.

Findings: Participants themselves described their labor as care, noting that it required empathy and engaging relationally with clients to create an environment of trust, safety, and comfort. They also emphasized the mental load of this work, which often necessitated they go above and beyond because they felt a moral responsibility to fill the gaps within Canada’s immigration infrastructure. To do their jobs well, participants had to predict and anticipate clients’ ever-changing needs, keep extensive documentation of client interactions, frequently conduct check-ins, and provide socioemotional support as clients navigated a system built on uncertainty. They regularly performed this labor outside typical working hours. However, despite being essential to positive client outcomes, participants’ labor went unacknowledged, exemplified by underfunding and strained capacities.

Implications: These findings draw attention to the ways that participants working in the immigrant and refugee-serving sector performed care labor daily for their clients. Yet, because of the state’s emphasis on clock time in the workplace and the devaluation of their labor, they experienced accelerated burnout, which ultimately has repercussions for their well-being and the overall success of newcomer integration.