ABSTRACT
Care workers’ well-being and working conditions start with the agencies’ prearrangements with the households. Some of the care agencies stipulate certain minimum requirements in a household before care recipients and their family members can start a care arrangement. How care agents support care workers depends also on their understanding of space, whether they perceive the household as a bounded space or consider its wider environment. Some of the interviewed care agents were very much aware of the fact that many care workers feel socially isolated at their places of work. Many of the care agents stressed that care workers needed to maintain strong connections to their own households and hometowns. The chapter describes how some of the interviewed care workers postpone or set aside their own needs by putting the well-being of care recipients first and by adapting to their habits. Care workers support each other not only in case of difficulties with care work but also at home.
