Trots många års larmande av den rådande arbetsmiljön för socialarbetare har inte kommunerna agerat tillräckligt, vilket har lett till svårigheter att rekrytera och få personal att stanna kvar i socialtjänsten. Detta har bidragit till att konsulter inom socialtjänsten har ökat markant de senaste åren. Den här studien handlar om konsulters erfarenheter av sina nya arbetsvillkor då de valt att stanna kvar och arbeta i socialtjänsten inom Individ- och familjeomsorg (IFO). Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om vilka positiva och negativa faktorer som konsulter erfar med sina villkor i sitt arbete. Vi har utgått från en kvalitativ design och gjort semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex konsulter. De teoretiska analysverktyg vi använt oss av är rollteori, organisationsteori samt push-and-pull modellen. Dessa analysverktyg ger olika synvinklar på konsulters villkor inom IFO och lyfter fram olika faktorer i deras arbetsvillkor samt förklarar hur det är att stå utanför socialtjänsten som organisation samtidigt som de arbetar i den. I studien har vi kommit fram till att konsulternas förändring ger både positiva och negativa erfarenheter i deras arbetsvillkor som konsulter i IFO. Positiva faktorer som konsulterna erfor i sina arbetsvillkor var: Den ökade lönen, tidsbegränsningen i uppdraget, den minskade tid för antalet obligatoriska möten som genererade i ökad tid till klientarbete. De erfor mer självständighet och personlig utveckling. Det dubbla chefskapet från arbetsplatsen och konsultbolaget kunde upplevas positivt med exempelvis uppskattning och stöd i gränssättning av arbetsmängden från konsultchefen. De negativa faktorerna som konsulterna kunde uppleva i deras arbetsvillkor var ensamarbete och för höga förväntningar på prestation samt att konsulterna fick en mindre påverkningsmöjligheter i organisationen. Vi tolkade även att det kunde bli en större anpassning från konsulten till hur chefen vill att arbetet ska utföras. / Despite many years of alarming environment within the current workplace of social workers the municipalities have still not acted accordingly, which have caused hardship in recruiting as well as keeping people in the social services. This has also lead towards a large growth of consultants within the social services under the last few years. This study is about consultant’s experiences of their new work conditions when they have chosen to stay within the Individual- and family care sector (IFO). The purpose of the study is to further increase the knowledge of which negative and positive aspects consultants experience within their work conditions. We have worked with a qualitative design and made semiconstructed interviews with six different consultants. The theoretical analysis tools we have used during this study is roll theory, organization theory and the push-and-pull model. These analysis tools give different viewpoints of consultant’s conditions within IFO and brings forward the factors in these conditions, as well as describes how it can be to stand on the outside of the social services as an organization but at the same time work in it. We have concluded that these changes have caused both positive and negative experiences in consultants work conditions within the IFO. The positive factors that the consultants described were: Increased pay, limits in the assignment, the reduced time for obligatory meetings which resulted in more time for client based work as well as feeling more of a personal development. Having two employers was described as being positive with examples as appreciation and support in setting limits for a reasonable amount of work from the consulting firm. The negative aspects we found that the consultants could experience was feelings of working alone and expectations on high performance as well as having less influence in the organization overall. We concluded that the consultant was more influenced by their employers in how their work should be performed.   Keyword: consultant, social worker, profession, social service, roll theory, organisation theory, push-and-pull-model.

In the autumn of 2015 one of the largest waves of refugees ever occurred in Europe. Sweden was the country that received the second highest number of refugees, which led to significant changes in Swedish refugee policy as an effort to reduce the number. This highlighted an issue; Has Sweden become less attractive as a country to immigrate to? The thesis analyses whether Sweden has potentially become less attractive as a country to seek refuge in after the implementation of the stricter refugee policy in 2015. This case study uses a theory-consuming research design and a qualitative content analysis as a method. The analytical model used in the study is the push and pull model, as this model in connection with the empirical material deals with how Sweden's changed refugee policy influences the Swedish pull factors. This qualitative study shows that the changes in the refugee policy does not affect the incentive structure much as only two pull factors, social rights and political stability, are affected by the changes in refugee policy.