The Irish workplace has changed dramatically over the last decade, becoming increasingly intercultural. Skills shortages in many sectors caused may Irish employers to recruit from abroad. Though the access to work permits and visas has recently been curbed, the Irish workplace is set to remain marked by its wealth of cultural diversity.

While efforts have mainly concentrated on recruiting workers from various parts of the globe to fill the Irish labour shortage, less attention has been paid to appropriate workplace regulations for these workers and their Irish colleagues. Cultural diversity is not generally welcomed as a positive development by all sectors of the population with renewed calls for a body to deal with racism made recently (Irish Times, 19/3/2003). Racism is reflected in the workplace, thus requiring anti-racist and cultural awareness initiatives for both Irish and im-/migrant workers. Problems and misunderstandings of a cross-cultural nature arising between Irish and migrant workers have been reported and not yet adequate cross-cultural training initiatives have been established to deal with such issues.

The Intercultural Workplace Project aims to address the above issues through empirical research, outlining the needs of different groups, the training and education required by both im-/migrant and Irish workers, and the new structures and policies needed within organisations to enhance rather than discriminate against diversity.