Cultural integration of external service provider employees into client workplaces

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the complexities of how external service provider employees culturally fit within client workplaces. Design/methodology/approach It uses the facilities management industry to apply this research concept and is conducted using a qualitative multi-method design. A combination of semi-structured interviews and focus groups are the qualitative methods used to collect the data. Findings The major findings of this study are that organisational socialisation can be successful in socialising external service provider staff into the client workplace despite a current lack of awareness of its use. This study has developed a framework that can be used to achieve this integration if client organisations and service providers work together to socialise external service provider staff. Originality/value The findings of this study will appeal to anyone working within the service industry who manages the interface between external service provider staff and the client work space.