Best Practices in Managing Dual Careers

Is the challenge of the dual career family an insolvable one? For years, spouse/partner careers have created a perplexing challenge for HR professionals. Fundamentally sending a dual-career family on an international assignment triggers a potential collision of interests and whenever that potential exists, a significant challenge follows. The collision is of two careers; the challenge for HR is managing that collision in an environment where there's woefully little that HR managers can do to affect the job opportunities of accompanying partners in many locations.

One party makes a career sacrifice for the other (which is rarely a good solution), the non-expat decides not to work and pursues other options, or the partner decides to take another career/work option. The challenge is to redirect that collision course to a track where satisfaction can be reached. Oftentimes, cross-cultural communication can help an international assignment succeed.

Has Anything Changed?

From the first "spouse survey" in the early 1990s by Windham International/ NFTC to the current day, issues remain constant-affecting not only the selection of first-choice candidates but also assignment success and ease of repatriation. One change however is that in the 21st century, "dual-career partner" doesn't always mean "female partner."

Ask global HR managers and they'll tell you this is one of the most difficult-to-solve-issues they face. Candidates decline because they can't afford to lose their partner's income or the partner worries that his or her career could be derailed entirely if he or she is out of the workforce for a few years, and in most cases, paid work is simply not available. In addition, dual career partners face a variety of barriers as they transfer around the globe:

Legal barriers, such as visa and work permit regulations

Adapting to a new environment

Language issues

Cultural differences

Interrupting their current career path - Fear of derailing career

Perceived status may be different and resulting loss of self-esteem

Loss of community and network

Unfamiliarity with job search process

Lack of knowledge of educational opportunities

Lack of support networks to help with child-care needs

How Do Best Practice Companies Fare?

Nevertheless, best practice companies are doing what they can to ameliorate the situation and organizations realize this problem is not going away. Some firms are addressing the issue by shortening the length of the assignment or by experimenting with single-status, commuter assignments and extended business trips. They invest in the online cultural training to help prepare people before international assignments. But these alternatives are limited in that they're difficult for the family and may also have severe shortcomings for the business mission.

What has become apparent over the years is that there is no single solution, and myriad remedies seem to be the best approach because they focus on solutions to the problem as the individual family and partner need. On the positive side, in recent years, a greater number of countries are allowing accompanying partners to be legally employed. Consequently, there is also greater frequency by sending organizations to help partners get work permits. In general, companies are providing language and cultural training, many provide online cross-cultural training; helping with obtaining work permits and offering educational training and job search assistance. One surprisingly important thing to partners is the ability to be involved by the company-in the briefing, in the cross-cultural training, in discussions surrounding the relocation. Just the action of being included, and being given realistic expectations, is one area partners claim repeatedly that is extremely important to them.

More specifically, though, best practice organizations distinguish themselves by strategizing around the issue, considering what will work best for their population and then putting in place policies and programs that will address it within the context of their corporate culture and budget constraints. Companies tend to choose one of two ways to address the problem: they create policies and programs that are either cash-based or service based, although there may be elements of both in excellent programs.

Cash-based programs range in amount from about USD $2500 to USD $7500 and are most often reimbursements for approved support services (educational, career-enhancement, etc.). The rationale for these being reimbursable rather than a cash grant is to reinforce to the partner and expat that the company is actively working to give them support in a difficult area. The challenge, here, is that these programs are difficult to administer and often the funds are not spent in a timely manner and often not spent on services that will significantly make a career difference. Service-based programs have the advantage of being ongoing, and may engender a stronger sense of empowerment for the expat family.

One very helpful, but underutilized support is communication from the company to the expat and partner. The overall plan is to keep partners and expats in touch - with current assignees and with those who have repatriated or moved-on-via newsletters, e-mail, and company intranet sites. These go a long way to maintaining a sense of connectedness.

What Do Successful Dual-Career Partners Suggest?

Involve partner from the beginning

Provide cross-cultural counseling

Offer language training

Offer pre-departure discussions to help establish realistic expectations

Involve the spouse/partner in the process and discussions

Help access the new community to offset loss of social support and greater dependence on expatriate

- Gather lists of contacts in new location

- Provide networking opportunities-- churches, schools, social clubs, newspaper subscriptions

Encourage spouse to direct own career management

Help define personal/career goals during assignment

Identify transferable skills

Provide financial assistance to attend educational and career-enhancing events

Support lobbying efforts for spouse work permits

So, are there solutions? Clearly the answer is, "Yes"-many, but it is difficult to find a standard one. Programs need to be flexible and require the most precious HR commodity of all, which is time and patience. However, ignoring the challenging will end up being more costly in being able to find first-choice candidates or assignments ending prematurely.

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