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