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12/02/2008The Evolution of the relocating spouse

The role of the accompanying partner in relocation has metamorphosed into a factor that can be ignored only at an organisation’s peril.

In the torrid world of corporate recruiting and hiring, gaining, and retaining talent, and moving human resources around the globe in the quest for a competitive edge, the question of how companies can assist the partners and families of these movable resources does not necessarily preoccupy corporate chieftains. And yet, companies concerned about what has been characterised as everything from a war to a tug for talent would be well-advised to consider the value of partner career assistance in the context of global human resource efforts.


Whether we are right now in the midst of a talent war is not the huge question of the moment that some find it to be, for the plain fact is that no company can have too much talent, ever. Even in our globetrotting economy, one in which, it should be noted, distributed work is still struggling to find purchase, the acquisition and global disbursement of talent means relocating people.


For a number of years, surveys and studies have demonstrated that the employee’s family, whether a spouse or a spouse and children, has a major effect on the success of a move and, therefore, on the employee’s performance in his new position. By way of illustration, note some data from the “2007 Emerging Trends in Global Mobility: Policy and Practices Survey,” by Cartus, Viejo, CA:

  • family concerns most often derail assignments;
  • among the top three reasons why employees turn down assignments, family or personal circumstances (e.g., spouse’s career) was cited almost twice as often (90 percent of respondents) as concern with employee’s career (48 percent) or compensation (46 percent);
  • family adjustment is one of the key factors behind assignment acceptance and success;
  • because companies report that talent management and developing global competencies are among their greatest challenges, corporate mobility policies must be flexible enough to address the specific needs of families in global transition so that companies can attract and retain the workforce they need to compete.

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2 reactions to this article

Robin Pascoe posted: 26-02-2008 | 7:58 PM

I find this particular quote (see below) about the spouse of the early 80s particularly offensive if not totally inaccurate.

"Most spouses were not working at this time. If they were then their jobs usually were part-time and not part of a career; their function was to give the family budget a little room to breathe or to supply “pin money” for the spouse."

Did the writers do any research? I am a spouse of the 1980s. I was also part of the women's liberation movement of the 1970s which brought us women in the 1980s with full time careers for money far beyond 'pin money'. Giving up our careers (and significant pay cheques) to follow our husband's careers was the norm...and everything we went through sparked the beginning of all the support (such as it is) that Generations X and Y take for granted now.

Given that the article started with errors, I'm inclined, as I was taught in journalism school, to ignore the rest of the article.

I hope the next time someone writes about spouses, trailing or otherwise, the reporters do their research more carefully.

Galen Tinder posted: 02-04-2008 | 1:11 AM

The sentences that Ms. Pascoe quotes merely describe the situation so many expatriate women found themselves in 25 years ago. As she says, it “was the norm” for women to relinquish their own careers in order to accompany their husbands on international assignments. That this was customary does not discount the courageous efforts and the sacrifices of trailblazing women like herself. Their advocacy was an important factor in awakening corporations to the need for the spousal / partner career programs that grew in the later part of the decade.

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