Dual career issues are an increasing concern In today's global workplace. We update you on the issues concering the trailing professional spouse.

• The nuts and bolts

  Most expat assignment failures are family-related

• Work Permits
• Finding a Job
• The grey areas

Picture a couple in their mid-thirties. They live in a large metropolitan area, perhaps London, Dallas, Paris, Singapore. They have advanced degrees, which have enabled them to move forward in challenging careers. Their prospects for future professional advancement are excellent. At the moment, they are discussing buying a larger house, where to go on next summer's adventure trek, and if they should choose HDTV or EDTV.

 On an average workday morning, one of them is called into the office of a senior executive. An offer is made for a managerial position running a big piece of business. It's a wonderful opportunity, a guarantee of further success in this global corporation. There's a great relocation package, plus a jump in salary and benefits.

The thing is the job is in New Delhi, New York or New South Wales, someplace halfway around the world. A big prize for one of them, but what happens to the career momentum of the other?

This is the issue professionals, technicians, managers, and their spouses have to face as more and more multi-nationals turn local employees into expats. It's not a new problem; in fact, much has been written about the situation of the trailing spouse in the last five years.

There have been tips for job searches, tips for acculturation, suggestions for human resources personnel, for corporations, for consultants. There have been surveys and research and case studies. Let's take a look at what has changed, for better or worse, and which issues are still top of mind with trailing professional spouses.

These are the more concrete matters which should be addressed before and during an expat assignment that actually involves two careers. A few years ago, research showed that only about one fourth of companies paid attention to the concerns of the trailing spouse. Today, although companies in Asia still lag behind somewhat, more organizations heed the fact that the majority of expat assignment failures are family-related. They have learned that the cost savings up front can turn into a costly mistake later if the needs of the trailing spouse are ignored.

No matter how much help a corporation offers to a trailing spouse who wishes to continue his or her career – resume assistance, additional training, contact information – it is work permits which are perhaps the thorniest issue today.

The Permits Foundation was organised several years ago in an effort to alleviate the problem of obtaining work permits for trailing spouses. Member companies include twenty international companies, such as Shell, Unilever, Siemens, Schlumberger and BMW. (www.permitsfoundation.com). The organization has made good progress; for example, they encouraged legislation passed in the US in 2002, which allows spouses of employees holding certain temporary work visas to obtain such visas, as well.

We can look at the example of Chris Mellefont, the wife of a Shell executive, who arrived in Amsterdam from Australia with a background teaching high school literature and science. Chris received solid support from the company, which provided information and assistance in her job search. However, the first school she applied to didn’t hire her to fill a posted job opening –there were plenty of applicants from EU countries, who didn’t need a work-permit.

Fortunately, she was later hired by the American School near The Hague, who found her through the Shell expat employment office, and who were willing to do the paperwork for the work permit.

In addition, Shell paid for a course in teaching English as a Second Language -- Chris now has a more transportable career. Some people aren’t so lucky. The work permit problem must be tackled almost on a case by case basis, because various local laws can be different, depending upon the nationality of the person who needs the permit.

Generally speaking, work permits must be obtained through the potential employer, who is required to fill out forms and monitor the process. In some places work permits can take up to one-and-a-half years to obtain; waiting for one can use up half of the expat contract time. A key to improving the process is to apply for a job before expatriating, thereby arriving with the work permit in place or at least on the way.

In an effort to improve the job search routine for trailing spouses of expats, eight member companies formed www.partnerjob.com in 2000. Headquartered in Paris, the non-profit organization now has over 40 member companies, with between 170 and 200 openings listed at any one time. Trailing spouses of people employed by many global oil, financial services and manufacturing companies, as well as ten UN agencies, are able to list their CVs on the site, while affiliated recruiters may list their openings.

This institutionalises, in a way, what expat advisor Jo Parfitt says. She believes networking is the best answer to the trailing spouse’s job search. Parfitt, who writes and speaks on the subject, says that 75 percent of all jobs are found by networking. The companies who assist trailing spouses of their employees by providing them with contacts – names, phone numbers, addresses, introductions – are the most successful in making expat assignments work.

According to Laura Puig of partnerjob.com, the consortium has been responsible for dozens of successful matches, many of them positions for highly qualified men and women who are trailing spouses. Puig noted that filled positions have ranged from biologist to tri-lingual executive secretary. Generally the positions are short-term (three to four years), but not always, as more and more expat assignments are lasting longer. Employees whose companies do not belong to partnerjob.com are encouraged to visit their human resources departments to request participation.

According to John Read, Managing Consultant for Hudson Human Capital Solutions in Singapore, it is the American and European multi-nationals who are more likely to recognize the impact the trailing spouse can have on the success of an expat assignment. The idea is coming slowly to Asian companies, who are very cost conscious and whom he hopes will, over the next two to five years, come to the understanding that spousal satisfaction "can make or break relationships and assignments."

The psychological implications of dual career expat moves, like other family moves across the world, cannot be underestimated. Culture shock is a force of nature, which affects everyone in one way or another. When there is no loss or downshift of second career to contend with, there is still the inevitable adjustment into office, home, school and new culture.

A trailing spouse who does not resume a career – whether by choice or not -- or establish a new social pattern may develop depression. They watch as husband or wife and children go off to their assigned places everyday, where they spend time with other people and quickly assimilate. The at-home partner may feel bereft of a support system, which is particularly telling during the process of setting up house.

What if the couple is on the fast track, with both career minded? According to Yvonne McNulty, a former PriceWaterhouseCoopers employee who gave up her job to follow her husband to Chicago from Australia: "I became depressed, emotional and rather demanding. . . .My self esteem was non-existent and my self-confidence completely disappeared." Without her professional identity, McNulty was frustrated and unhappy.

Like some other expat spouses – Robin Pascoe and Jo Parfitt among them – she turned her situation into a professional opportunity. In 2002 she published findings of research conducted for Southern Cross University in Australia that, among other things, revealed the need for corporations to understand that "expatriation is a gains and losses event for the trailing spouse, whose overall assignment success is often dependent upon striking a balance between missed opportunities and new opportunities."

Australian companies must have listened, because according to David Reynolds in the Hudson office there, "the large multinationals who are dependent on key executives being successful are starting to think carefully about the impact on an employee’s family and partner when relocating to new geographies and cultures – much more investment is being made to ensure that the partners and families are also comfortable with the move and that there is a sound understanding of the culture, the local infrastructure, services, support and, of course, employment options for partners."

Nancy Roche Morino, MA, a family therapist who counsels English-speaking couples in Rome, suggests that couples talk out the issues surrounding the move before they leave to take the new post. She says such moves "can exacerbate already existing marriage and family problems. Both a marriage and an individual can be broken by failing to discuss the situation and become aware of the effects when support systems are taken away," such as they often are for a trailing spouse who leaves both job and social connections behind.

While she doesn’t think that every couple needs professional counselling, Morino believes strongly that both partners in a dual-career marriage must be able to expect "acknowledgement, respect and eventual reciprocation," when one sacrifices something for the other’s well being. She believes that when difficult choices are made without a clear understanding in place, the resulting anger and frustration are real dangers to the relationship. According to Morino, problems with adolescent expat children and teen-agers are often a direct result of parental difficulty in adjusting to expatriation.

It's never easy to lose momentum if you’re on the fast track, but it’s not impossible to keep moving ahead if your partner takes an offer abroad. Take advantage of what the corporation has to offer and insist on help where you need it. Sit down together and discuss the long term and the trade offs. Sure, it’s a balancing act, but it doesn’t have to be a duel.

February 2004

Sharri Whiting specialises in reporting on business and cross cultural issues and is guest lecturer at the American University of Rome and Simmons College in Boston.