A Guide for Dual-Career Couples: Rewriting the Rules by Sprunt Eve;

Author:Sprunt, Eve; [Eve Sprunt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 4504564
Publisher: ABC-CLIO, LLC

Relocation

In some organizations, geographic mobility is essentially a requirement for being on the fast track. Current management “paid their dues” by moving around the world in a “series of positions of increasing responsibility” and expects anyone who aspires to fill their shoes to do the same. Thus, advancing up the management ladder may involve multiple relocations including assignments in foreign countries. Equivalent experiences acquired without living in another area are deeply discounted when candidates are compared.

In organizations that prize geographic mobility, dual-career couples can be cut off from opportunity in various ways. The manager may assume that the person in a dual-career couple will not be willing to relocate, because of his or her partner’s career. Alternatively, the company will ask people to make an open-ended declaration that they will be geographically mobile. Without the precommitment for an unknown opportunity, employees will not be considered for assignments that involve relocation. Individuals’ careers can be impaired, because they are never given the opportunity to decide for themselves on specific opportunities unless they say yes to relocation in general and then veto a move that they find unacceptable.

A 2013 survey by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) asked, “Would you be willing to accept a job that required relocation if your partner had to take a position that was less satisfying to them than their current employment?”13 In that survey, there were negligible differences between equal-earner men and women with 43 percent of the women and 41 percent of the men willing to accept a relocation if their partner would have to take a less satisfying position. While the majority of the equal earners are not willing to force their partner to make sacrifices so that they could relocate, over 40 percent of them are.

When those in dual-career couples were asked in a SPE survey what their employer could do to make it easier for them to relocate, more than half of women and about 40 percent of men mentioned assistance with their partner’s employment.14 Despite the problems that can arise when both partners work for the same employer, about 15 percent of the women and 7 percent of the men in dual-career couples want their company to offer employment to their partner as part of the relocation assistance.

Dual-career couples who are willing to relocate should endeavor to negotiate additional employment assistance for the trailing partner. Large organizations often employ people in a wide range of occupations. To facilitate relocation, either when someone is first recruited or in conjunction with a subsequent relocation, the employer may be willing to hire the accompanying partner. Alternatively, employers can cover the cost of outplacement services (which can include career counseling, résumé writing workshops, interview skills training, and job search guidance) and headhunter fees for the trailing spouse. Outplacement provides training to the displaced person. A retained headhunter’s role is to actively seek out job opportunities. Ideally, if your organization does not hire your trailing spouse, you want the cost of both outplacement and headhunter fees included in your relocation package.

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