How the Other Half Works: The Two Challenges Facing Working Partners of Foreign Employees

26th Jul 2005

One of the more regular questions asked by assignees (to their HR managers) is: ‘will my partner be able to work if I’m transferred to another country?’

It’s a key issue for staff being relocated. Many families are dual income. Even if a high standard of living is in prospect in the destination county, the fact that one has given up a career may lead to them facing, effectively, a large income drop on repatriation. Secondly, there is the difficulty of resuming a career on repatriation.

According to studies at the University of Georgia, some employers are actually reluctant to offer assignments to staff with working partners. "We found that being female or a member of a dual-earner marriage decreases the chance that an employee will be offered a job opportunity requiring relocation," said Lillian Eby, an industrial/organizational psychologist at UGA.

HR, however, does not always have a choice when offering foreign assignments, where the assignee’s scarce skills are the defining factor in the relocation offer. Up to 50% of such offers may be refused, on account of a partner’s reluctance to give up a career. Research by PricewaterhouseCoopers among 270 international firms revealed that 80% reported difficulties in recruiting executives to go overseas.

According to PWC, ‘the factors rated least highly by companies when selecting people for assignments, such as issues relating to partners’ adaptability and dual career management, are most likely to be the cause of failed assignments.’

The partners of assignees may be only too aware of the hurdles they face in carrying on their career overseas. Change, though is on the horizon. Both the US and the European Union are seeking to integrate dual-career issues into action plans to increase mobility. In addition, employers are very gradually improving the effectiveness of partner support programs.

The partner who wants to continue his or her career faces two main challenges – firstly, that of legalizing their work status in the destination country; secondly, the challenge of finding a job.


Challenge 1: Getting Legal

In an increasingly mobile world the issue of work permits can be a nightmare, because no two countries have the same immigration process. Change is often slow, although gradually more countries are easing the way to authorizing spousal employment.

The vast majority of countries only issue work permits on the basis of quotas and skills requirements. Recently, this has been relaxed in the United States. The US now has a defined EAD (Employment Authorization Document) that can be utilized by partners. A spouse, in the US, can legally work only if the assignee is on intra-company transfer, or is an investor or trader. In Canada, the system is even more liberal, in that a ‘spouse’ can be a wife, non-married partner, or same sex partner.

Frequently, the most awkward countries for partners to work legally are in Europe. In many European countries, the spouse is given residence rights, but not working rights. In Switzerland, for instance, the B-permit that is a combined work/residence permit for assignees only extends residence rights to the spouse.

To work legally, therefore, a partner in Switzerland needs to upgrade the B-permit by finding an employer prepared to apply for a change of status on his or her behalf. The laws are of a similar nature throughout Europe, and in Brazil, Mexico, India, Taiwan, and former Eastern-bloc countries.

Japan allows spouses to work up to 20 hours a week. In Singapore, it is relatively painless to upgrade a visa if the partner finds a job. But the models for good practice are countries such as the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, and Argentina, which grant automatic right to work to accompanying spouses. In the UK, Married or unmarried partners of assignees in the UK have no working restrictions placed on them: they enjoy the same rights as the assignee.


Challenge 2 - Finding a Job

If anything, finding a job is even more of a challenge than getting a work permit.

Unfortunately, many partners, even if looking for work legally, will not be able to resume equivalent careers overseas. Many partners, as a result, find themselves in danger of isolation – of feeling adrift in a sea of strange voices and faces, putting strain on the assignment.

The key lies in advance preparation and in planning an overseas career strategy. Any effective strategy would include such things as: re-modeling one’s CV for the new location’s labor market, addressing qualifications and job equivalency, researching for job leads and agencies. Breaking down language barriers is a high priority. So embarking on a language course, and ensuring that application letters and forms can be completed in the local language are a major plus, even if applying to work in an organization whose workplace language is English.

The process of finding a professional job may be a long one, and the most effective partner programs provided by employers will include a ‘mentoring’ element – that is, an assurance that the partner can continue to receive career advice even after the initial period of the move.

The other option pursued by many partners is ‘alternative’ work. A survey of assignee partners in any destination would throw up a wide array of innovations – from undertaking projects for companies back home, to part-time consultancies, to the most common choice – teaching. Says Vera Thiers, Going-there European Co-ordinator with over twenty years’ expatriate experience, ‘partners who are determined to carry on working will always find a way to carve out a career niche – I’ve seen them turn their hands to anything from writing guide books, teaching business English, to relocation consultancy.’

The final option – in some places, the only legal option – is volunteer work, though it can rarely be found in the partner’s specialism.


In Summary

The difficulties facing partners who wish to continue a career are alleviating, but still immense. The more practical support incorporated into the partner support program, from language training to career planning help, the more likely that positive outcomes will occur.

Richard Tyrrell is senior editor with Going-there. Before joining the company, he was a journalist for many years, writing for a wide range of national and international newspapers.