3. Dual Career Couples
First used in 1969
Both partners pursue an independent career
High involvement
Partners are highly educated
Upward career orientation
Increased popularity with changing gender roles
4. Positive vs. Negative Aspects
Better career
opportunities
Professional autonomy
Financial
independence
Organized private life
Loneliness
Increased tension in
marriage and family
5. “ (The) spouse plays a key role during expatriation
in terms of willingness to go, assignment
completion, expatriate adjustment and expatriate
performance.”
Dr. Jim McNulty, 2012
6. Challenges For HR
1. Expatriates’ social ties:
“recruiting the best” often means
“recruiting the best couple”
2. The “linked lives” issue:
Stress management
Time management
Parenting & family support
7. Challenges For HR
3. The spouse
High importance of his/her career
Convincing the spouse to move abroad
Keeping the same career level
Providing adequate compensation
Repatriation Problem
9. Recruit the right candidate
Family life cycle stage
Career life cycle stage
Dual career assistance
Find placement for
spouse
Career-enhancing
activities for spouse
11. Conclusion
Biggest challenge : family readiness and adaptability
Interview
„Every partner wants to have a career“
Growing trend of dual-career couples
12. 1. How does having children affect the performance and
success of exaptriate assignments in dual-career couples?
2. What is the difference between dual-career couples
working for the same company and dual-career couples
working in the same city but for different companies? How
will it affect both personal and professional life?
13. Female Expatriation: Questions
Question 1:
According to the findings and statistics of the group, women
are as successful working internationally abroad as men.
How is that possible considering all these additional
challenges? Does HR offer additional support to women?
Question 2:
What can International HR Managers do to avoid being
accused of catering to female expatriates too much, while
giving them that full support?
As realistically, it is still more likely for women to face
discrimination in the workplace.
Hinweis der Redaktion
Tools to help DCCs arrange their linked lives successfully
Help dual-career couples maintain a balance between work and personal/family life
HR managers want to make sure an expatriate and the family adjust equally well to their new environment, because the family directly influences the success of the expatriate’s assignment abroad. Returning to the home country before fulfilling the contractual period or performing poorly at work due to the family’s poor adjustment are also considered failed assignments
1.) biggest challenge for expatriates during the fulfilling of their contractual assignments according to the E.C.A.: family readiness and adaptability
Moreover, a second study by E.C.A. showed that the second most common reason for assignment termination before the planned end was constituted by family issues
2.) the special package offered as a bundle for the entire family. It can be cheaper for the employer, depends on the ability of the HR manager to offer the familiy a package with superior value for the same costs...
3.) Dual-career relationships are a growing trend, especially because of increasing gender equality
Big issue for the future: basically the Int.HR managements biggest challenge: managing dual-career couples