Surveys of the expat community consistently demonstrate that problems with spousal adjustment are the leading cause of early return home from expatriate assignments, which is costly in terms of repatriation and replacement of the expatriate, and in terms of company performance.

One of the key factors affecting spousal adjustment is interruption or cessation of employment.

Today I spoke with Dr. Nina Cole of Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada about her survey and report titled: Managing Global Talent: What do Expatriate Spouses Need?

Dr. Cole traveled throughout the Asia-Pacific region in 2007-2008 and conducted a study on spousal adjustment. Download the interview or visit Talkshoe.com to listen to our chat with Dr. Cole as well as other talkcasts.   

The results of the study showed that spouses who experience a severe disruption or cessation of employment have significantly lower interactional adjustment with host nationals than other spouses. For spouses with an orientation to work, females had higher cultural adjustment (related to food, housing, medical care etc.) and interactional adjustment than males.

What concerns me most in this observation is that the interaction adjustment caused by lack of employment potentially makes it more difficult to establish employment. i.e. a downward spiral.

The study discusses how most expat spouses received some assistance from their partners employer but the services were limited. The overwhelming need is for improved networking and contacts, preferably before arrival as well as a “go-to” person that can assist with the typical settling in matters.

Networking, information and assistance are the three categories of items most spouses cited as lacking. Other requirements included job opportunities with large employers, career counseling and respect. Some spouses found that the assistance was often limited to vague offers of assistance or in some cases consisted of “throwing money at spouses” to assist.

Employers planning to expatriate staff could benefit from Dr. Cole’s report and address the needs of spouses in the process, potentially avoiding an expensive and harmful curtailment.

Similarly, expat spouses might find it interesting that others are out there facing similar issues.

The survey and report doesn’t offer any solutions per se , but it does identify what I see as opportunities to provide a valuable service for expats and employers alike by providing some basic hand-holding in country for spouses. The employee is often focused on their new position, the spouse is often left to fend for themself. Helping establish the spouse gets them on track for a succesful overseas assignment on the way to their own fulfillment while overseas.

The Executive Summary of the report is included below and additional information is available via Dr. Cole’s website at: http://www.ninacole.net

This podcast also introduces new regular guest and fellow Trailing Spouse Sean McKee. Sean is based in Lima, Peru and you learn more about him at http://www.linkedin.com/in/seanpmckee or http://www.seanpmckee.net.

Music on today’s talkcast is ‘CrazyAs’ by Juleandrew and comes from Jamendo.com

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Managing Global Talent: What do Expatriate Spouses Need?

Dr. Nina Cole
Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
July 2008

Executive Summary

The results of the study showed that spouses who experience a severe disruption or cessation of employment have significantly lower interactional adjustment (with regard to interacting with host nationals) than other spouses. For spouses with a career orientation to work, females had higher cultural adjustment (related to food, housing, medical care etc.) and interactional adjustment than males.

Only 18 percent of the spouses received employer-provided career assistance, and there was no significant difference in adjustment between spouses who received assistance and those who did not. Those who received assistance gave mediocre ratings of its effectiveness (average 3.2 out of 5), suggesting that employers need to more carefully design such assistance based on a rigorous assessment of spousal needs.

Interviews with 100 spouses indicated that their greatest needs are for networking information to assist in their job search and for a ‘go-to’ person for practical settling-in assistance. The good news is that the cost of this assistance is minimal. Creating lists of classic books regarding portable careers, employment agencies, other Western companies operating in the location, expatriate associations/networks, expatriate websites, networking groups for spouses, international schools and other organizations providing services to the expatriate community can be obtained via a Web search or through existing spousal groups and networks. Hiring existing expatriate spouses on a contract basis to provide assistance to newly-arriving spouses before and during the actual moving and settling-in period is also inexpensive and cost-effective.