Professional Documents
Culture Documents
the ex-pat program even more expensive than it is now (could be $40,000 more per ex-pat
x 170/year = $6.8 million).
Approach number three is unique in the fact that it recognizes that it would be incredible
difficult to measure the lost wages and experience of a spouse and try to compensate for
that. Instead it emphasizes the positive benefits of living abroad and that this could be a
positive tradeoff.
Approach number four is a bit arrogant and not very progressive in thought. C-P certainly
could find 170 people a year to go overseas, but would they really be the best? An HR
representative brought up the fact that the dual career problem is a reflection of their high
quality: We tend to attract people who have been to graduate school and who often met
their spouses at graduate school. Both spouses are educated professional and both tend to
want to pursue their careers. Most of the human resource managers recognize that dual
career families are becoming the rule not the exception. It would be foolish not to prepare
for this issue, and this will help C-P maintain their industry leading IAP.
III.
Recommendations
The first decision that one needs to make is whether to change the IAP or not. I believe that
C-P needs to re-examine the policy, in light of dual career families. I do not believe that
simply throwing more and more money at the issue will solve the root problem, which is the
sacrifice that a spouse has to make in terms of his/her own career path which has other
benefits beyond the monetary (for example, promotion opportunities, interaction with
colleagues, intellectual stimulation, etc.). To be successful, I think the policy needs to
emphasize the non-financial gains (new language skills, chance to see a new cultural or
continue ones education) that can be made, perhaps have some testimonials from spouses
that have already gone through the experience. It would also help if it became more
customizable (more home country flybacks versus the $7,500 payment, etc.), within reason.
C-P needs to show their employees that they know and care about individual situations and
are willing to work with them to find a mutually agreeable solution. This is also an ideal way
to build loyalty. C-P also needs to emphasize the re-entry plan for ex-pats. This helps the
spouse see the light at the end of the tunnel and make plans for re-entering the job
market. C-P can also set up programs for spouses to prepare them for re-entering the job
market. All of these non-financial additions to the policy should help the dual career issue.