Strategic Human Resource Management

Section Four

Dual-Career Couples

Increasingly, companies are facing challenges in transferring
employees because of the rising number of dual-career
couples. Two-income families are now involved in a high
proportion of transfers as the spouses of 65 percent of
employees also work. Further, the woman is more frequently
the employee who is being transferred. With women now
comprising a large percentage of professional occupations, it is
not surprising that they are increasingly the employees being
transferred. An obvious problem companies face in transferring
employees involved in dual-career situations is the spouse’s
ability to find a commensurate position. Such fears are well
grounded: 51 percent of those spouses who were reemployed
after the move received lower salaries and benefits than in their
previous jobs.^89

Another problem encountered with dual-career couples is
their frequency of turnover when the spouse works for another
large employer that transfers employees. For female
employees, there is a perception, whether valid or not, that
they may be more susceptible to turnover in such
circumstances. This perception is as follows: “Because the
female manager is seen as more often following her spouse in
a relocation decision, her dual-career family status is
considered more of a liability.”^90 A related problem concerns