Permits Foundation holds International Dual Careers Conference at BT Tower
11 February 2005The Permits Foundation today hosted its first International Dual Careers Conference to raise awareness of the issues surrounding permit restrictions for expatriate spouses and to demonstrate what is being done about this situation by the Permits Foundation and its sponsors. The conference, at BT Tower in London, brought together representatives from the corporate sector (private and public), governments and others with an interest in international mobility and equal opportunity.
Lengthy work permit procedures for expatriate spouses in many countries represent a significant barrier to international employee mobility.
“Concerns over spouses’ careers are the single most important reason why employees turn down overseas assignments, according to a major dual career survey by HR specialists ORC Worldwide”, said Siobhan Cummins, managing director of the company’s European offices in London. Other surveys show that prior to expatriation over 50 percent of spouses or partners are working, but 85% do not work during an assignment.
These findings are also supported by the ECA Trends in Mobility Survey 2004, which showed that dual careers are an issue for 70% of participating companies. Ian Mann, Managing Director of ECA said, “More than 50% of companies surveyed said that partner career issues are a reason given for turning down assignments. In addition 10% of companies found that partner career issues were the most common reason for assignment failure. This is why we, as a membership organisation, serving the needs of multinationals, support the work of the Permits Foundation.”
Jan Schaapsmeerders, human resources director of Shell Nederland and chairman of the board of directors, Permits Foundation, said: “Nowadays both partners expect to have their own career. Companies and countries need to recognise this with supportive policies if they are to attract top international talent. Most companies employ only a small proportion of expatriate staff, but they are essential to the transfer of skills and technology and have an understanding of international business in different cultures. This goes hand in hand with the trade and investment that helps to stimulate local economies. A number of governments already recognise this and grant open work permits to the partners of internationally transferred staff.“
“We would like to raise awareness and promote change around this issue. We want to show that relaxing work permit restrictions for spouses will make many countries more attractive international investment opportunities. We are hoping that key opinion formers who attend will act as champions for change in their regions. We would also like to invite other global organisations to join the Permits Foundation.”
The Permits Foundation was set up three years ago to encourage governments to relax work permit regulations that currently make it difficult for spouses to work in many countries. It has already been successful in influencing change in France and the USA, by supporting local networks seeking improvements in work permit regulations. It continues to promote improvements in other countries in Europe, for example in the Netherlands and Germany. It has also started to develop networks in Asia and is working to raise awareness of this issue worldwide.
More than 30 international companies and organisations worldwide are now working together, through the Permits Foundation, to promote access to employment for the spouses of internationally assigned staff.
Caroline Waters, director of People and Policy, BT Group, said: “As a HR director for BT and a Permits Foundation board member, I know first hand the importance of having a workforce that is flexible and mobile. Highly skilled and qualified people who have the ability to perform a specific expert function away from home are at a premium.
“Companies want the flexibility to be able to move staff around the world to places where their expertise is needed most. Understandably most accompanying partners want to carry on working so they can continue to develop their skills and facilitate their re-entry to work when they return home yet few manage to do so. This poses a significant challenge and where the permits have been relaxed we see a real benefit not only to the company but to local economies as well.”
