Back to Life – Help for Expat Partners

The risk is high that an expat’s job performance suffers or the employment comes to grief if the spouse feels he or she is not taken seriously or is lonely and misses work. To prevent this happening an increasing number of companies support expats and their partners with spouse programs.

After Brexit and the temporary entry stop for Muslims in the USA Switzerland has become considerably more attractive again as a desirable work place for researchers, scientists, top executives, and skilled staff. The so-called mass immigration initiative (an initiative against foreign immigrants) and xenophobic tendencies have greatly unsettled many foreign skilled workers and executives in the past two years. In addition, Switzerland had scored poorly in several international surveys on welcoming culture and interpersonal relationships recently.

Men and women
Although 43% of expats in Switzerland are single according to official statistics many others come with spouses and children. It is interesting to note that 60% of the foreign skilled and executive staff is, in fact, female. Thus when talking about spouses we mean not only wives but also husbands and life partners.

Spouses seldom have employment contracts already when entering Switzerland. Instead most experience great difficulties when trying to access the Swiss labor market. Subsequently, they feel discontent and suffer from loneliness. This usually impacts the partners, their job satisfaction and/or efficiency negatively – at considerable costs to the employers, especially if the employment is terminated by a premature return home or if the job contract is not signed at all after a long search and negotiations due to a lack of job prospects for the spouse.

Rising demand from SME
To prevent this happening big companies, but increasingly also SME (small and medium sized enterprises) with international staff reach out to expat partners before signing job contracts. They provide information about the Swiss labor market, occupational opportunities and possibilities to work self-employed, work permits, the real estate market, schools, and childcare. They also try to answer various legal questions. Ideally both partners should start work almost simultaneously after their arrival in Switzerland. This is a sure recipe for a a successful integration into the local community.

Spouse programs can also help partners of Swiss executives sent abroad by their companies. In many US firms it is perfectly normal to offer spouse programs. Considering the size of the country if you relocate from the east to the west coast or vice versa the partner has to look for a new job too if the family is not to fall apart.

Success with experienced specialists
Most American companies rely on HR companies specializing in spouse programs. In Swiss professional HR circles only a few firms offer broad international spouse programs so far. The Mohler Burkhard Partner AG is a pioneer in this field and has broadened its service portfolio in early 2017 by becoming exclusive partner of the Impact Group, a global leader in the field of spouse programs. “We are considerably increasing our success rate in international executive search in the long run by offering spouse programs. We change spouses from potentially negative influencers into positive active decision makers“, says Susanne Ritter, Head of Spouse Program at Mohler Burkhard Partner AG.

Switzerland is a top player in the world economy as well as in international R&D (research and development). This is due to expats – foreigners working in Switzerland as well as Swiss working for their employers abroad – to no small extent. In the war for talents staff motivation and satisfaction, respect, fairness, and social responsibility for spouses earmark employers of choice.

Author: Niels Burkhard, Partner, Mohler Burkhard Partner

Mohler Burkhard Partner AG
Is one of the leading recruitment und HR companies in Switzerland. It offers top solutions for all aspects of HR – professionally and reliably. The Mohler Burkhard Partner AG is an experienced and competent partner for all sectors of the economy. It has clients in the health and financial services, the chemical and pharmaceutical, consumer goods, machinery aeronautic, transport, and logistics industry. www.mohlerburkhard.com