History of the ‘trailing spouse’:
Relocation practices began to acquire substance in the early 1980s as they emerged from the primitive days when the term ‘relocation industry’ was more projective than descriptive. In the early ’80s relocations were much less frequent than they are today.
Spouse/Partner Portrait in the ’80′s:
- The ‘trailing spouse’ was always a woman
- Most spouses were not working at this time. If they were, their jobs usually were part-time and not part of a career; their function was to give the family budget a little room to breathe or to supply ‘pin money’ for the spouse
- Most women accepted relocation as part of being married to an up and coming success
This put the wife in the position of figuring out relocation logistics and assimilating the family into a brand new environment.
The ’90s found most women working at least part-time and many were in full-time positions. At this point companies started to address spousal relocation with programs, as they realized for a relatively small sum, it was possible to increase the success rate of their transferees substantially. During this time, it is important to note, partners who weren’t ‘wives’ were not considered part of the equation.
Today, 83% of women scientists in academic couples are partnered with another scientist, compared to 54% of men. These ‘partners/spouses’ are now getting more attention as their career needs become much more of a focal point in making a decision to relocate to a new region or stay with an organization. The realization that valuable professional talent can be lost to competing institutions who are being proactive in the dual career scenario has got many top-tier companies scrambling for answers.
In the 21st century, globalization and internet development has made relocation a fairly reasonable and predictable part of career growth. Data confirming a majority of couples have both partners working producing not only the ‘trailing spouse’ but a spouse that is increasingly becoming more male, sends out ripple effects significantly cutting into an organization’s bottom line in an economy already straining to make ends meet. The world’s increasing need for economic interconnectedness guarantees a large number of global relocations. However, this will mean the need for partner relocation benefits increasing as well.
How Tech Valley Connect started:
Professor Cheryl Geisler has worked to better the academic careers of women for many years. In April of 2008, she applied for a grant from Elsevier Foundation to create a pilot program bringing together both academic and corporate PhD-hiring employers to address the escalating issue of the ‘accompanying partner’ (formerly known as ‘trailing spouse’). Realizing this is a huge challenge for both men and women PhDs, Geisler came up with a unique concept – one that until now, has not been tried anywhere.
Show me the money:
Tech Valley Connect received funding from the Elsevier Foundation to develop the pilot program and establish partnerships with 12 PhD-hiring organizations in the Capital Region. Further support for funding of our website was received through NYSTAR and the National Science Foundation’s RAMP-Up initiative at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The pilot ran from July 2009 to December 2009. Tech Valley Connect became a non-profit organization in January of 2010.
