The Foreign Service Journal, March 2003

I guess HR/OE doesn’t waste time keeping records of its good work. Please don’t misunderstand: I appreciate the well-placed concern that underlies anti-nepotism rules — a despotic or vindictive couple could paralyze an embassy and foster real injustice, or even malfeasance. I also think that the flexibility the depart- ment displays towards some of the well-connected tandem spouses is good personnel management. And, as someone who for a year in the mid- 1970s was acting assistant cultural affairs officer and paid the existing minimum wage on a non-personal services contract, I most sincerely applaud the great strides State has made in spousal employment, espe- cially the Family Member Associate program (heartfelt thanks to former Director General “Skip” Gnehm!). My complaint is that, having developed a little band of dedicated, savvy workers who diligently fill jobs anywhere they are needed, the department declares these folks personae non-gratae in their spouses’ later assignments — just when the PSC/PITs have the most useful expe- rience. Not a good way to retain your seasoned talent — either officers or PSC/PITs — is it? The fact is that with the advent of the FMA program, the ranks of the little group of “persistently-PIT” spouses is likely to grow. Ever in- creasing numbers of FMAs will face this enforced-joblessness dilemma in the future. Does the department have the wisdom to solve this problem now? A Solution Is Possible There seem to be two issues that have been solved for direct-hire tandem spouses and not for PSC/PITs: an objective selection process and removal from the chain of command for evaluation purposes. Assignment by HR’s Office of Career M A R C H 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 13 S P E A K I N G O U T