The Foreign Service Journal, June 2006

V.P. VOICE: STATE n BY STEVE KASHKETT JUNE 2006 • AFSA NEWS 3 The Overseas Employment Challenge O neof thehottest “hot button” issues thatAFSAhears about regularly frommembers is thewidespread frustrationover the difficulties of finding meaningful employment for spouses and partners overseas. Despite the State Department’s statedpolicy of facilitating familymember employment, the real- ity is that our loved ones who faithfully accompany us to one foreign location after another often encounter nothing but closed doors andbureaucratic red tapewhen they try to get decent, properly paid work. Reciprocal work agreementswith var- ious countries dogive familymembers the legal right to seek jobs on the local econ- omy, but we all know that many profes- sions do not transfer well to foreign loca- tions. Language barriers and credential- ing/licensing restrictions make it all but impossible for a spouseor partner toprac- tice law, architecture, accounting, medi- cine, engineering, banking/finance ormanyother specializedpro- fessions. Evenopportunities on the local economy for tradition- allymore “transplantable” professions, such as nursing, teaching and construction trades, are oftenveryhard to come by for some- one who just arrived in a foreign country and will only stay for a couple of years. This leaves theU.S. mission as the only viable option. There the department’s record is spotty. The department’s Family Liaison Office has come up with a number of creative approaches andprograms designed to address this complexprob- lem, but there is no magic bullet. Some posts bend over back- ward to accommodate spouses andpartners, while others donot. Budgetary constraints make it more attractive for posts to hire locally-employed staff than family members. Even when jobs are available within the mission, AFSA hears too many stories of spouses and partners who wait excessively long periods for security clearances or are forced to fight the system to get the wage to which their previous qualifications entitle them. And, of course, many of the jobs available within the mission are not going to satisfy theprofessional aspirations of highly-trained spous- es and partners. We need to do better. We need tomake spouse and partner employment a top priority for all overseas posts. Some limited opportunities doexist for familymembers to takehard-to-fill jobs, but perhaps these shouldbe expanded. At a timewhen theForeign Service is struggling to fill hundreds of unaccompaniedpositions indangerous places and at hardshipposts, we need to find inven- tive ways for qualified spouses and partners who are willing to serve in thoseplaces toget those jobs—andbepaidat levels com- parable to those of FS employees. AFSA applauds the department’s program along these lines for Embassy Baghdad. AFSA members worldwide have offered numerous ideas, which we are happy to carry forward tomanagement. For example, AFSAhas proposed that the department finally implement a long-dis- cussed “equalization fund” that would make it financially just as advantageous for a post to hire an FS spouse or part- ner as a local employee. We have urged the department to pay hardshipdifferential to familymemberswho agree to take unfilled jobs at unaccompanied posts. What about a much more aggressive effort to help spouses and partners find professional employment on the local econ- omy? We believe the Family Liaison Office should have con- siderably greater authority to remove obstacles to employment. PerhapsM/FLOshould report directly to theOfficeof theDirector General, andbe given regular access to the Secretary, whichwould give them the autonomy to think “outside the box” and to pro- pose policy changes without needing HR’s clearance? We are no longer in the 1950s. The Foreign Service family has changed. Foreign Service professionals typically have high- ly-educated spouses and partners who are also professionals and who alreadyhave tomake tremendous career sacrifices to accom- pany the member overseas. These people are an invaluable resource for our missions abroad. Moreover, let’s face it: what family can thrive on a single government salary today? If the Foreign Service hopes to continue attracting the best and brightest, we need to do far more to help their spouses and partners pursuemeaningful, properly compensated careers over- seas. o We need to make spouse/partner employment a top priority for all overseas posts.