An HR director once asked me if I thought it made sense to also support partners of Foreign Local Hires (FLH). I asked him a question in return: “How important is it for your organisation to get the FLH up and running as quickly as possible?”
Support demand not contract related
We believe the need for support has no direct link with the type of contract the expat receives but is linked to personal circumstances. That means in certain cases it can be more important to support FLH partners, for example because families need a double-income.
What’s in a name
Whether you use the name Foreign Local Hire, Local Foreign Hire, Third Country National (TCN) or International Hire (IH), whether it’s a group move or a general relocation, if the person is moving with a spouse, extra attention is needed. And, as with the ‘traditional expat partner’ it’s never ‘one size fits all’.
Local HR often responsible
Offering a professional partner support programme as such is still a novelty to quite a number of companies. Those who offer spousal support to FLH spouses are still front runners. I know it’s often not out of lack of interest; there is usually a practical issue: how to structurally organise spousal support on a global level, when local HR is in the lead.
Increase in support for FLH partners
Luckily for the partners, we’re seeing an increase in support of FLH spouses. The new Philips programme for spouses of their International Hires is a fantastic example. In this article, you can read more about their reason for addressing this target group, and their approach.
