When one person’s job moves, two careers are impacted. This is not a fringe scenario. It is the lived experience of countless globally mobile families. As companies continue to relocate talent across regions, they are discovering what many families already understand: career transitions are rarely individual. They are shared journeys, often filled with complexity, compromise, and untapped potential. The conversation around career disruption for accompanying partners is long overdue for a reset. Outdated language and underdeveloped policies no longer match the expectations or realities of modern mobility.
Dual Career Dilemmas Are Global, Not Niche
Recent research underscores the significance of dual-career considerations in global mobility. A study by the Permits Foundation and EY revealed that 61% of relocating partners are employed before an international move, yet only 26% find employment after relocation. That is a major disruption and one that affects not just individuals, but entire assignments.
Terms like “trailing spouse” no longer apply. They suggest passivity and dependency, rather than professional identity and agency. They also miss the mark in today’s world of dual-income households, diverse family structures, and highly mobile professionals.
Ignoring the impact on a relocating partner’s career does more than create frustration. It affects assignment success, well-being, and long-term retention. When one career is left behind, the consequences ripple far beyond the personal.
Why Core-Flex Support Isn’t Enough
While many companies have adopted core-flex mobility policies, those frameworks often fall short when it comes to providing meaningful support for the partner who is not the one holding the relocation contract.
The Weichert case study “From Core-Flex to Care-Flex” challenges this. It urges organisations to go beyond checklists and offer something more human, thoughtful, customisable support designed for real people navigating real transitions.
Care-flex support means shifting away from generic assistance and toward something more valuable. It means recognising that a mobile partner’s career is not an accessory to the assignment. It is central to the success of the move, and to the stability of the household.
What Mobile Partners Actually Need
Through our work supporting career journeys in complex environments, we know that relocating partners are not looking for shortcuts or charity. They want continuity, clarity, and meaningful professional growth even through change.
What they need includes:
- A clear understanding of which skills are transferable and which require repositioning
- Confidence to reframe or evolve their professional identity
- Access to both digital and local professional networks
- Career tools designed for new geographies and cultures
- A personalised strategy that can move with them
Without this kind of structured support, employers risk more than relocation fatigue. They risk disengagement, costly assignment failure, and reputational loss in a talent-driven market.
A Smarter Approach to Dual Career Support
Modern mobility support must move beyond static solutions. Instead, it should offer frameworks that help people define success on their own terms, plan clearly, and take meaningful steps toward career goals that are both mobile and grounded.
What works best are solutions that are:
- Practical, and based in action, not just information
- Personalised, to meet people whether they are restarting, redirecting, or relaunching
- Identity-driven, focused on growth, not just placement
- Flexible, to adapt with each new move, location, or family dynamic
Partner career support should be an integrated part of the mobility journey, not an optional benefit that appears too late or never at all.
❝ A quick nudge – aren’t companies already doing this?
Some are. And there are great examples where dual-career support is thoughtfully embedded in mobility policy. But in many cases, that support is fragmented, inconsistent, or delayed. Many relocating partners still receive little more than a job board link or a last-minute coaching voucher. The real shift lies not in offering something but in offering the right thing, at the right time, in a way that respects ambition and context. ❞
Career disruption is not a side effect of mobility. It is a central experience for many families. Supporting it well is not a “perk”, it is a leadership imperative.
Final Thought: From Pause to Progress
Global mobility is more than a career move. It is a life shift. And every mobile family deserves the tools, guidance, and space to navigate that shift without sacrificing long-term ambition. Reimagining support for relocating partners is not about being generous. It is about being strategic. Because when both careers are seen, supported, and valued, mobility transforms from a challenge into a powerful platform for growth.