Chapter 14 Application Case 1. What are the advantages and potential liabilities of hiring two-career couples, beyond those noted in the case?
Because many educated, professional men are choosing to marry educated, professional women instead of traditional housewives, companies are faced with the prospect of loosing qualified employees when a spouse gets a new job in another city or is transferred. One way to avoid dealing with a spouse's unpredictable employment situation is to employ the couple. This strategy is particularly popular in universities and laboratories in which both spouses are chemists or both are professors. Some companies are even able to employ couples in different careers, one in an accounting department and one in a legal department, for example. By employing the couple, companies can control the risk of losing an employee due to a spouse's changing situation. Some companies shy away from hiring dual-career couples because of concern over the couple's performance. Some companies do not want to get stuck employing one "weak" employee just to hold on to the "stronger" partner. Companies may also fear complaints from other employees regarding special treatment for spouses who are unqualified for their positions. Your company can avoid this by assuring dual-career couples that they will be treated as individuals at the workplace. Each partner will be held entirely accountable for his or her performance and one partner will not be allowed to negotiate for a better position or higher salary for the other partner. Likewise, one partner will not be held accountable for the other partner's mistakes.
Although traditionally women are held responsible for childcare and household affairs whether they work or not, this is not fair to either men or women in the workforce. So some companies offer benefits such as paid leave, flexible hours and child care