Research
Split family assignments are postings where only one member of the family relocates for work. The post requires that no family member accompany the staff member due mostly to the high risk location.
Some families choose this type of assignment because one partner does not want to move, because the children have special needs or for family stability (avoiding moving children too many times).
The research I do on Split-Family Assignments delves into the challenges and outcomes faced by individuals and those they leave back home (husbands, wives, partners and children). My research seeks to highlight how families and individuals make being geographically apart work.
Such studies are crucial for developing policies and support systems to ensure the well-being and effectiveness of individuals on unaccompanied assignments across different sectors.
Consider adding your voice!
Current Research
The impact of growing up with a travelling parent
Did you grow up with a father or mother who travelled a lot for work?
Contact me to be part of my research so that parents who are living it now can give their children what they need as they grow up with a parent who is often absent because of their job.
Participant Information Form
Consent Form
How are Split Family Assignments impacting your staff?
You are an organisation that sends staff on overseas postings. Some of these postings are unaccompanied, meaning that their partner and children cannot relocate with them.
❓Do you know how this is affecting your staff?
❓Are you noticing more difficulty in recruiting for these positions?
❓Are you losing highly-skilled workers because their families give them an ultimatum?
Complete this survey as your first step to improving recruitment, increasing retention and improving the working conditions for these staff.
Future Research
Mothers who travel. Register your interest to be interviewed here.
What factors into a couple’s decision to agree to a Split Family Assignment?
Studies on Split Family Assignments
Hutchings, K. (2022). Why we need to know more about diversity among the globally mobile: a systematic literature review of non-traditional expatriate research and future research agenda for minority expatriates. Journal of global mobility, 10(1), 127-161. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-02-2021-0012
Guttormsen, D. S. A. (2018). Does the ‘non-traditional expatriate’ exist? A critical exploration of new expatriation categories. Scandinavian journal of management, 34(3), 233-244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scaman.2018.05.004
Kallane, Y. (2014). Women as female breadwinners in non-traditional expatriate families: Status-reversal marriages, single parents, split families, and lesbian partnerships. In (pp. 332-366). https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781955031.00025
Kallane, Y., & Hutchings, K. (2018). Split family expatriation: Perspectives from expatriates and their career spouses. In.
McNulty, Y. (2015). Acculturating non-traditional expatriates: A case study of single parent, overseas adoption, split family, and lesbian assignees. International journal of intercultural relations, 49, 278-293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2015.05.006
McNulty, Y., & Hutchings, K. (2016). Looking for global talent in all the right places: a critical literature review of non-traditional expatriates. International journal of human resource management, 27(7), 699-728. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1148756
Holding The Fort Abroad Book
Your partner's job opportunity in another country seemed like an exciting idea, but lengthy work assignments mean you're holding down the family fort - alone.
OR Your partner is working and living in another country, and you feel like you are shouldering all the home responsibilities alone.
You may be wondering:
How can we be a family when we're miles apart?
Can I cope, alone, when troubles arise?
I believe there are answers to the above questions, and the answers start with you. In this context, it's more important than ever to invest in yourself, to care for yourself, to set your own goals and to watch yourself grow. Equally important is to nurture your relationship with your partner and learn to parent together.