Information and Guidelines for Hiring and Retaining Dual-Career Couples
Guidelines for Recruitment

These guidelines apply to the recruitment or retention of individuals subject to Conditions of Faculty or Administrative service and their spouse/partners who may be hired in an appointed (administrator, faculty, or professional) or classified staff category.

Guidelines used for hires in other than faculty or administrative positions could be modeled after those described below.

Definitions

• Candidate refers to the member of a couple being recruited or considered for retention by the University whose appointment must be subject to Conditions of Faculty or Administrative Service.
• Spouse/partner refers to an accompanying spouse or partner whose employment at the University is a substantial factor in the candidate's acceptance of a University offer of employment or retention. The spouse/partner may be seeking a position in an appointed (administrator, faculty, or professional) or classified staff category.
• Department head or director refers to the hiring authority of a department or unit.
• Department refers to the department or unit extending an offer to the candidate.
• Receiving department refers to the department or unit extending an offer to the spouse/partner.

Suggested Sequence of Events in Negotiating a Spouse/Partner Hire

When a candidate indicates that a spouse/partner hire would be a substantial factor in his or her decision to accept an offer or remain at the University, the following sequence of events is suggested.

Initial Internal Process

1. Department heads, directors, or members of the search advisory committee make a candidate aware of the existence of The University of Arizona's process for supporting spouse/partner position selections.
2. The department head or director contacts the spouse/partner to gather information about the spouse's/partner's objectives and qualifications. A curriculum vitae or résumé and other relevant information is obtained as soon as possible, including a signed release from the spouse/partner permitting The University of Arizona to copy and distribute these documents as necessary. The department head or director notifies the dean, the Provost or appropriate vice president's office of the possible spouse/partner hire at this point.
3. The department head or director consults with the dean or vice president regarding the importance of facilitating a spouse/partner hire, the possibilities for funding a position, possible units to contact, and what further information may be required from the candidate and spouse/partner.
4. The department head or director takes steps to gather information about possible job search directions and to distribute a curriculum vitae or résumé and other information about the spouse/partner as necessary. In this initial process, the department head or director may wish to consult the following resources:
• Other department heads and directors regarding positions in appropriate disciplinary areas
• College deans and vice presidents regarding an appointed (administrator, faculty, or professional) or classified staff positions
• The Human Resources' UA Career Track homepage regarding all vacant positions within the University, or HR advisors regarding potential positions within the University (626-6031) [Note: Depending on how far a search has progressed, it may not be possible to do a non-competitive hire for a posted position.]
• The University's Career Development Center (621-2340), regarding employment outside the University or for career counseling and assistance.

The initial steps in the search or identification process for a position for the spouse/partner are to determine if there is the possibility of a "fit" within a receiving department and whether there is a basis to proceed to the interview stage.

Identification of and Consultation with Potential Receiving Department

5. Department heads or directors who express interest in the spouse/partner and who have or are willing to create an opportunity within their units to employ the spouse/partner should then consult with their deans or vice presidents regarding the possibilities for funding a position, possible additional units to contact, and what further information may be required from the spouse/partner.
6. If possibilities warrant, the potential receiving department head or director generally consults with the department's search advisory committee, executive committee or other governance group involved in candidate recruitment. The department head or director and, when applicable, appropriate committees review the spouse's /partner's documentation, explore the relationship of the hire to department goals, opportunities and problems that may exist, what possibilities may exist for funding a position, and determine what further information may be required from the spouse/partner, including the need for a campus visit. If the initial exploration is clearly negative, the process ends at this point. If the spouse/partner hire appears to have the potential for success within the receiving department and, if funding is available, the process continues to the formal interview stage.

Interviewing of Spouse/Partner

7. The receiving department generally uses the regular, formal interview process to determine if the spouse/partner is a desirable hire. If a campus visit by the spouse/partner is necessary, the costs of such a visit may be partially or fully absorbed by the department or unit recruiting the candidate or seeking to retain a faculty member or administrator.
8. Procedures generally include review by a faculty status committee or other search advisory committee within the department or unit as well as by the administration if the spouse/partner is a potential faculty member. When the interests of the spouse/partner represents a new direction for the unit, the benefits of the addition of the spouse/partner to the unit may be weighed along with his or her qualifications and accomplishments and potential contributions to the unit. Departments might consider a hire's effect on, among other things, future directions of the unit, potential as a teacher or scholar, potential contribution to the workload of the department and interdisciplinary connections to other units.

Criteria for making a decision might include whether:

• The spouse/partner in consideration has sufficiently high achievements and/or potential that he or she would have been a member of a "short list" for a position in the unit if a position in the area (and for the type of position in question, e.g., multiyear lecturer, assistant professor, research associate) had been advertised.


• The spouse/partner has sufficiently high achievements and/or potential that the receiving department would desire to retain the individual even if the marriage or partnership dissolves or if the candidate leaves the University.

Outcome of the Spouse/Partner Interview

9. If the review process results in an overall negative recommendation by the receiving department, the process ends at this point. If the spouse/partner hire is supported by the receiving department, negotiations proceed to the formal agreement stage.
10. The heads and directors of both departments determine the elements of an agreement, including terms such as salary, space, rank, startup needs, promotion and tenure or continuing status, or other status of the spouse/partner hire in direct consultation with deans and/or vice presidents. Issues that may need to be addressed and that need to be agreed upon at the time of hire include the following:

Funding: How is the original funding of the position supported? What does each department or unit contribute? Is funding permanent, temporary or contingent?

Extent of commitments: Do the hiring arrangements change over time (e.g., Does one unit phase out support?) Are there possible term or status limits on any shared funding? If the candidate leaves the University or their job terminates, how long does the commitment to the spouse/partner continue? If the spouse/partner leaves the University or moves to another university department, does the line and funding provided by the other sources stay in the spouse/partner's original department? Under what conditions is a term appointment renewed? What would happen if the spouse/partner shifts status (e.g., from multi-year lecturer to assistant professor)?

What costs (i.e., start-up, space renovation, moving, laboratory facilities, campus visits, etc.) will be supported and by whom? Financial support available for a candidate and spouse/partner may vary substantially across colleges and vice presidential areas.

Request for Support from Provost or Vice President

11. Once all parties reach an agreement (see item 10), the dean or vice president approaches the provost or appropriate vice president to discuss commitments such as funding for salary, startup resources, and personnel needs as well as space needs, special tenure or continuing status issues, etc. Consideration of the current recruitment plan, as well as strategic planning will play a part in the discussion.

Note: In general, requests to the provost or vice president should not exceed one-third of the salary of the spouse/partner hire for a period of up to three years. The intent is that the department and receiving department/college will eventually assume responsibility for the longer-term funding of the spouse/partner hire.

12. To comply with the University's Policy for Non-competitive Selections for a spouse/partner, the intent to hire the spouse/partner must be included in the candidate's offer letter or retention agreement. Approval of the spouse/partner hire must be obtained from the provost or appropriate vice president before this condition may be added to the candidate's offer letter or retention agreement. In addition to the terms applicable to the candidate's hire or retention, the offer letter or retention agreement contains the signatures of all parties involved in the hire of both the candidate and the spouse/partner.

Letter of Offer

13. When an offer is accepted by a candidate, the following is required:

• Documentation for a non-competitive hire of a spouse/partner contains a copy of the candidate's offer letter or retention agreement specifying the hire of the spouse/partner.
• An offer letter to the spouse/partner written by the receiving department contains any necessary conditions, time or other limitations. The letter states that the offer is contingent upon the candidate's acceptance of an offer of employment with the University. If there are any additional conditions that limit the extent of the offer to the spouse/partner or the conditions of such an offer, those are included in this initial offer letter.

14. The position of the spouse/partner will remain funded until the stated term limitation of the offer or until such funding is no longer available if funding is from non-state sources. This offer letter may limit the term for which funding for the position is provided. This limitation does not preclude the department from later extending the term of the funding and continuing the appointment.

Evaluation and Role of Spouse/Partner Within Receiving Department

15. During negotiations and after a spouse/partner joins the receiving department, the spouse/partner will be treated in the same way as any other employee of the same rank and status within the receiving department. Thus, on matters such as merit review, retention, promotion and tenure or continuing status reviews, working conditions or workload assignment, the spouse/partner will be evaluated and treated in the same manner as all other similarly ranked individuals within the receiving department.
16. All department heads, directors, deans, or vice presidents involved should consider the effects of the spouse/partner hire on recruitment plans and on the department's or college's overall workload responsibilities. For example, does the individual hired fill a specific programmatic need within the department? If not, will there be a negative effect upon the department's subsequent ability to recruit for other new appointments that are based on needs not satisfied by the spouse/partner hire? When the spouse/partner hire increases the number of faculty in the department who are available to share instructional, committee, and service duties, he or she is counted as part of the unit’s overall FTE in determining whether the unit has enough faculty to cover its general workload.

Task Force on Spousal Hires

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