The Expat Spouses Initiative and the Eindhoven branch of EY have established ESI B.V. Together they want to make sure that partners of international workers have more work opportunities in the region, allowing them to integrate better.
For years already, the Brainport region tries to attract highly skilled knowledge workers from abroad, and with them their partners move along. They are often highly educated, according to the Expat Spouses Initiative, but integration remains difficult for this group. The opportunities for jobs are lower, because of the language barrier. But ESI and EY know for sure: if the partners can also work in the host country, the whole family will integrate faster.
Since late 2014 the Expat Spouses Initiative has filled a database with five hundred highly qualified international spouses. Of these, 25 have found a job, thanks to ESI. With the help of ESI BV it is supposed to become easier to enter into partnerships with companies and organisations, which is necessary to close the gap between the spouse and the job offers.
ESI’s Foundation and BV have separated focuses: the foundation works from the needs of the spouse that came with the working expat, whereas the newly formed BV connects to the companies they work with. This way, more opportunities should arise for example by offering ‘double jobs’, one for the expat and one for his or her spouse. The employers also dig into the network of partner companies and institutions to see if there are jobs for the expat partner. It is therefore possible that both knowledge workers can immediately start in the host country.
Immediately after establishing the BV, collaboration has already been started with EY, USG People, HighTechXL, TU/e and Holland Expat Center. The first goal of the organisation is that more companies can offer dual careers.
Picture: Expat Spouses Event on June 12
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