Hiring spouse as a post-doc

[kerprof]

I have the option/approval to hire a post-doc using my start up fund.

My wife is interested and I am considering having my wife work with me as a post-doc. My wife has PhD in science field from a reputed university and has good post-doc experience. Since we moved new to the current place, my wife gave interviews for the staff scientist/post-doc position  in other research instituion in the city and got a verbal offer. She is also slated to give two other interviews for post doc/staff scientist level of position in a different instituion.

However my wife says she would like to work with me as a post-doc. Though my research interests are not directly in her field (though out of a total of  50 publications, I have 3 publications with her in her areas of interest/expertise). However her area is a sub-field in my discipline/department and can be a good vehicle for interdisciplinary research involving health, medicine and biology. Given the focus in the University and in the city/county is in those areas, there is a good opportunity to secure interdisciplinary collaborative grants for the type of research work my wife is involved.

I am also planning to meet (later this week) with a professor in my institution who may be needing  help with the expertise that my wife has.  If this collabortion works out, there is a possibility of steady stream of collaborative work.

I am thinking instead of hiriing someone as a post doc who I dont know, I am wondering if I can work with my wife and may be I can get some additional grant where I can get back that post doc money to hire some one else.

Though I have not contacted my chair/dean yet, I spoke to a trusted senior advior in my institution about it and he said that should not be a problem as long as all the protocls are followed.

I think I need to act quick since my wife would need to make a firm decision, if she gets offers from other places.

Please advise if this is a good idea and if so, what would be the appropriate protocols that need to be followed.

[Ruralguy]

One of my mentors hired his wife as a post-doc for some time until she got her own funding. Since hiring practices for post-docs are usually rather loose anyway, at least in the sciences, I think she would be fine so long as she's qualified and you follow the necessary hiring and reporting requirements.

But be careful. Some granting agencies and schools may have strict COI/anti-nepotism policies. Look into it.

[mamselle]

Also be aware of the potential for snark if your department is unfriendly.

SOMEONE will be sure to get their nose out of joint and give you grief if that's the case.

If not, no worries.

M.

[fleabite]

Think hard about potential impacts on your wife's future career. Working for someone else will give her a new group of people who will become familiar with her work and can serve as references and suggest her for job openings.

[Hibush]

There are a number of risks with that scenario, including challenges being seen as an equitable supervisor of anyone else, staff and students. So the concerns are not just those that can develop between you and your spouse.

My institution limits that risk for those who are tempted by no permitting anyone to supervise, directly or indirectly, a person with whom they have a romantic relationship. If you want to do it anyway, there is a big management plan and alternate supervisors.

You are both likely to be better off in separate labs.

[ciao_yall]

Please advise if this is a good idea and if so, what would be the appropriate protocols that need to be followed.

It is not a good idea.

No protocol will ever make this not look really bad.

[Ruralguy]

Where is she in her career, and what are the chances you'd all pick and move somewhere else either for her job or one you can get?

[kerprof]

what are the chances you'd all pick and move somewhere else either for her job or one you can get?

Could you clarify what do you mean by "what are the chances you'd all pick and move somewhere else either for her job or one you can get?"...

One of the reason we moved here for her job purposes...

[kerprof]

Where is she in her career, and what are the chances you'd all pick and move somewhere else either for her job or one you can get?

Please advise why you think this is not a good idea...   

[fizzycist]

Sounds to me like a bad idea for you and your wife.

From your wife's perspective: if her career goal is to be a researcher in academia, then her best bet is to work in a famous, well funded lab. Dunno if you are famous or not, but she is already associated with you and your letter of rec will be useless anyway. Also if you are paying her from startup, is there a chance you could run out of funding after a couple years? Maybe not a risk worth taking if she has other offers now. And the line in her CV showing her having taken a postdoc with her husband may look like desperation next time she is on job market (maybe not fair assessment, but it is what it is).

From your perspective: do you really want to set up an awkward dynamic in your research lab on day 1? How will the other grad students/postdocs feel with this situation? How about your colleagues? I would never have joined such a group as a trainee and might be prone to being judgmental if a colleague were doing it (probably it is unfair of me, but it is what it is).

And then there is the whole issue of how you being your spouse's boss would affect your home life. Hard to see it affecting it in only positive ways, but you would know better than any of us.

[polly_mer]

I've seen spouses work as close collaborators and have it work out.  However, as others have mentioned, those folks did so as equals, not as professor and postdoc.  Some were co-PIs in a joint group with one TT position and one soft money position, but that was arranged before hire with a lot of negotiation on the details.

The folks I've known have also been in the same field with slightly different expertise (e.g., one is an experimentalist and one is a theorist or one is an expert in the liquid phase and one is an expert in the solid phase and they publish jointly on oddities in phase transitions) so it was a true collaboration for better research.

If your wife has other good professional options and she's not the top pick as having complementary skills so that everyone benefits, then I would hold off on having her join your group as a junior member.

[Ruralguy]

To explain my reasoning behind my questions:

If your wife is later in her career and this is meant as either stop gap or some way to continue an otherwise acceptable career, then I think this is fine (to me).

If very early in her career (right after grad school) it can be more damaging. In the end, maybe the product is all that matters, but there always could be someone who focuses on appearances of conflict of interest.

[kerprof]

To explain my reasoning behind my questions:

If your wife is later in her career and this is meant as either stop gap or some way to continue an otherwise acceptable career, then I think this is fine (to me).

If very early in her career (right after grad school) it can be more damaging. In the end, maybe the product is all that matters, but there always could be someone who focuses on appearances of conflict of interest.

My wife is later in her career (10 years post PhD) and this is meant as either stop gap or some way to continue an otherwise acceptable career. One of the reason I found a new job and we relocated is for her career opportunities.

[wwwdotcom]

What does your chair or dean think about this?  Were it me in her/his position, there's no way in hell I would approve this hire. 

[bio-nonymous]

At my State Institution (and in the system here in general), there are anti-nepotism laws in place that specifically forbid a close relative from being the direct supervisor or in control of the hiring/firing of a relative (including spouse, son/daughter/stepchild/aunt/uncle/etc.). I would be surprised if there are not at least strict rules to manage the relationship that would need to be followed, though your senior faculty friend seems to think it would be fine. The first thing I would check would be to see of this were even legal where you are, and if so the rules that your institution may have in place about such a relationship, before I ever approached the chair/dean with the idea...never mind the other potential difficulties that others have mentioned. PostDoc/Mentor relationships are not always without drama/tension/head-butting in themselves--so that could potentially affect your home life and spill over into the lab affecting your other subordinates.