Coworking as a Career Strategy: Implications for the Work and Family Lives of University Employees

ABSTRACT: This study of 276 couples compares coworking couples, which means both partners work for the same university, with noncoworking couples, those couples in which only one partner is employed at a university. Among the employees at the two universities studied, one in seven dual-earner couples cowork. These couples are more educated and are less likely to prioritize one spouses ’ career over that of the other, as compared to noncoworking couples. Coworking is positively associated with work commitment and family success for husbands and with family and marital satisfaction for wives, especially for couples with graduate degrees. Findings suggest that employment of spouses can be beneficial to employees and institutions. KEY WORDS: dual careers; academic couples; work-family; career success; spillover. Family relations are undergoing remarkable transformations as in-creasing numbers of couples are dual earners, with both spouses em-ployed in the workforce. For professional couples, this often means ne-gotiating three jobs: his work, her work, and their family/relationship (Christensen & Gomory, 1999; Hertz, 1986; Moen, 2003). One commo