I was very happy to write an article on the subject of job sharing for Xing Klartext last March. At the time, I was still working at Coca-Cola European Partners. Now, I work exclusively as the founder of the jobsharing hub. Nevertheless, the article remains relevant as I share my personal experiences of job sharing and, as an HR professional, I discuss the topic from a professional point of view. Happy reading!
I work as a job-share HR developer at Coca-Cola European Partners. For over a year now, I have been sharing responsibility in a junior-senior tandem with my junior partner. And, there's no question about it, the model is great! I have more time for my small family, friends and my interests. At the same time, I work in tandem with double the power on responsible projects that I couldn't handle alone in classic part-time. Precisely because I am so convinced by the model, I am surprised by the black-and-white debate about it. On the one side, you have the self-confessed visionaries, lateral thinkers and long-term adopters, and on the other, the supposed stick-in-the-muds who live in the past. I would like to see a balanced discussion, because my personal conclusion is quite simple: yes, there are many advantages to the job sharing model. And also many challenges. Especially in a corporation. This is where relevant questions arise: Where and in which constellation does job sharing really pay off? How do you assess who is suitable for the model? How is the salary and contract structure designed? How is the headcount mapped? Is the topic relevant to the works council? How does the performance management process work with two people in one position, and which reporting lines make sense? And last but not least: How does the tandem get along in this intensive collaboration and position itself confidently in the company?
Job sharing doesn't work at the push of a button
Together with my tandem partner, I gradually cleared some of these hurdles. A confident first appearance as a tandem, a suitable division of the task packages and the definition of meaningful reporting lines are specific examples of this. It was a (sometimes steep) learning curve that shows how much we were able to achieve together. But I also talked to motivated job sharers in corporations and start-ups that failed because of hurdles of this kind or didn't even get off the ground because of them.
It is therefore too simple to speak of purely mental barriers or to insist on “individual solutions”. And even an IT tool for matching job sharers only partially solves the problems here. This is because most of these questions have to be considered in the context of company processes and, not least, company culture. This foundation often still needs to be created. This is a structural challenge. Not a digital one.
How do you eat an elephant? Bit by bit.
So why not start exactly where the problem lies? Many companies simply lack the initial support to embed the model in their own infrastructure. They also lack expertise on when and where job sharing really makes sense and what concrete and measurable added value it brings. The tandems, on the other hand, often just need a little support to quickly get up to speed in the new model and successfully overcome the first hurdles. In Switzerland, the Go For Jobsharing initiative has shown how to provide solid advice to companies on this topic and thus gradually get the ball rolling. I founded The Jobsharing Hub to support organizations and (interested) job sharers in Germany as well. Our approach lies in initiating, advising and supporting organizations in their first job sharing pilots. We always take into account the existing corporate culture, processes and all parties involved. This is achieved not only on the basis of our own HR and job sharing experience, but also by combining best and bad practices and scientific findings.
I look forward to a lot of exciting exchanges, trials and learning experiences! In this way, job sharing gets the ball rolling when it comes to flexibility.
You can also find this article here on Xing.
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