CAREERS: Job Sharing
You’ve probably heard of companies that help people share rides (Uber) and even homes (Airbnb). But what about sharing jobs? Tandemploy, a Berlin-based startup company, aims to bring this model to Germany, with exciting opportunities for both employers and employees alike.
How Does It Work?
Basically, job sharing is exactly what it sounds like: two part-time employees cooperatively share one full-time position. Though this model has been used for years, it hasn’t become commonplace. Tandemploy hopes to change that. The company uses a Web site to help people find well-matched job-sharing partners. Interested employees register online through the Web site and fill out a short 22-question profile questionnaire. Based on that, they are then matched with an “ideal” partner–kind of like online dating.
And it’s catching on. Tandemploy currently has about 8,000 active job-seeking profiles on its Web site, and about 70 companies have signed up for the service.
What Are the Drawbacks?
For many companies, especially mid-sized ones, employee recruitment is already expensive and complicated. With job sharing, instead of interviewing one person for a job, for example, the company would need to interview two. And what if the company likes one of the potential employees, but not his or her job-sharing partner? Do they start the search process all over again?
And there are potential drawbacks for the employees as well. Job-sharing workers must constantly cooperate and compromise in order to work closely with a partner who may do things differently. Furthermore, most part-time employees aren’t eligible for full-time benefits. As the job sharing model becomes more popular, companies may try to save money by hiring only part-time employees, so that they can get out of paying health insurance and other benefits.
So Why Do It?
For employers, job sharing can help them to find the perfect employee. For example, if a company wants to hire someone who is both artistic and skilled with computers, hiring two different employees instead of one might best fit their needs. And if one half of the job-sharing pair gets sick or puts in for vacation time, there is almost always an automatic substitute available.
There are advantages for employees, too. For workers with young children, ill relatives, or elderly parents–or for others who require a flexible career schedule–job sharing can help provide the ideal work-life balance. And employees who achieve a successful work-life balance have been found to experience lower job stress and greater work satisfaction. They also tend to perform their jobs better and have better relationships with coworkers, which improves overall company morale.