We had the idea of founding the jobsharing hub (from here on: tJSh) back in the summer of 2016. My #PartnerIn_Crime Svenja described here how she, as an HR professional and first mover in the field of job sharing, experienced the organization's reaction to the introduction of the model. I, on the other hand, was able to work in a start-up environment and get to know the model. After a year and countless discussions with professional corporate HR managers, I was convinced: more is needed! More courageous first movers, more exchange with a view to personnel development and change management, more scientific findings on the model, more lighthouse projects in companies that can serve as orientation for interested parties who are hesitant.
Since we founded tJSh, one thing has become clear: corporations in particular are torn! They see the added value that the model offers, find it contemporary, and yet fear the risk of going under with it. Is my company culturally and strategically ready for such a model? How do I find the right space for a pilot project? And what if the idea of a tandem proves difficult in practice? Such questions cannot be brushed aside with a brief reference to personal experience or Frithjof Bergmann's On Being Free (“now everyone is doing new work”). If it were that easy, job sharing would have been widely adopted long ago and employees could use it quickly and practically. But it is in a niche, as Professor Jutta Rump from the Institute for Employment and Employability at the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences recently dictated to the DPA: “Many talk about it, but no one does it. We have a gap between talking and acting.”
The European Academy for Women in Politics and Business in Berlin, after a comprehensive survey in German industrial companies, on flexible working models: “Job sharing is a delicate plant, but it is worth promoting. It simply needs examples” (2016, p.19). We couldn't have put it better ourselves.
Our contribution to the community gardening project of job sharing is to bundle knowledge from research and practice here. Apparently, this is needed to convince more companies to take a closer look at job sharing and to take their first steps. So we are exchanging ideas. For example, with Lena Hipp and Nicolas Morgenroth, who incorporate job sharing into their work at the doctoral program at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (Social Science Research Center Berlin) on good work:
Yannic:...it's true: when it comes to job sharing, despite all my enthusiasm, I often have the feeling that we're talking at cross purposes. Actually, everyone thinks it's great, but then doubts arise. Lena, where do you currently see the biggest hurdles?
Lena: I should actually be asking you (laughs). But okay, then first of all through my female researcher glasses: first of all, there is a widespread perception that individual performance is equated with the hours one spends at work. This must change in any case, it is outdated. Besides, the workforce notices when the will to change is just lip service. It has to be serious when you offer part-time and job-sharing models. No cheap talk! The very specific questions have to be clarified. For example, can I switch from a job-sharing position back to full-time, and if so, how? The answer has to be clear, and as consultants, you can certainly help with that. And finally, job sharing and part-time management models also have to become more attractive within the workforce. We are experiencing this, for example, with parental leave for men: if one person, preferably a high-ranking one, takes the lead, first the perception and then the behavior of the others will change. They will follow.
Yannic: It sounds like there's still a long way to go. You've just worked on the book project Teilzeitführung, and I was able to read a bit of it. Do you think we need a major change in terms of mindset and values so that job sharing can become a more widespread model?
Lena: No, we shouldn't wait for that. I fear it would take forever. If organizations want to implement job sharing in practice, it's better to clarify the tangible questions first. Who can do it? For how long? Nevertheless, we need to talk about the questions that drive such change, whether we are employees, employers, trade unionists or just citizens: how should work be distributed more sensibly? Also in the context of digitalization. And how do we manage to stay healthy and work for a long time, both as individuals and as organizations, in response to demographic change?
Yannic: And you believe – like us at tJSh – that job sharing will play an important role in answering these questions?
Nicholas: Well, assessing the impact of flexible employment on people is the subject of my PhD thesis, for which I would like to stay in touch with you! Because in theory, I find the concept very interesting! But as a scientist, I need reliable practical insights.
Lena: The potential for job sharing seems to be there, but implementation is and remains the big challenge. A lot of convincing is needed. Functional division of labor is actually nothing new, and it's easy to build on within a company. Job sharing is simply the next step. And the framing is important. A model like this must be planned and introduced in the context of the organizational structure.
Yannic: That's our impression too. And that's how we want to discuss it with companies: job sharing as a real HR tool, and not as a nice concession to individual employees.
Such discussions encourage us. There is interest from all sides: people want to work differently, companies want to base their decisions on sound knowledge, and science is looking for real cases that can be examined and scaled. Let's do it!
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