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Questions and Answers
Knowing each other can be an advantage, but does not guarantee the success of job sharing. As the months go by, the duo discovers an internal dynamic that makes the relationship more complex. If both partners knew each other beforehand or are even friends, there is a risk that any disagreements within the duo will degenerate into conflicts that are more difficult to resolve. If both partners did not know each other but feel comfortable with each other from the first meeting, their professional relationship will certainly be more distant and stable. Over the months, it may also develop into a friendship, although this is not essential. Mutual respect, flexibility and a fair division of work between the two partners are more likely to be prerequisites for good job sharing.
Many different time variants are possible. In practice, it has also been shown that the feeling of an uneven distribution of the workload within the duo decreases the more similar the employment levels of the two partners are. If one of the partners works 60 percent of the standard working hours and the other 40 percent, the other colleagues tend to turn to the one who works 60 percent, so that their workload may ultimately exceed the 60 percent. In view of the impact on pay, this can also become a sensitive issue within the duo and give rise to a latent feeling of unequal treatment.
To date, there are practically no legal standards in the area of job sharing. In practice, HR managers refer to the provisions of Swiss employment law. For example, two individual employment contracts (each part-time) are concluded for one position (EAV, Art. 319 ff OR). This explains why it is so difficult to record these contracts statistically or even within a large company. When the contract is concluded, the employer can add special conditions in a supplementary attachment (see “Legal situation”) or refer to job sharing in the individual employment contracts themselves
We observe two trends. Job sharing can correspond to a specific phase of working life, related to education, family responsibilities or a specific job. An average of two to three years could be observed in this way, particularly in a report from the UK (the jobshare project, 2011).
After the settling-in period, the duo finds a working rhythm that provides great satisfaction both professionally and privately and which they want to maintain for as long as possible. Moreover, the path to a functioning job share is a long one (finding a job share partner, applying, agreeing to a shared workplace, finding a common rhythm). Once an agreement has been reached, the corresponding professional partnerships can last for years or even decades, provided that the motivations remain similar in the long term.
In theory, this should not be the case. In practice, however, since both partners are relatively interchangeable, it means that everyone knows all the dossiers. This means that more information is handled by both employees. However, this is also an aspect that makes the work interesting, involves an exchange of knowledge within the duo and means that both feel better integrated into the company.
Then a more detailed explanation should be requested: What is the reason for rejecting job sharing applications? Is it due to the nature of the tasks, because they are fundamentally not divisible? Is it due to one of the two profiles? Does the rejection come from the direct superior or from the management? An HR department that promotes alternative models could review the application and also comment on it. However, if the direct superior is vehemently against it, it is better not to push any further! Cooperation would otherwise be difficult anyway.
Please consult the list of advantages and challenges under our links on this website: employer and employee.
This question is often asked and is not easy to answer due to a lack of practical experience in some economic sectors. In any case, it is clear that in many cases it is a matter of prejudice without any basis. In the school sector, thirty years ago it was thought that job sharing could be detrimental to pupils, whereas today almost 50 percent of primary school teachers work in job sharing. In most cases, both pupils and parents greatly appreciate the diversity of duos (different perceptions, better decisions). Areas where job sharing may be more difficult are those where only one clear reference person is needed and the relationship is more personal.
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