New forms of employment: Developing the potential of strategic employee sharing

Although standard employment is still dominant in European labour markets, an increasing range of new employment forms is emerging that differ in their implications for working conditions. This study explores strategic employee sharing, an employment form for companies that have specific HR needs that do not justify a permanent full-time position, but are often recurring, by hiring one or several workers who work on assignments, and whose skills and time are shared among a group of companies. These companies have joint responsibility and liability towards the shared workers who are ensured ‘equal pay, equal treatment’ with core staff. Yet in spite of the win–win potential of this employment form for both companies and workers, it is not widely known and only marginally used. This report explores the preconditions for a further spread of strategic employee sharing as well as its impact on employers and employees.