Embracing Job Sharing in Factories
#flexhybridworking
#breakthebias
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Job sharing was introduced with great excitement and anticipation in our Nestlé Switzerland offices in 2020. Due to initial concerns about the potential complexity of carrying out job sharing in operational structures, its implementation in factories required a bit more time to take off. This happened during a talent retention situation when the Nestlé Waters Switzerland team took proactive measures to prevent the loss of one of their valuable female engineers by offering a reduced activity rate.
The factory HR business partner and the line manager recognized the opportunity and decided to launch a recruitment process for a job sharing role. In May 2023, Nestlé Waters Switzerland proudly announced its first job sharing arrangement, with both production engineers working at a capacity of 60% each. Working together as a job sharing couple means they have designated overlap days to align, split tasks, and plan ahead. At Nestlé Waters Switzerland, our ultimate goal is to make all jobs shareable, both in offices and factories.
The outcome for the line manager was very positive. Initially skeptical, he quickly saw the benefits of having two heads rather than one. Since then, Nestlé has introduced other job sharing couples in factories across Switzerland. We believe in the power of a continuous improvement mindset and as this is a new arrangement in factories, flexibility to learn and adjust is key. In addition to having clear agreements and work organization, job sharers also regularly connect with other couples to share experiences and best practices.
This Best Practice was first published in the Gender Intelligence Report 2024.
We first introduced job sharing at Nestlé Switzerland in 2020. This followed a talent retention situation where, despite our willingness to offer a reduced working rate (50%) after maternity leave, we could not easily find another profile at 50% and ultimately lost our female talent. At the same time, Eugenio Simioni, CEO of Nestlé Switzerland, participated in a working group of high-potential women and received feedback on the challenges of having a part-time career. This led to the creation of a job share policy which was quickly adopted in offices, but not as easily in factories. Then, in May 2023, we also faced a talent retention situation in Nestlé Waters Switzerland. In order to retain our female engineering talent, the HR business partner and line manager proposed a job sharing solution, which led to the first recruitment of a production engineer at 60%. Our challenge now is to implement job sharing more widely across our factories, where operational structures may be more complex.
Our ultimate goal is to make all our jobs shareable, both in offices and factories. We received fantastic support from the top which led to the creation of a Job Share Core Team, including Heike Kammerer-Vercelli, our Head of Marketing and Consumer Communication Nestlé Switzerland and also sponsor of the Employee Group “Women on the Move”. A job sharing platform was created, where employees can create a profile and find potential job share partners. It also allows Nestlé to have a database of people interested in job sharing. Clear guidelines for managers, employees and HR business partners were developed on how to implement job sharing. In addition to developing the infrastructure, a lot of work had to be done around the communication and awareness building of what job sharing is. With continuous information sessions and best practice sharing we hope to make job sharing more common and accessible, in offices and factories, for both men and women.
After the initial implementation phase, we are now becoming more familiar with the challenges that job sharers face: communicating together and with stakeholders is a major part of the partnership’s success. Flexibility and the willingness to learn, change and openly discuss the challenges is what allows a job share couple to develop in the role together. Besides the recruitment of the right profile, continous improvement in the role and relationship is key. We therefore implemented coaching for job share couples and best practice exchange sessions with other job share partners, which provide valuable learning and insights. The sharing of success stories also helps us to present the benefits of job sharing to our managers.
“Our vision is to make all jobs shareable, both in office and factories.” – Eugenio Simioni, CEO Nestlé Suisse
Job sharing fully brings our Nestlé values around inclusive leadership to life, providing an additional pillar in the range of flexible work solutions. The possibilities to attract and retain talent have also increased, with our recruitment center actively communicating about job share options and systematically asking line managers whether a position is job shareable. The communication has been key, and we see that success stories often inspire others to lead by example. Sharing best practices is valuable not only for job sharing partners, but also for line managers to understand the challenges they may face and how to mitigate any concerns.
Nestlé Switzerland offers a flexible work model which allows flexibility around work location (remote working), working hours and part-time work. Nestlé recommends a ‘hybrid model’ combining the positive experience and flexibility of working remotely with an on-site presence to connect, collaborate, celebrate and create. The different flexible work solutions allow managers and employees to define the best solution for themselves and their teams, depending on the type of work, job scope and business requirements. A cornerstone of the flexible work model is trust, supported by a clear policy defining the requirements and expectations of working remotely.
For more information about this Best Practice, reach out to the author:
Danielle Out
Talent Manager
danielle.out@ch.nestle.com
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