Fundacja FUNDUSZ WSPÓŁPRACY

The objective of the Partnership is to promote job sharing schemes as a model solution helping to reconcile career and family responsibilities.

Job sharing is an alternative work option, whereby two people share the same position in a company, each working a part of the week. The Project is targeted at those women, who after giving birth have encountered problems with returning to their previous job, as well as to those employers, who wish to explore new staff hiring solutions. The system of occupational integration of people unable to work on a full time basis is also addressed at social partners, non-government organisations, local governments and regional or poviat labour offices.

According to surveys made by the Development Partnership, an integrated system of support to households, based on cooperation between employers, trade unions, mass media, labour offices and research/training institutions is required in order to prevent discrimination of young mothers on the labour market.

The Development Partnership will attempt to promote work organisation schemes that help to reconcile professional career and family responsibilities. This will involve an awareness campaign promoting flexible employment schemes among the employers, including work at home and distance working. Training courses enabling young mothers to refresh their skills and qualifications will help them to reenter the labour market.

Activity 2 will involve delivery of training events to a group of 50 mothers. Training sessions will be tailored to their needs and to the requirements of employers and the labour market. Training participants will be awarded certificates to attest their new skills. In addition, the beneficiaries will provided with children care services and personal advice throughout the term of the training.

A new model of job sharing system will be worked out during the Project. This will include hiring procedures applied under the system, in particular those concerning recruitment path, workplace organisation and communication at work. The model will be implemented and tested at 25 enterprises hosting internships for 50 young mothers. Training coordinators will visit and inspect training/internship hosts on a regular basis.

It is also planned to deliver training courses to job counselors from poviat labour offices and job agency staff members. Training participants will be awarded certificates attesting for their readiness to perform tasks associated with recruitment of women under job sharing schemes and to provide employers with job agency services under these schemes. The commitment of project partners, in particular Voivodship Labour Office in Katowice, working in close cooperation with poviat labour offices, is a precondition for overall success of the Project.

Representatives of groups discriminated on the labour market, women's and employers' organisations will join the Project. The beneficiaries will be directly involved in Project delivery by pro-active contributions to surveys made by the Partnership.

Upon Project completion, the Development Partnership will continue to work with beneficiaries, i.e. women and entrepreneurs, by: (a) ensuring their contribution to projects targeted at these groups (including occupational integration and reintegration and job agency services); and (b) inviting them to meetings and seminars intended to promote job sharing schemes in Poland.

One of the goals of the Partnership is to convince employers that a broader scope of flexible employment arrangements, including job sharing approaches, is likely to contribute to an improvement in company performance and its image among the local community - as a company that is friendly to problem-facing employees. In addition to young mothers, the job sharing scheme is also advisable to young people entering the labour market and those who are about to retire from occupational activity.

The dissemination of good practice and its inclusion into mainstream policies will be achieved by dissemination of information materials, conferences, seminars and training events held, as well as through lobbying for Labour Code changes that will enable a wider application of flexible employment schemes.

• Model of supporting flexible forms of employments and principles of distance working for persons taking care of children and dependants