Interesting news about a new service which enables organisations to sell the time of their staff.
Called StaffShare, http://www.staffshare.co.uk/home/index.html it allows organisations to register individuals, who could be under-utilised or at risk of redundancy, on a website offering their services on short- or medium-term secondment basis. Organisations interested in an employee, which will initially be restricted to charities and the voluntary sector, can then buy their services for the selected period through the website.
The scheme has been welcomed by the TUC with general secretary Brendan Barber commenting: “StaffShare is part of a new approach that is needed if we are to avoid the waste of talent and human tragedies that occur if companies rush prematurely into redundancies when conditions start to get tough. This will keep people in employment while allowing third sector organisations to draw on specialist expertise.”
StaffShare is a fully automated interactive system, which allows organisations to sell and buy the time of skilled professionals including, but not exclusive to Financial Controllers, HR Managers, Marketing Executives, IT Professionals, Web Designers and Grant Writers.
We think it’s a great idea and one that should be seized upon by all sectors in respect of all types and levels of jobs. It could, on a long-term basis, solve many of the problems of older workers and the gap which exists between our wants and needs for work (i.e. generally to work longer but on a more flexible basis) and those of employers (who want us, if at all, to work full-time and then retire – generally early).
But no doubt such a scheme would be beset with tax, pensions, health and safety and goodness knows what other bureaucratic issues which ultimately would strangle it in its infancy.
At the very least let’s hope this idea is only the start of a whole raft of recession inspired schemes about how to share out work and rewards more fairly and profitably for all. If this happened, and some were adopted, the recession could be ultimately a very good thing.
