HR-Glossar
Jobsharing (job sharing / sharing one workplace)
How two employees share one job in Germany, why there is no general duty to cover and what happens when one of them leaves.
1. What is Jobsharing (job sharing / sharing one workplace)?
In job sharing several employees share one workplace. In law this is Arbeitsplatzteilung under Section 13 TzBfG: employer and employees agree that several people share the working time at one workplace.
Each person involved has their own employment contract with the employer. No partnership and no joint obligation arises – the connection lies solely in the arrangement about how working time is divided.
Two statutory clarifications shape practice and are regularly reported wrongly. First: there is no general duty to cover for one another. Covering in an individual case is reasonable only where there is an urgent operational reason and the person has consented. Second: one person leaving is not a ground for dismissing the other. Both points run against what international practice usually assumes.
2. Origin and development
Job sharing arose as an answer to a practical gap. Part-time work long meant tasks of smaller scope – positions carrying responsibility were held to be indivisible, because they demanded presence and continuous availability.
Sharing a workplace turns that around: the task is not made smaller but spread across several people. Positions thereby become accessible to people who cannot or do not want to work full time – and a side effect arises for the business which is often underrated: the workplace is doubly staffed, knowledge never sits with one person alone, and absences hit it less hard.
Particular attention has gone to the variant for management positions, for which the term topsharing has become established. In law it is nothing separate – Section 13 TzBfG applies as it otherwise does. The difficulties lie not in the law but in the organisation: decision paths, responsibilities, and the question of who speaks to the team and to outsiders.
3. Core principles and how it works
Separate contracts, a shared arrangement
Each person stands in their own employment relationship. The sharing concerns how working time is divided, not the contractual relationship.
No general duty to cover
Section 13(1) sentence 2 TzBfG says so expressly. Covering in an individual case requires an urgent operational reason and the consent of the person concerned.
Leaving is not a ground for dismissal
Section 13(2) TzBfG: where one person leaves, that does not justify dismissing the other. Dismissal on other grounds remains possible.
The division needs settling
Who works when, how handovers take place, what happens on absence: without a rule the conflict arises exactly when nobody has time for it.
Pay and entitlements follow the share
Each person is paid according to their share. Holiday, continued pay and social security follow each person's own employment relationship.
The prohibition on disadvantage applies
Job sharers are part-time employees. Treating them worse because of part-time work – in pay, training or advancement – is not permitted.
4. Who is Jobsharing (job sharing / sharing one workplace) relevant for?
- Employees with caring responsibilities – a position otherwise demanding full time becomes accessible to them. - Managers working part time – topsharing is the most workable way to combine leadership with reduced hours. - Employers competing for skilled people – shared posts open up candidate groups otherwise out of reach. - Employees moving towards retirement – job sharing enables knowledge transfer as hours fall. - HR – they design the contracts, the cover arrangements and the organisational fit.
5. How it differs from related terms
- Job sharing and part-time work – part-time work is one person's reduced hours. Job sharing presupposes that several share the same workplace. - Job sharing and job rotation – rotation moves tasks between people over time; job sharing divides one workplace at the same time. - Job sharing and on-call work – with on-call work the employer determines when the work falls; in job sharing the participants do so between themselves. - Job sharing and cover – cover is a fixed-term replacement for an absent person; in job sharing both work permanently in the same post. - Topsharing and a dual leadership – dual leadership under company law follows other rules; topsharing is workplace sharing under employment law.
6. Variants and adaptations
The design differs above all in how tasks are divided:
- Divided time, divided tasks – each person handles their own matters; handovers are rare and coordination light. - Divided time, shared tasks – both are responsible for the same matters; that requires intensive handovers but makes cover almost unnecessary. - Topsharing – workplace sharing in a management position. What matters is a clear rule on who decides what and who speaks to the outside. - Overlap model – the working times overlap on one day or half a day; the coordination effort falls considerably. - Job sharing for a period – in the transition to retirement, for instance, or while a successor is trained.
7. Advantages and challenges
Advantages
- Makes demanding positions accessible part time, including with management responsibility
- The workplace is doubly staffed – knowledge never sits with one person alone
- Absences through holiday and sickness hit the post less hard
- Two perspectives on the same task frequently improve the quality of decisions
- Opens up candidate groups not available for full-time posts
Challenges
- Coordination and handovers cost time that is planned into neither person's hours
- Without an overlap, information is lost at the handover points
- There is no general duty to cover – absences are not automatically covered
- For outsiders it is not always clear who is responsible and available
- Topsharing needs an express rule on decision-making authority
- Where one person leaves the post must be refilled – the other cannot be dismissed
8. Best practices for implementation
Plan and pay for overlap time
A shared half day a week solves most handover problems. An employer that does not plan the coordination as working time moves it into people's own time – and then it does not happen.
Agree cover expressly rather than assuming it
Section 13 TzBfG knows no general duty to cover. Anyone who needs cover must agree it – voluntarily, for something in return and within clear limits.
Make responsibilities visible to the outside
Clients, colleagues and managers must be able to see who is available when and who decides what. Otherwise everything lands with whoever happens to be there.
With topsharing, set the decision paths down in writing
Jointly, alternately or by subject area – all three work. What does not work is an unsettled responsibility in a conflict.
Plan the refill early
Where one person leaves, the other cannot be dismissed. The post has to be filled – and until it is, the remaining person is not obliged to take everything on.
9. Tips for employers and employees
For employers
- **No automatic cover** – Section 13(1) sentence 2 TzBfG; it needs consent
- **Leaving is not a ground for dismissal** – Section 13(2) TzBfG
- **Plan overlap time as working time** – otherwise the coordination does not happen
- **Observe the prohibition on disadvantage** – job sharers are part-time employees
For employees
- **You do not have to step in** – there is no general duty to cover
- **Your own contract, your own entitlements** – holiday and continued pay follow your share
- **Agree handover time** – otherwise you work it unpaid
- **Settle responsibilities** – particularly in a management post, before the first conflict
10. Conclusion
Job sharing is workplace sharing under Section 13 TzBfG: several employees, one workplace, but each with their own employment contract. It makes positions accessible part time that would otherwise demand full time – including management positions.
Two statutory clarifications are regularly reported wrongly. There is no general duty to cover: anyone expected to step in must consent, and there must be an urgent operational reason. And one person leaving justifies no dismissal of the other – the employer has to refill the post. Both cut against what an internationally drafted job share arrangement usually assumes.
In practice, though, it is not the law that decides success but the organisation. The most common cause of failure is banal: the coordination between the participants is not planned as working time. Then it happens in their own time – or not at all.
Sources
- Section 13 TzBfG – Sharing a workplace (German original; no official English version) (opens in a new tab)
- Section 14 TzBfG – Permissibility of fixed terms (German original; no official English version) (opens in a new tab)
- Section 611a BGB – Contract of employment (official English version) (opens in a new tab)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (English pages) (opens in a new tab)
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