New staff 'swap shop' site launches

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The TUC has welcomed the launch of a new site that actively encourages companies to share their employees’ time with other organisations.

StaffShare is effectively an online ‘swap shop’ whereby businesses can register the details of staff members and offer them up for secondments – for the short and medium term – elsewhere.

The aim is to avoid redundancies by re-deploying skills from over-populated areas to areas currently under resourced, starting with charities and the voluntary sector, according to StaffShare’s founderWork Wise UK.

“The TUC hopes that lots of organisations sign up to this innovative scheme, which will keep people in employment whilst allowing third sector organisations to draw on specialist expertise,” TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said in a statement.

“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.”

A pilot of the new scheme launches this month.

Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, said in a statement: “The last ten years have seen unprecedented growth and employment levels within the UK. Recent events mean that all sectors of the economy will come under increasing pressure to work smarter and be more productive.”

He added: “The credit crunch has seen companies of all sizes forced to reduce their running costs but instead of losing trained, skilled employees during a 'period of economic adjustment’ we can help you offer these skills to charitable and other organisations.”

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