maja.schreiner - Sharing Tribe

Be Like… our Founder

maja.schreiner — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 20:26:13 +0000

FIRST PUBLISHED ON 18 AUGUST 2020 BY BRIGITTE HULLIGER and Be like Grace

Dear Maja, tell us about you. Who are you and where are you from?

Maja: I was born and grew up in Serbia, where I also completed my studies in information systems and technologies at the University of Belgrade. Since my early years I was interested in computers and programming and to this day the interest and passion have not waned, on the contrary.

I have been living and working in Switzerland for almost 20 years and I can now call myself a 99% Swiss.

Professionally, I worked for Swisscom as an agile tester and testing lead before I decided to go my own way and start my own business.

In my private life I am the mother of 2 wonderful girls and I am very committed to all women and especially women in IT.

Quite the journey! What valuable advice did you get from your parents?

Maja: Determination (GRIT in EN), courage, and integrity.

Valuable advice indeed. How and when did you get interested in Innovation and Tech? What fascinates you about it?

Maja: The Commodore 64 was the biggest for me as a child. From an early age, I was interested in computers and to this day the interest and passion have not waned, on the contrary. While my brother and friends mostly played computer games, I was more interested in programming and media in general.

I’ve always been interested in technology. Later I wanted to study something with a future and decided on information systems and technology. In my home country Serbia it is quite normal for women to choose technical professions. When I came to Switzerland after completing my studies, I quickly realized that it wasn’t the case here. It bothered me a lot.

That was also my motivation to initiate a Swisscom internal community – Women in Tech & Lead. We are around 100 women in technical professions, network, exchange ideas and increase our visibility at Swisscom. I looked after the community in my spare time for 3.5 years. People are very important to me.

Congratulations on how well you handled that fact. And to have built a community with a 100 tech-women is amazing. What would you say drives you at work?

Maja: For me, solving the right problems for our customers is the most important thing to me.

Of course, following lean and agile principles is also very close to me and if you can quickly see and check the early and first results, my motivation is even greater.

What aspects of your life are you most proud of?

Maja: I am particularly proud of the fact that I came to Switzerland myself after I found a job in a start-up in Lausanne in 2000 (!) And also managed to stay in Switzerland and find the next job, despite the strict rules and quotas for third countries.

Definitely something to be proud of. And what would you say was or is your biggest challenge at work?

Maja: I, unfortunately, have to repeat what so many other women have said already: The biggest challenge so far was actually a few clichéd moments in which I had to assert myself as a woman and as a mother in the technical world until I stopped doing it and learned to profit out of the situation. By the way: I will speak about these learnings and experiences at the Digitaltag in November.

Oh yes, we will talk about that. Can you give a sneak peak: What advice would you give young women in tech and innovation?

Maja: To always stay committed. Get yourself a mentor and a coach and join different networks to keep in touch with others.

At work, always show your results and be brave and persistent.

Thank you very much Maja. Let’s hope young women out there follow your advice. We think it is a very good advice.

Now for the next part, we would like to know, what first comes to mind with the following terms.

Diversity

Maja: Multi-Cultural

Future

Maja: Young generation

Women in Tech

Maja: YES

Algorithms

Maja: YES

Internet of Things

Maja: Cool

Job-Sharing

Maja: My Business. Sharing Tribe.

Health Roboters

Maja: Looking forward to them

Nice. We can see, you definitely are a techie Now, let’s put that to the test with some either…or questions (Majas choice is Highlighted)

Online or Face to Face?

Artificial Intelligence or Human Brain?

Digital or Analogous?

Ballot Box or e-Voting?

Cocktail or Beer?

Career, Family or Both?

That was it! Thank you so much Maja for this interview. You really are a role model for women in tech and innovation. We wish you all the best, especially with your new business Sharing Tribe. Let’s keep in touch and we will see each other in November!

We hope you enjoyed reading about our founder’s experience. If you are intrigued to learn more about the advantages of the job-sharing model then please join our community, post a free job ad on our platform or contact us to make an appointment.

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3 Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Flexible Work Strategy

maja.schreiner — Fri, 02 Sep 2022 20:22:53 +0000

Does your company have a flexible work strategy?

If not, it’s time to design and implement one. The sooner, the better.

The pandemic took a heavy toll on employees, and in particular on people with additional caregiving responsibilities. The sudden switch from traditional workplaces to remote work has brought many challenges, from redefining team dynamics to creating workstations in the kitchen or bedroom and juggling homeschooling and elderly care.

Recent surveys show that high percentages of employees struggle with mental health issues and burnout.

We all need to process the collective trauma and transition to a new “normal.”

Why do you need a flexible work strategy NOW?

1. Your employees deserve it.

Employees’ well-being has to become a priority. They are the most valuable asset of your company and deserve recognition for the hard work and loyalty they’ve shown during the coronavirus pandemic. They need a vacation unencumbered by emails and the time to reconnect with their loved ones.

Furthermore, the uncertainty related to new strains of covid (the Delta variant is already problematic in parts of Europe) requires intentional actions towards a better Work-Life Integration and preparedness for future pandemic-related restrictions and lockdowns.

2. Beware of the talent shortage.

Like many other European countries, Switzerland already experiences a significant talent shortage, especially in the tech industry. On the other hand, automation and digital transformation require upskilling and reskilling.

By implementing a flexible work strategy, you can tap into a larger, more diverse talent pool and set up upskilling and reskilling programs for your current employees.

3. Future-proof your Employer Branding

Work is being redefined everywhere in the world. Remote work, hybrid workplaces, the four-day work week, and job sharing are the main Future of Work trends. Moreover, GenZ and Millenials have higher expectations from their employers and prefer flexible work.

Flexible work is here to stay and is a prerequisite to remaining relevant as an employer and as a company.

Job sharing, the four-day week, flexible working hours in a remote or hybrid setting are excellent work models that can be adapted to your workforce needs.

Get ready for the Future of Work!

Do you need support with designing and implementing your Flexible Work strategy? We at Sharing Tribe are happy to help.

Book a 30-minute consultation with the Sharing Tribe team and write to us at contact@sharingtribe.tech

The post 3 Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Flexible Work Strategy first appeared on Sharing Tribe.

How to find your Job Sharing Partner in the company you work for

maja.schreiner — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 16:46:13 +0000

Job sharing is a future way of working. That means, two people form a well-established team with each other, share the knowledge, success and responsibility and complete the tasks together. Even more, the outcome that two people achieve together is more than their cumulative individual outcomes when they work separately.

From many hours spent interviewing customers, conducting surveys and desk research, we know that finding a job share partner and getting the supervisor and the entire organization on board is most straightforward when done within the company. We applied this approach to one of our B2B customers, a leading global telecommunications company.

What does the B2B2C process look like?

Depending on the company’s needs, we start with “Identify & Plan” or “Inform & Educate” workshops. The first one will enable HR and Business managers to evaluate the most urgent needs and identify the best solutions to implement. In addition, it will speed up the transformation of the organization to support a better and more diversity-friendly model of work.

The next one, “Inform & Educate” is a one to two hours long virtual event, to enable companies to raise awareness and positive contribution of part-time and Diversity & Inclusion topics in their working environment.

“Train & Equip” workshops are for HR and DEI managers to learn how to best implement a part-time recruiting strategy. They will enable them to raise the success of their hiring strategy and develop a culture of diversity and inclusion in the organization.

Based on our previous community-building experiences and expertise, we have developed a global community to promote well-being at work and balance with private life. We introduce the community in the client’s organization and connect and match their talents.

After a successful match, talents are onboarded, mentored, and trained by the Sharing Tribe team, and we will make sure that all their concerns and questions are addressed and answered.

Also, talents we coach become members of our community and are welcome to become coaches for the next tandems as well.

So now, get started!

If you need more advice, or assistance in implementing job sharing in your organization, including your internal employees, contact us at contact AT sharingtribe.tech

If you would like to learn more about the benefits of the job sharing model and try it out for yourself, then please join our community, apply for open jobs, post a free job ad on our platform, register as a company or contact us to make an appointment.

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10 steps to convince your employer to let you work in job sharing

maja.schreiner — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 18:47:33 +0000

In 2020, it was proven that workers don’t have to be in an office full-time to be productive and trustworthy employees. So why would the job sharing case be much different? How can staff convince their employers to continue with the flexible workforce revolution and let them work in job sharing?

To help, here is our step-by-step guide to help employees communicate the business case for a job or top share work with their current employer, including expert guidance from our team at Sharing Tribe, plus advice from workers who successfully advocated for a job share within their own organizations.

1. Find an advocate

The first step is to identify the right person(s) within your organization to support your request.

Choose someone with the power to make decisions who is familiar with your performance. This will typically be your manager or an HR partner.

If you think there might be a bigger need for a remote or hybrid policy across the company, you can also start an employee resource group (community) focused on job and top sharing. Ask the colleagues who are already job sharing to join you and be your ambassadors.

2. Come with facts

Don’t have the conversation without facts on your side.

Create a presentation, and listed out all possible concerns they might have and how you could mitigate them.

Be flexible and collaborative in the conversation and bring strong evidence to back up your request.

3. Understand what drives your company

Research workforce trends to help your company stay competitive in hiring.

The current biggest trends are around a war for talents and talent retention, which reflect the opportunities and advantages of job sharing.

Start by bringing the data to the table and ask your hiring managers if they agree that this was the future. Also, ask them if they agree that offering flexibility as a perk would make your company more competitive in hiring and retaining talents. We are sure they will agree!

You will have great success if you start at a macro level with the trends and bring it down in a funnel to you as an individual and your personal interest in job sharing.

4. Emphasize the business value

It can be helpful to talk about your future at the company and what impact you can make.

Explain that the best way you can make that impact is to have more flexibility because of what it offers you mentally, emotionally, and practically.

5. Appeal to their human side

In some cases, a human argument might be the best way to persuade your employer.

If you feel comfortable doing so, tell your employer why it’s important for you as an individual to work remotely.

Perhaps the flexibility helps you to spend more time with your children. Depending on the situation and your relationship with your boss, a human argument might get them to approve your request.

6. Know the data

There is plentiful data available showing job sharing can increase employee productivity and happiness and is cheaper for employers. Use these studies to make your case.

Additionally, most employers care about retention because it is so expensive to hire and train new staff.

According to Gallup: “The cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary.”

If you’re a valued team member with a lot of domain expertise, it can be worth it for your employer to reach a compromise.

7. Offer a contingency agreement

Reassure your employer by offering a contingency plan if you or your job sharing partner become unhappy with your collaboration and job sharing.

Say during your presentation: “This is an experiment. If at any point you or we think this arrangement is not working, we will end it without any hard feelings.“ That will make them feel better about it.

8. Create a plan to make job sharing work

Seal the deal by establishing how you will successfully work together. Agree to a schedule to mitigate any concerns.

Make a plan that your manager can formally approve and set clear expectations for your shared role. This will help you demonstrate that regardless of where and when you’re working, you’re able to meet your goals.

9. Remove all doubt about job sharing

We know job sharing work is possible and productive. If your employer remains hesitant, ask questions and bring the conversation back to your proven knowledge and success as a job sharer before.

Mention how well you were able to collaborate with your peers, managers, and team members.

10. Know when to look for something new

Unfortunately, not all companies will be ready to let employees remain in job sharing arrangements.

If strict rules don’t match what you want in your life and career, it might be time to seek out another opportunity.

The good news is, that 66% of employers plan to increase remote and flexible options.

If you value flexibility and being able to work in a job or top sharing, you have the power to make it happen.

The post 10 steps to convince your employer to let you work in job sharing first appeared on Sharing Tribe.

Talking about data and how it can change lives

maja.schreiner — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 20:43:40 +0000

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Written by Marie-Amélie Masnou

In our October webinar, we welcomed Caroline Williams, a founder of The Do Good Only Company, a social enterprise focused on digital inclusion, based in the Netherlands. Their commitment to social justice is anchored in their work to creating an inclusive IT, Data and AI workforce today.

Caroline was talking on the topic “Data scientist is not just a role per se, it is a set of skills”

“While I was at Microsoft Netherlands, I started and taught the first Azure Academy for Women. After all of our participants completed the program, I was hooked on expanding the idea and started my company in July 2018 to ensure that these kinds of programs didn’t disappear. Two years later and the fourth cohort of the SkillsUP Lab has begun.”, Caroline says.

The fact is that in their program, they don’t produce data scientists, rather they teach people practical data science skills, that they can apply to any role. And the program is open to everyone.

“Job experience is critical to a successful transition. At the end of their four-month (initial) training period, our Data Professionals start their paid traineeships with companies as their next career step towards permanent employment. The inclusive data community that we are building is multigenerational, multicultural and multidisciplinary.”, Caroline adds.

Indeed, talking about data and how it can change lives is Caroline’s favorite topic. She has already run 5 cohorts in which she and her team are teaching people practical data science and analytics and getting them into the job market to make the world of data and IT far more inclusive than it is.

“If we want to have a more inclusive IT world, then it begins with the people we have around us today. Women and people from underrepresented communities are often left out so it is our purpose to break the walls.”, says Caroline.

She is a self-taught techie. After 3 years in IT as a data scientist, she had enough of what was around her and pretty much like all women around her, she felt ‘done’! Needed to refill batteries with inspirational work.

The fact is that the percentage of women in the tech footprint is not expanding. And this is because 51% of women leave tech after 10 years and don’t return!

So Caroline went on asking herself key questions: Which skills are the most transferable? Which are bringing the most opportunities?

And these are actually the data skills.

As Caroline points out, “If you learn a programming language, you are somehow trapped in software development and this is a limited funnel. So if you want more inclusion, you need to be able to fill in all the way across teams, not in a limited function or capacity. Then data science was the obvious choice and is in scarcity anyway.”

In Caroline’s SkillsUp Lab, people are not called data scientists. They are Data Professionals because while everyone learns analytics, cleaning, visualization, building models and programming, they might have their preferences.

And a good healthy data culture has people who specialize in all those different areas. Some love nothing better than making data usable and able to visualize them. They need to know how models work, cleaning and so on, even that might not be their affinity.

You can silo everyone because you believe this is driving efficiency, it is easy to track but you are missing out on the ‘mess’ where innovation happens and problems are solved. So if you do pairing and remove the perception that everybody wants to work 40 hours or more per week, then you gain the most because people working in your organization are bringing their full self and they love what they do and they feel that what they are doing is contributing.

“If you want a more inclusive IT, then you need to look at people differently and bring those skills together. No one is a unicorn.“, she adds. “If people are not stimulated, they will leave their roles. So open up those spaces, look at job sharing to have people synergize.”

Caroline’s cohort goes into traineeship after acquiring the Data Professionals certification and she makes sure they go to places where they can thrive.

The 16 weeks program to graduation includes job coaching followed by a 6 months Traineeship.

Caroline added that “the power skills make the difference in the training. It is not just technical skills. And the graduates can be themselves and thrive in any company. They are role models, holding the door open for somebody behind them. It is up to the trainees to walk thru the door and put the effort into it. You commit to it and take control. Your resilience has to be strong if you work in IT.”

Don’t be afraid to know and put a value on the skills that you have. If your knowledge is in scarcity and the knowledge that you bring also is, make sure to know where your power lies.

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Flexible work, part-time and job-sharing models

maja.schreiner — Sat, 29 Aug 2020 12:58:12 +0000

On Friday, 21st August 2020, Patricia Widmer, a Program Director for Diversity and Management Programs at the Executive School of Management, Technology & Law at the University of St. Gallen, shared her learnings and experiences around Diversity & Inclusion, a flexible workforce and on relaunching a career. We learned about different diversity dimensions and the importance of Harvard’s “Implicit Association Test”. Furthermore, Patricia explained various flexible working models. Sharing of employment and new ways of flexible work have become increasingly important. Part-time, job and top sharing models are an integral part of this.

SHARING TRIBE CONNECTS JOB SEEKERS WITH COMPANIES

If you are looking for a part-time job or a job-sharing partner simply create an account and then you can have access to our community, get matched to a job or your job-sharing partner.

Also, if you are a company looking to recruit highly-skilled and motivated talent, contact us to acquire access to our talent pool or post a free job ad through our platform.

THANKS TO OUR FIRST COMMUNITY AMBASSADORS

We already have 4 community ambassadors who are there to support you Do you want to improve your Leadership and People Management skills or do you need help in your job search, assisting on job applications & preparing for interviews?

Do you work in IT or data science and are you willing to dedicate time for working together with your mentor or coach?

Then get back to us already today.

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Take the risk and go for it

maja.schreiner — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 13:55:31 +0000

On Friday June 26, Sandra Frandon, former HP employee, was sharing her experiences with job-sharing during her tenure at HP.

The audience learned and heard about the importance of:

Taking the risk + ASKING + going for it.
Being proactive.
Creativity + complementary skills.
How Sandra and her job-sharing partner later got a promotion exactly because of their shared set of skills.
The structure is king.
Building a very strong transition phase while doing job-sharing.
Importance of using the collaboration/sharing tools in the cloud
Document everything. Don’t be afraid of over-documentation!
1. Shared e-mail – even if you do lose your identity. 🙂
Split 1:1 meeting with your boss on the same afternoon.

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Key success factors for job-sharing

maja.schreiner — Sat, 20 Jun 2020 10:40:04 +0000

In our 8th community call we followed up on self-organisation topics we talked about a few weeks earlier.

Key success factors for job-sharing are:

Collaboration
Communication
Transparency
Commitment
Accountability (both shared and individual)

Our audience underlined the importance of community and that TOGETHER we are stronger. We are not sharing the exact same skills and tasks, but that is good! Employees should be enabled in specialization in a few results areas so that the team based on complementary skills will achieve better outcome.

Everyone Is Accountable for Team Outcomes

Accountability is one of the main challenges of working on a team.

It’s human nature to focus on our own area of accountability and to place our own best interest above what’s best for the team. We know what the team needs to produce for a successful outcome, but we shouldn’t be only accountable for our own deliverables.

Everyone is accountable for team outcomes, regardless of how much each member contributes.

To build high-performing teams, you need to value team accountability over individual accountability. In other words, the team outcome is more important than individual team member outcomes.

Three Guidelines for Sharing Team Accountability

There is a way for teams to create a culture of shared accountability proactively. The first step is to accept that everyone shares team accountability. It’s up to leaders to provide an environment where team outcomes trump individual outcomes. Then, communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with your team members and your team leader.

1. Communicate the Status of Your Deliverables to Your Team

Keep your team informed to avoid surprises and ensure a positive outcome.

Let your team know if you can’t complete a deliverable.
Let them know if you finish early and have time to help out elsewhere.
Speak up early if you have concerns about team skills and/or available resources.

2. Cooperate with Your Team Members

Not every team member has to be your best friend, or even a friend for that matter. But you do need to maintain a professional relationship to work together. It’s easier to achieve team outcomes when you keep it all about the work.

3. Collaborate on All Planning and Team Decisions

Sharing plans, changes, challenges and solutions is always worthwhile. Since everyone has a say, everyone is more committed to the plan or a solution. It’s the team leader’s job to establish a collaborative environment from the start. It’s the team member’s responsibility to foster and maintain it.

When team members communicate, cooperate and collaborate, shared team accountability is achievable.

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Lessons learned in job-sharing

maja.schreiner — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 21:48:49 +0000

Lessons learned in job-sharing was the main topic of our seventh community call on Friday 5th June.

Luciana has been working for Coca Cola for 10 years and is now working at Mövenpick. She was very kind and open to share with us her lessons learned and also to answer all our questions.

Why did Luciana choose part time and job sharing?

Upon returning from maternity leave after her 1st child, Luciana managed to keep the work and private life balance without sacrificing much. 5 yrs later, she got her 2nd child and realized that going back to work seemed to be an impossible mountain to climb, even in a 80% working model.

Qualities that made job sharing work and be accepted:

Trust: this is a crucial element in job sharing.

Line Manager as a Sponsor: your line manager has to be supportive and behind the idea.

Time management: Luciana worked 2 years in management role in job sharing, she and her partner both worked 60% with 1 day a week to share and update each other.

Pros for job-sharing:

You get more value from the role.
Sharing ideas helped solve the problems and gained in efficiency while presenting the solutions to management instead of presenting problems.
More problems were solved and more solutions found than if one person only was doing the job.

Lessons Learned in job-sharing:

Team members might be a bit hesitant. Questions they had were “who should I go to as manager?”. In general, it helps splitting the team members between both job-sharing partners and clearly communicate the decision to your team members and also get their agreement.
After leaving the company, both Luciana and her partner were convinced of the benefits of job sharing and looked for a similar engagement in other companies (as a pair) which proved very hard to realize because companies do not think this way!
Maybe the best management style in job sharing is to split the team members reporting as a way to minimize the administrative efforts needed to keep up with reporting lines in the systems and avoid duplication.

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Importance of self-organization

maja.schreiner — Mon, 25 May 2020 20:00:00 +0000

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📺 GET INSPIRED 💬 A typical self-organizing job-sharing team should embrace these traits: focus, collaboration and much more.

Self-organization was the main topic of our sixth community call on Friday 22nd May.

A typical self-organizing job-sharing team should embrace these traits:

Focus: Dedicate a certain time slot when you’re most productive for finishing your tasks. Block your calendar, amend any disturbance, and use the Pomodoro technique.

Ownership: Generally the team is a group of mature individuals who take initiatives and work for themselves and don’t wait for their leader to assign work. This ensures a greater sense of ownership and commitment.

Motivation: Team motivation is the key to success. Team members should be focused on and interested in their work.

Teamwork: The team can manage their own work with regards to task allocation, task estimation, story development and testing and delivery of a successful sprint as a group. They should work as a team rather than as a group of individuals. Teamwork is encouraged.

Coaching: The team is left to do what they’re best at and they don’t require “command and control.”

Trust and respect: Team members trust and respect each other. They believe in collective code ownership and testing and are ready to go the extra mile to help each other resolve issues.

Commitment: Communication and most importantly committed individuals are vital in a self-organizing team. Team members communicate more with each other, and are fully committed to delivering their tasks individually and as a group. There are various team ceremonies, especially in an agile setup, such as the daily stand-up meeting, sprint planning, review, and retrospection, which encourages team discussions.

Collaboration: The team understands that to deliver software successfully, they should understand the requirements and aren’t afraid to ask questions to get their doubts clarified. Constant collaboration with other team members is essential.

Competency: Individuals need to be competent for the job at hand. This will result in confidence in their work and will eliminate the need for direction from above.

Improvements: Continuously improving their own skills and recommend innovative ideas and improvements.

Continuity: A new team takes a while to mature and become self-organized. Over time, they can understand their working habits as a team, so changing its composition every now and then doesn’t help. It is best to have the team members working together for a reasonable duration.

Inspiration for this article.

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