Background information

Against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Aachen developed a platform for companies that want to exchange their personnel. The platform was developed in cooperation with an IT company called Inform with the goal to bring together companies looking for additional personnel and companies with personnel surpluses in times of the COVID-19 crisis. In Germany, the Temporary Employment Act (AÜG) allows for exchanging human resources occasionally and with no intention to work as a temporary agency firm on a regular basis.

Content of measure

The Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Aachen and IT provider Inform developed a platform called TeamTausch . On the platform companies looking for additional personnel as well as companies with personnel surpluses can register and get in touch, in order to exchange their personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Companies interested in sharing their teams/personnel with other companies and those firms looking for staff can register on the platform and look for suitable offers in their region. The usage of the platform is free of charge and meant to easily facilitate personnel exchange in a difficult time. Surplus workers do not need to be laid off and must not work short-time, if they can be placed in a company looking for staff.

Use of measure

No information available.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Employers' organisations	Companies Employers organisation

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Not applicable	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Only employers' organisations
• Main level of involvement: Regional or local level

Involvement

The Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Aachen and IT provider Inform developed the platform in cooperation. Companies registering on the platform do not need to pay a fee or other charges. The service is meant to help companies with personnel surpluses or shortages to deal with the new order and staffing situation.

Views and reactions

The Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Aachen and IT provider Inform hope to provide short-notice help to companies with a change in demand for their products or services during the COVID-19 pandemic. As businesses are affected to different degrees by the crisis, their need for human resources is also expected to change and the platform is meant to help to match companies' changing needs for labour.

Sources

• 15 September 2020: TeamTausch (www.teamtausch.de)
• 15 September 2020: TeamExchange: Inform and IHK bring establishments together (TeamTausch: INFORM und IHK bringen Betriebe zusammen (www.aachen.ihk.de)