Expanding skills and filling skills gaps through borrowing and lending staff

When you borrow or lend staff between government agencies, you get to both give and receive skills. It's a transfer of skills. Skills development in two directions, in other words. As an employer, you are able to find skills outside the workplace without needing to employ new staff. The employee who is lent out will hopefully take with them the skills they have acquired back to their usual workplace. And that employee also gains new experiences and acquires new skills. This is how borrowing and lending staff is something that benefits both employers and employees.

It entails a government agency borrowing staff from another agency on a full-time or part-time basis for a short period of time, normally six months. The two government agencies draw up an agreement governing the arrangement. The employee on loan is not on leave, nor are they classed as a consultant or leased labour.

The government agency that borrows the staff member compensates the agency that has lent out the staff member financially. The employee works at the government agency that has borrowed them within the scope of their employment obligations. The ordinary terms and conditions of their employment apply, and their employer continues to pay their salary, sick pay and other employee benefits as well as social security contributions.

Needs, temporarily and voluntary

Åsa Furberg is an HR specialist at the University Administration. She clarifies:

“The starting point is the needs of the activity and it's about temporarily lending out an employee under certain conditions.”

The initiative for this kind of arrangement can come from a variety of places.

“Managers at different government agencies can contact each other if a need arises in order to borrow or lend staff with certain skills,” Åsa Furberg says. “An employee might also go to their manager to express their interest in such an arrangement. It’s always up to the manager to assess whether a lending or borrowing arrangement is possible based on the activity’s circumstances.”

The main principle is that these arrangements are voluntary, and done in consultation between the employer and employee.

Agreements

Such arrangements are not terribly well known, but there is information about them on the Staff Gateway that is updated regularly, for example when the University enters into an agreement on borrowing and lending staff with another government agency. There are currently agreements in place with the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the Swedish Research Council, and the Geological Survey of Sweden.

“In total, about four people have been lent or borrowed so far,” says Åsa Furberg, “but I think there could be more if more people were aware of this possibility.”

There are also opportunities for internal mobility.

“We have a process for internal mobility,” Åsa Furberg says. “Just like the arrangements with other government agencies, it is based on the duties being within the scope of the staff member’s employment obligations. Managers must be in agreement and with good dialogue between them, a lot is possible.”

What was it like to be lent out?

Marika Edoff, Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Division of Solar Cell Technology, was on loan part-time to the Swedish Research Council for a position as acting Secretary General for Engineering Sciences:

“It was very good to be able to make a contribution and get to try out a job that I later applied for and got. The best part was that it was a relatively quick and smooth process. It would have been good if there had been a ready-made template that also included all invoicing, and other matters. It ended up being a lot of work for local HR Support. I can definitely recommend to others to try out this kind of arrangement. It’s a great way to gain new experiences, for example as an inquiry chair or evaluator. And a good alternative to temporary appointments,” she says.

Ulrika Hurtig