The television program Undercover Boss has shown the insights senior executives can gain when they work at lower-level jobs within their organizations. The boss gets a better understanding of the challenges their employees face and sees firsthand what’s working well in the company and what isn’t.

But those insights aren’t limited to senior executives. You can put that same concept to work in your company by providing opportunities for your employees to exchange jobs for a limited period of time with others in your company or even outside of it. A company that encourages job swapping (also called exchange or rotation) will find that employees get a fresh perspective that helps them do their own jobs better. The company benefits from the increased energy, fresh ideas and new skills they acquire during their temporary assignment.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Job swapping can take several different forms. A high-level manager in a shipping company might work with loading dock laborers tasked with moving goods quickly in and out of a warehouse. People with the same title in different departments — a marketing manager and a customer service manager — may take on the other’s job for a day or a week to learn how their counterpart handles daily managerial tasks.

Companies with a good relationship with another in the same or a related business can also swap employees. Because of concerns about confidentiality, this only works if the businesses are non-competing in customers or geographic region. This experience can bring about a better, closer relationship between the two organizations.

That’s what happened when Vocon, an architectural and design firm based in Cleveland, swapped an employee with London-based BDG Architecture and Design. After the companies’ senior executives became friendly several years ago, their firms began partnering on some projects and developed an excellent working relationship. Eventually the firms decided to take this sharing to the next level via a job swap.

Vocon designer Lindsey Masarik headed to London to check out what the British did differently and Geoff Anderson from BDG Architecture traveled to Cleveland to learn how the Americans run their business.

“It worked out beautifully and strengthened our relationship immensely,” said Susan Austin, Vocon’s director of human resources. “All of a sudden we got them, understood them and could put a face to a name.”

Vocon put together a very detailed orientation program for their guest worker. “We had him meet with many people in the office because we really wanted him to get to know us,” Austin said.

Anderson’s international flair and different viewpoints were welcome. “He did a couple of education sessions for us on how they do work and how they do design. It was fascinating,” she said. Masarik, meanwhile, was also absorbing everything that she could about how BDG operated.

“For both of them, it wasn’t just sitting and observing. We plugged them into projects, they went to meetings, and the projects that they worked on appreciated the different viewpoints,” Austin said. After her return to Vocon, Masarik gave an hour-long presentation on the way things were done at BDG, down to details about the billing process.

According to Austin, the companies are working more collaboratively than before. One of Vocon’s employees traveled to BDG’s Scotland office earlier this year to help train its employees in the use of a design software program. In addition, Vocon and BDG are planning another employee exchange next spring.

“Once you do it the first time, the next time you’ll be more prepared,” Austin said. “We really didn’t know quite how it was going to work.”

Vocon is also considering beginning an internal exchange program between employees in its Cleveland and New York offices.

“I think that would be fantastic, especially with Gen Y. They want to know how everything works, so if you tell them that you’re going to work in this department for a month, it’s much better for the way they operate,” said Austin.

SHADOWING FOR CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Employee satisfaction is one of the reasons that the Douglas County Libraries system in Colorado has started a job shadowing program.

“The job shadowing program allows employees to spend up to four hours with another employee in our district to job shadow them so that they understand more about that job and what it entails,” said Art Glover, associate director of human resources. “We hope it will help employees as they pursue careers to navigate the waters in terms of how they can move throughout the organization through promotion or even a lateral move such as a transfer.”

Employees interested in job sharing discuss it with their supervisors and it becomes part of their performance appraisal. It’s up to employees to work with their supervisors — and for those supervisors to work with their counterparts in the department where they want to shadow. They can have up to two job shadowing opportunities each year.

The system is flexible. There’s no formal list of people willing to mentor; supervisors simply ask people in their department if they’d be willing to let someone shadow them for a few hours. The library system does provide some basic guidelines and suggestions for how a mentor can make the experience a good one for both the shadower and the person being shadowed. Employees who shadow another worker are required to put together a brief summary of what they learned during their time in the other department.

To date almost 10 percent of the library’s employees have asked for the opportunity to job shadow in the coming year.

“We feel there are several benefits to employees,” said Glover. “We want to help them understand how to move through the organization. This is a good way to give them some information that tells them in a little more solid way what a particular job entails.” According to Glover, the library system is also seeing benefits in the form of employee retention and engagement.

“As we’ve talked through the process and worked with employees, we’ve also realized that the job shadowing program is going to help our employees understand how their jobs relate to other jobs,” Glover said. “It may help them do their job better because they’re learning more about how another department operates, what they’re going through, what their challenges are and how their jobs intersect.”

Businesses are finding that employees today are more likely to leave if they don’t feel they are getting sufficient challenges and opportunities in their jobs. Programs like job swapping and job shadowing can help keep them engaged. Companies will reap the benefits through access to a highly skilled, cross-trained workforce and improved retention rates.

Guidelines for Job Swaps

Companies interested in implementing a job swap program can find suggested job rotation policies at the Society for Human Resource Management’s website: www.shrm.org/TemplatesTools/Samples/Policies/Pages/JobRotationPolicy.aspx

(l-r) Matt Lawrence with his father, Bill Lawrence, owner, Bubbles Car Wash, and Clayton Clark, partner and COO.

“The Best Experience of My Life”

Matt Lawrence was working in marketing at the family business, Bubbles Car Wash, when he got the opportunity through one of his father’s contacts to work in Germany at the Mr. Wash chain. The chain boasts mega car washes that handle 40,000 cars a month — 2,500 to 3,000 vehicles on a typical Saturday.

Once in Manheim, Lawrence started from the ground up. “I was power-washing and mopping cars,” he said. “It was the most intense labor work I’ve ever done, six days a week, 10 hours a day.” At the same time, he was gathering hands-on experience and enhancing his management skills. After six months — shortly before he was due to return home — Mr. Wash offered him a position as manager of its Frankfurt operations. He did so well there that he was recently promoted to manager of the chain’s larger Manheim store.

Lawrence said he’s learned many things during his time in this job. He’s been impressed by the efficiency of his German colleagues — their step-by-step process gets a vehicle thoroughly cleaned in six to eight minutes. At the same time, he’s helped the German company’s employees understand the value of American teamwork and emphasis on customer service.

Lawrence had planned on returning to Bubbles Car Wash, but the sale of the company to the U.S. Mister Car Wash has left his plans up in the air for now. He may stay in Germany, he may return to the U.S. or he may try something new.

“I see a great chance for this kind of business in emerging markets such as China and Brazil, and I’ve now seen what it takes to build and run a facility that can wash 45,000 to 50,000 cars in a month,” Lawrence said.

“One of the most important things I learned was that you can put me into a situation, and I’ll be able to handle it,” said Lawrence. “If someone told me today, ‘I want you to go work in a car wash in Shanghai,’ I know I can immerse myself in the culture and learn the business. It’s been a real confidence booster.”Businesses are finding that employees today are more likely to leave if they don’t feel they are getting sufficient challenges and opportunities in their jobs.