The concept of Secondment
In the new era of the global commercial atmosphere, the concept of the Secondment of employees has emerged very fast. Secondment is a system where an employee of one organization is working for one or more other organizations on the basis of mutual understanding between the two organizations. The concerns which are associated with the secondment of employees are the payroll, employer-employee relationship status, control over the employee, and several other related issues.
Due to the entrance of Multi-National Companies in India, this concept is growing and gaining popularity. In simple words, a Secondment is a temporary phase of arrangement where an employee is transferred from one job to another usually in the same group of companies for a definite period of time for the mutual benefit of all the parties in such an arrangement.
There are three parties to the secondment agreement:-
1. The original employer is known as the ‘employer’ or ‘seconder’
2. The employee who is seconded is known as an ‘employee’ or ‘secondee’
3. The organization where the employee is transferred is known as the ‘Host’
There are mainly two types of secondment:-
1. Internal secondment- It is a system where the employee is chosen to work for a different department of the same organization.
2. Intra-secondment- under this kind of secondment the secondee is transferred to a different organization from the organization where he/she is working in.
When the secondee works for the seconder and the host both it is a part-time job and if the employee works on a specific project, it is called the secondment of a job share. After the expiry of the secondment period, the secondee returns back to the seconder.