Benno Frassetto Benno Frassetto: "I'll be 62 this year, I've been working in DIY stores for 42 years and I've been managing the toom in Butzbach for 14 years. I have three grandchildren and play the guitar a little. I only started late because I didn't have the time before. And yes, I still enjoy my work and that's why I'm really happy about our job-sharing model. When I heard about it, I spoke to my regional sales manager and said that I would very much like to take advantage of this opportunity. She then spoke to many decision-makers. After the entire management gave her the green light, we were able to get started. When Mentor introduced himself, I said yes straight away because we had known each other for a long time and I could really see myself working with him. It was clear to me that we would manage it really well with Mentor because the employees already knew him and had no fears.

I am fully and completely a toom employee. The company has given me so much, I've experienced a lot here and always got help when I needed it. Retiring via job sharing is now a step towards more free time for me. My grandchildren, my hobbies and, above all, more things to do together with my wife, who also worked at toom for a long time and is already retired.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my boss for making this job share possible. Mentor and I naturally split the tasks. He works 163 hours a month, I work 100, and I take more care of sales, i.e. the store and the flow of goods. He's more involved in the administration, which is also very practical because he's there every day and I'm only there three days a week. But we still discuss everything that comes up every day. We always make time for this, usually early in the morning when it's still quiet. It's easier to get an overview of things with two people, we're both constantly looking to see where a problem might arise so that we can solve it beforehand. And with two of us, we naturally have more time to look after our employees and their development. That's important to us, we want to make sure that they achieve what they can and want to and become an asset to the company. All of this also works alone without job sharing, but it involves a lot more effort.

I would recommend the model to anyone who, like me, has achieved a lot in the company and now wants more time for their family. And it's also a lot of fun to work in pairs - if you trust each other. If someone is suspicious or doesn't trust the other person or doesn't want to give out information, for example, then it becomes difficult.

Mentor and I think identically, regardless of whether it concerns employees or processes. We trust each other blindly. And we speak the same language."