Working part-time thus reduced the remaining benefit eligibility period by 50% (the doppelter Anspruchsverbrauch, or double shortfall effect) and parents returning to work on equal part-time bases received smaller benefits than those w'here one partner stayed home entirely. It introduced financial incentives that encouraged parents to share paid work equally by doubling the duration of the benefit for parents who worked part-time (see Examples 2a and 2b in Table 3.1). As before, the benefit replaces the forgone earnings of parents w'ho work part-time -as in the usual parental leave scheme. Additionally, when both partners in a couple work 25 to 30 hours per week for at least four months during or after the period of receipt of the usual Elterngeld or ElterngeldPlus allowance, they are rewarded with Partnerschaftsbonus, a partnership bonus.