When two become one

Job sharing involves two people working part-time hours to fulfil a full-time role.

While part-time working is the most common form of flexible working, job sharing is sometimes overlooked, for fear of it being too complicated or having to find your job- share partner. However, job sharing can work incredibly well and doesn’t need to be complicated. It’s a great way to develop your career as well as maintain a good work-life balance. Job sharing can help people to work part-time at a more senior level, or can be a way to partner with someone who complements your skills, meaning that together you can meet all the requirements of a role.

If you’re considering a job share, here are some tips for how you can make it as smooth as possible…

Clarity

• Make sure that you and your job share partner sit down with your manager to discuss how the job share will work. Responsibilities can be split any number of ways, so it’s important to agree a form that works for both of you AND meets the requirements of the role. Consider any requirements of the role that are on set days/times and how you will meet them. It’s important to set out the division of responsibilities clearly in writing from the outset.
• Alongside the division of responsibilities, you will also need to set out your working pattern (this may be interlinked with how you split responsibilities). Will you split the role by hours, days or even weeks? You should also consider how hybrid working falls into this.
• You may also want to share the way you have split responsibilities and your working pattern with your team and key internal stakeholders, so everyone’s clear how you operate together.

Communication

• Good communication is vital to a successful job share. You should book in regular handover meetings at the beginning of each switch over. Make time for it and make sure it’s not rushed. Overlapping your days by half a day works really well – as it also means you can spend time with your job share partner which helps to build a good relationship and trust – also essential to a successful job share.
• Agree clear processes to facilitate a good flow of information between the two of you. A shared email address and a shared MS OneNote file to drop in notes and questions for your job share partner works really well.
• Make sure you pass on praise and any other feedback to your job share partner – remember you’re two halves of one role!

Collaboration

• Two heads are better than one – so make the most of your job share by collaborating on things with your job share partner. Even if you have distinct areas of responsibilities, you will always benefit from a different perspective. Set up shared documents and ask your job share partner to share their thoughts on what you have developed so far, or how best to tackle a problem.

 

Job shares can also help if you want to reduce your hours but would really like to stay in your role. Take a look at our example of Jenny who chose job sharing as a way to enable her to take partial retirement. It’s worth noting that you don’t have to find your job share partner yourself – your employer can advertise a job share role.

If job share isn’t for you, then perhaps you can find another way to work flexibly? Take a look at our finding flex section to inspire you.