Job-sharing can be a beneficial form of flexible work for both employees and employers, but without the right processes in place it can easily go wrong. Job share arrangements are no longer as simple as one person clocking off and another clocking on, the future of job-sharing looks more like part-timers who have certain job-share features they’re responsible for, rather than directly sharing the one role.
This ‘new’ successful job-sharing arrangement works best when each employee works on different aspects of the client’s business – in the form of dual client management. No matter what arrangement you and your employees agree to, the emphasis should be on creating flexibility for employees, while ensuring client’s needs are met.
For this modern type of job share arrangement to work, the importance of the work relationship between employees is more important than the work itself. Employees who work in a job-sharing arrangement need to trust each other and enjoy working together. As an employer, knowing your employees are more relaxed, knowing they can trust each other to complete client’s work when they aren’t physically ‘at work’, means your management should in some ways decrease with regards to those who are job-sharing.
In many ways, due to the pandemic, job-sharing is already happening informally among management. Most employers and employees have had to move to a contemporary work environment because businesses can no longer rely on people to be in the office Monday to Friday, and have had to set up ‘hybrid’ work communication channels. In addition to this, for a business to run successfully, executives should be sharing the role of leadership across an organisation anyway – and so introducing a similar arrangement for employees should flow naturally.
Communication and clarity with regards to job-sharing roles must be established from the outset. Both job-sharers must have clarity on who is doing what, and what the communication line is up to their leader. They also need to mutually agree to ensuring their communication between each other is more overt than usual, because they won’t always be there at the same time. For this arrangement to work, both job-sharers need to take responsibility for their individual parts and the parts that overlap. Often, employers choose to trial the job-sharing arrangement over a three month period to give it a really good go, and then have some kind of review process.
Unfortunately, there are some negative beliefs and perceptions about job-sharing arrangements. The employees who choose to job-share need to be ambitious and willing to compromise. In fact, some believe job-sharing amongst women may be a solution to the paucity of female C-suite leaders, as many women go on parental/maternity leave during their 30s. Or perhaps, most importantly, job-sharing may act as a signifier to current staff and future employees that, as an organisation, you are flexible, that you value your staff and that you respect their life outside of work. From this perspective, employers are often more open to job-sharing arrangements.
Top tips for employers wanting to create successful job-sharing arrangements
- Start with noting the common processes for each job or task that can be managed and tracked.
- Involve staff in the development and adoption of these where possible.
- Use a centralised and transparent system to enable the job-sharing.
- Ensure there is ownership across all team members involved in job-sharing, so that everyone is connected and committed.
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