Are job shares commonplace where you work?

[Thethingswedoforlove]

Genuine question as to whether job shares are a ‘thing’ outside of the public sector. Wanting to know if it is a credible suggestion to make as I have one ever worked in the public sector where they really are now common.

[daisypond]

Not where I work, no. I’ve never heard of jobsharing in 30 years. Even part-time work isn’t very available - you would have to be willing to work every weekend to get this. And definitely no flexi-time or working from home either.

[Thethingswedoforlove]

That’s an interesting perspective daisy. Thank you

[peachypetite]

If you don’t ask you don’t get. Have a proposal ready for now it would work and pre empt any questions?

[misspiggy19]

Not where I work. I have never heard of it in any other place either

[CloudPop]

Back to basics. Why/how would it work for the employer. Do you have someone in mind to share with - either an actual person or a type of person well represented in your organisation? How would the share work, what would the handshake between the two people look like. Sketch out a model of how it could work effectively and then you have something to position.

[happytoday73]

No not at all. US based company that likes to keep headcount as low as possible therefore no job share and very little reduced hours

[newnamewhosthis]

I don't start off job sharing but I've ended up doing that. I work part time 3 days a week Wed, Thur and Fri.

We were understaff and got another part time person in to do Mon Tues and Wed with the idea we catch up outstanding and hand over on the Wednesday works well

[DragonMamma]

No job shares with us. We’ve had one or two in the past but to vary degrees of success.

Part time is never less than 4 days a week either.

[Snaga]

Generally no, but we've recently advertised purposefully for a job share because the skill set we want is very in demand. We're far more likely to get two candidates that can work the whole role than one candidate that can do it all.

I'm interested to see who we get and how it works out.

[Thethingswedoforlove]

Thank you. This is so surprising to me. I will of course make the case. There are some genuine reasons that it is difficult but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. But I hadn’t expected such a lack of them out there in the private sector.

[Rachelle1980]

No. There are genuine business reasons why it's not common (I've never seen or heard of anyone doing it) in my sector and role. Of course it's a male dominated industry so barely anyone challenges that norm... But thinking about if I were a service user of the area I work in, I absolutely would be vocally unhappy about putting up with a job sharer.

Put bluntly, my role can only be done full-time with the current output and quality expectations. Indeed, it's often more, with burnout and retention rates an ongoing challenge.

No one would be able to work around that, and even people going part time (I've seen a couple) in support roles don't tend to last long.

It's not the way the business environment is set up.

[Rachelle1980]

I've just realised how cryptic my job sounds, it's really not that exciting! Similar to e.g. programme management on safety critical transport systems. Example: switchover project for backup power systems for the railways. Not something that has a lot of women in it, fewer high up, and not something that is easily sliced up between job sharers, involves travel, and not something you can walk away from at 5pm if site operations overrun a schedule. If something was meant to happen at 5pm but didn't, yup, you could be sleeping on site and "clocking off" at 2am until an emergency relief team gets mobilised.

Fuck knows if anyone has tried to argue for a job share before but as a manager it would be a complete ballache to sort in reality.

[YahooGmail]

Not where I work either. They're 'supportive' of parental leave, but if you choose to do a 4 day week you still basically have to get 5 days work done in that time (and only get paid for 4 days)

[Parker231]

None- all full time no part time or reduced hours either. Doesn’t work for the type of business - global consultancy company.

[Thethingswedoforlove]

This is very depressing

[TrifenyMarlowe]

It's also realistic though...

How could the marketing manager of a key global campaign easily job share, you'd have a split vision and for the launch you need proper, detailed direction that cannot always easily just get handed to someone else?
What about a sales director who has to travel to cover her territory?
Or a medical doctor who needs more intimate knowledge of her patient than the more family-friendly "transaction" roles like a salaried GP or radiographer etc?
Or a mental health psychiatrist where her job is to assess before sentencing?

"Sorry dear, your your hip replacement surgery will be handed over to my job share at the 5th hr because I have the school run to do"... Or, "sorry judge, I haven't had time to do the psychiatrist evaluation about reoffending risk because I only work Mon & Wednesdays so you'll have to wait twice as long for me to do it"... Or, "what do you mean I need to be at the local planning permission meeting as the architect, I don't work Thursdays"... Hmm.



There are often genuine business reasons why job roles in many sectors aren't easily split. It's no coincidence that they tend to be the male dominated ones.

If my child had a job share teacher, mental health or medical professionals.. it might work if the people and job enabled them to work as a team. Sometimes it just doesn't work.

This disadvantages women, sure, but also anyone who has any sort of caring commitments or something outside of work which isn't protected or recognised by employers (caring for an elderly neighbor; owning a horse; checking in on a neighbor a few times a week).

Low skilled, transaction roles are entirely different than others.

[SheShriekedShrilly]

I’ve wondered about this, too. I jobshare (have for years) in the public sector. We have some very senior (main board Director) level jobshares now, and the generally accepted wisdom is that you get two brains for the price of one. On their days in the office, jobsharers work long hours (usually) so there isn’t the ‘going home at 5.00’ issue, as they can see their kids/catch up on other stuff on the days they don’t work.

The jobsharers do need to invest a good handover, so the direction you get from one is the same as you get from the other, but in my experience this isn’t a problem. I certainly make sure anything HRy is discussed at handover, and an approach agreed if it’s something really sensitive. Anything else, I stand by whatever my jobshare partner decides, and don’t need to be involved.

I think any job which runs 24 hours already basically does this (at shift change) and that actually jobsharing isn’t that radical, given we manage to run hospitals and other safety critical things 24/7 with lots of different people taking turns.

[reginafelangee]

We have job shares, part time, compressed hours, term time, holiday time, flexi time, annualised hours, zero hours and traditional Monday to Friday 9-5.

We are very committed to work life balance

I work for a charity.

[reginafelangee]

I disagree with many of the posts on here - pretty much any job can be worked with some degree of flexibility.

It just takes an open mind and a bit of imagination.

[Parker231]

Not all jobs can work on a job share, reduced hours or part time basis. I work for a consultancy company and we work as part of a project team across specialist areas and often we travel at short notice to clients in other countries.

[TrifenyMarlowe]

pretty much any job can be worked with some degree of flexibility.

Not without impact. On yourself/promotion or professional development, or on customers/clients/etc...

I guess it depends on your employer, your goals, or whatever. As with most things, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (many examples given in this thread).

[ruby2020]

I work in the NHS and have come across job shares quite a lot actually, from the administrative side. In my own team one of the posts is a job share - one girl works 2 days, and the other the remaining 3. It's an absolute nightmare. I suppose it would work if the two people were on the same page and agreed what they were doing, but they don't, so more often than not things get missed/arguments over who does what. As an outsider I can safely say I would never in a million years agree to a job share.

[inwood]

No, not ime, in prof services. P/t yes but not job share.

[Oblomov20]

What an incredibly depressing thread.

I could challenge most points. Struggling to grasp what most of the objections are based on. Want to keep the number of employees down? Why? What difference does it make if you've got 79? Or 81?

In accounts/finance, many jobs can be part time. Jobs shares are rare but occasional.

Firms such as Microsoft can manage a 4 day week easier than a small business obviously. But Christ, if you aren't all wishing/gently pushing for a better work life balance, in your mind, in the long term? Then that saddens me. Greatly.

[EnidBlyton]

I did a job share - bit of a minefield, particularly when she left.
I think a couple of part time posts are far better, am trying to persuade my work to take on part timers, they work harder, less impact when one is off sick or on leave.