Wanting to job-share - what arguements can you give to help convince your work this is a good idea?

[Janus]

I wonder if anyone can help.
I have a friend who works in the City (London) and was a full-time team secretary before having her baby. She was promised by her company that they would find her part-time work when she wanted to return and she suggested that 2 days a week would be best to which they agreed.
Her personnel manager treated her terribly and after numerous non-returned phone calls, emails, etc, she was told one week before her return to work date that she could come back for 4 days a week.
She has just about managed this despite a commute of 1.5 hours each way for 2 days a week and her partner and mother taking time off to do the other 2 days.
She is covering maternity leave for another lady who would also like to come back part-time (my friend having telephoned her direct to discuss rather than going through the crap personnel officer).
She then put this decision to the personnel manager who is being 'difficult' probably because she was missed out in the discussion process and probably feels defensive as she knows she's not doing her job properly. My friend has now been asked to explain in writing why this would be a good idea.
It's often hard to put these things into words and I wonder if anyone else has had to do this and what sort of examples they used as to why everyone would benefit? So far, my friend has thought about eachother covering holiday leave, any other ideas??
THANKS

Janus, I work in the City, as a legal sec to a partner in a law firm. Luckily our HR department are (usually) supportive and recognise the need to keep hold of staff who are experienced and know their job, rather than relying on temps to cover mat leave/holidays, etc.

I work on a week on/week off basis, job-sharing with another Mum in my department. This has been going on since Oct 2000 when I went back to work and (touch wood) we haven't had any problems. At the end of each week we send each other emails filling the other in on what's been going on during the week and making sure there are no 'loose ends'. I have to say that my boss is also very supportive; he is very much a family man and never makes unreasonable demands. We try to cover holidays if possible, if we are given enough notice, but if not then others in our department will cover our job, just as if we were working full-time that would happen anyway.

I do know that there are also 2 Mums in our department who do a 3day/2day job-share, and they alternate each week. I know they also faced a few problems from HR with their request, but they had their boss on their side, who didn't want to lose either of them. He told HR that he was totally happy with their arrangement and HR had no grounds to deny them this. Perhaps if you friend has a supportive boss she can get him/her to speak to HR, as he would probably pull more weight.

I have to say that it is only in recent years that our firm has been this flexible with part-timers; they did used to totally refuse it and the Mum would have to work the 'graveyard shift' in the typing pool if they wanted to come back to work, so I am very glad personally that attitudes have changed.

Best of luck to your friend.

Janus, I think, under the circumstances, your friend should try to keep it short. Put down in writing the following:

1. why she and her colleague want to job share (e.g.less stress due to more time with the babies; less time "wasted" each week travelling to and from work; happier employees because they won't be constantly worried about not spending enough time with their babies while at work).

2. How they envisage the job-share will operate. If there will be no overlap, how will they let each other know what has happened and what needs to be done. Whether they will be contactable on their non-working days to answer quick questions.

If the two people on the job share have same/similar skills, then although it may seem a bit obvious, it is important to point out the advantages of this - i.e. consistent standard of work.

If, on the other hand, one person has additional skills, then of introducing the new skill to the team is also good! (I think New Labour should headhunt me as a good spin doctor!)

It may be agood idea to consider how any problems would be resolved ans put down a suggestion on this too.

3. This is VERY, VERY IMPORTANT - suggest a trial period to see if the proposals will work and make any changes to the job-share to ensure it continues to benefit for all concerned.

The introduction of a trial period makes it difficult for the company to refuse and, in general, employers are really surprised at how smoothly the trial periods went despite their initial concerns.

Good luck to all concerned!

Janus, 'REAL' magazine has an article on part-timers in its current edition. I'm pretty sure the stats show that part-timers are more productive, take far less sick leave, and are generally more loyal and motivated. Also, they would have to give time off for doctors/dentists etc, and part-timers usually manage to fit these into their days off. Can't remember any more, but can have a look and let you know later if you like. From personal experience, when you work part-time, you cut out all those 10 minute chats by the coffee machine etc, because you have to get a lot more work done. Also, my Dh actually likes employing women woth kids, as he reckons they are generally a lot more organised & effective when in the office.

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Hi Everyone. When a colleague and I were both pregnant at roughly the same time 5 years ago, we mooted the idea of job share. Initially our boss wasn't convinced but was prepared to give it a try. We were both working 2.5 days a week but often found that on the Wednesday we were both in for pretty much the whole day doing the hand-over/finishing off bits that we could. Not being daft he saw the benefit of this as he was getting virtually 6 days work but only paying for 5! Had 'him indoors' not got a promotion involving a move to the country (not getting into that debate though!) I would probably still be there now. I think to echo what others have said as long as their opinions are expressed strongly and there is compromise on all sides, it can work. I wouldn't emphasise too much the fact that it would enable time to be spent with the child/ren as some can take the archaic view that if you want to spend time with them, why work or why have them in the first place if you want to work as well. Anyway, my tuppence for what it's worth. Good luck to your friend.

Janus, when Pamina was asking about trying to go part-time, I posted a couple of useful links on that thread. Go to: Going Back to Work/Childcare: Going part-time, my post is dated 27/9/2001.
Hope they are helpful, I have them filed for future use...

Thanks so much for the excellent advice, I will be emailing this to my friend next week (as am away for next couple of days and as this is her day off I'm not sure if someone else would open her emails - could be dangerous!). Plenty to think about and the magazine mention is a good one.
I think they have already agreed not to cover eachothers sick leave as, particularly for my friend, the logistics of getting someone to look after her baby is a nightmare, particularly for one day as I'm sure they can cope.
Thanks again everyone as I'm sure this is really going to help - I will let you know the outcome.
Marina, funnily enough I remembered this thread and emailed the whole (long!) debate to her last week for her to get started on. I knew it had some really good points on it but thanks for the reminder.