Proposing a job share

[goldpendant]

I started a new role in Sept and it's going pretty well, think my boss is happy with my performance etc. It's a f/t job but reasonably flexible as I've got two small kids and do some school drop offs etc. I can also take very flexible parental leave (as days or half days if I wish).

However I'm finding full time to be a massive stretch and I want more time with the kids and for domestic/life admin. We've got a cleaner and a nanny but I want to read more with DS who is struggling, play more with DD who is starting school in September. What I save on a cleaver/nanny basically covers the kids I'd make by dropping my hours. It seems silly.

The job is definitely a full time role, no way I want to propose part time as i would only end up on emails on my days off, and stressing that work is being forgotten. So I want to broach the idea of job sharing with my boss. Quite a few senior managers do thus so there's a precedent for it in our company.

Has anyone done this and was your boss supportive? Mine is quite supportive generally but I'm still on probation and definitely don't want to scupper the role completely. How should I proceed? There is even someone in the team that I think would do the other half of the job and is more than capable, but currently a grade below me so would technically require a promotion. They currently work 3 days only.

Any advice on how to proceed would be much appreciated- f/t is making me really miserable!

If you are still on probation, I wouldn't rock the boat yet. You currently don't have sufficient precedent to be certain of their support, which will only come through having been there for long enough.

I wouldn't see your proposal as appropriate or on solid ground until you've done at least a year+ in the role.

Do you have a DP to be able to share the load at home more equally?

I'm not sure Daisy, depends a bit on the culture. In the civil service we have an initiative called 'happy to talk flexible working' which is all about trying to cut down the stigma around asking about flexible working in circumstances where you might feel you aren't 'supposed' to do so, e.g. you are a new member of staff or you don't have young children or whatever, as we want the ability to work flexibly to be equally open to everyone, and working flexibly is not seen as a sign of lack of commitment or a privilege only open to favoured staff or anything like that. So in my organisation this kind of conversation would be actively welcomed - but I do agree that in some companies it would be a big no-no. OP does say they are generally supportive of flexible working so my guess is that an informal chat to sound out the position wouldn't necessarily be disastrous.

OP could you have a gentle/low key conversation at an appropriate moment with your manager, perhaps just to see how they feel about job sharing in general and whether they could ever see it working in your team? If they respond positively you could look at getting some more concrete information together as a kind of proposal as to how it could work in your role - particularly financially as this is the biggest barrier in my experience, if you would want to do 3 days and your job share partner 3 days that would then mean 1.2wte of your post, it might not be that easy to find the extra 0.2 of a senior job if budgets are very tight.

Could you approach one of the senior managers who already job share on an informal basis just for some mentoring/advice/experience on how it works? They might have good insight into how to get it approved.

Good luck!

I have not seen a job share that overlaps for a whole day. Firms and indeed public organisations can not afford this.

I too would be wary of approaching this before the end of your probation unless you are absolutely sure it could work. You applied for a full time role and they advertised a full time role. You also knew you had DC and they would have needs. It is, of course the dilemma faced by many working parents. What about DH? Can he do any playing or reading? Who did you think would do this and why cannot your nanny do it?

You also need to recognise job shares cost companies money. They have to recruit to the other post. What about when one of you wants to leave? Who is doing the graveyard Friday slot? Are you cherry picking what you want? I’ve seen job shares work brilliantly but not after 3 months. People I know have earned the right to ask - so to speak. They have been employees for a lot longer. You might get lucky but your employers might think you are very cheeky!

Hi @maxelly even in the civil service, the idea of requesting a job share at such an early stage in the OPs employment before the end of probation, would not go down well. It lands the problem back to the employer to a large extent - they'd have the burden of identifying internal candidates or recruiting the job share partner from external, not the OP.

Given the current challenge on retention of staff, brain drain from public sector and trying to get the right people stabilised into roles, I can't see it being welcomed with open arms in this context where they've recruited into the FT role and now 3 months later it could be 'all change'.

That's public sector ... as for private sector/industry - chances are somewhere between zilch and zero!

I think that this is the problem, we are civil service (or an agency) and very much encouraged to be flexible, respect work life balance etc. Yet different teams seem to have different attitudes to it in practice. I feel almost disingenuous waiting until I'm approved in post and then delivering this, rather than discussing the challenges openly now. But I'm aware I took a f/t role. I hoped to make it work, but 5 months in (not 3), I've realised it's too much of a stretch.

DH is around and a great parent, but his job is extremely senior and to be frank he earns twice what I do, so we're in agreement that we wouldn't ask him to rock the boat at his very corporate company where even flexitime working is frowned upon.

Thanks for all the advice/thoughts, I'm minded to leave it until my 6 month probation is up and then have a frank chat with my boss about how we could make it work better (even if staying f/t but with a day from home or something).

I think it really depends on the culture of the organisation. In my department (civil service) it’s so common, and my boss suggested job sharing as one option during my probation when discussing flexible working.
Do you have a job share network, or any job sharers that would be willing to chat informally about it?

The only job sharer I know about is at director level. I'm reasonably senior so not a huge stretch to ask for an informal chat about how it works and maybe even ask when they think I ought to bring it up....

Thanks

even if staying f/t but with a day from home or something).

How do you think that will help? You’ll be expected to actually work so how will it give you more time to read and play with your DC?

I've seen it. As you have said it would be better than part time as what happens is you are paid part time doing a FT job.

Not seen many examples of actual job share, but those I did it was a nightmare. Constant handover issues, one person progressing another persons work, no accountability for errors, frustration from line managers as to who to hold for account......

I think it can work better if you both have specific responsibilities and projects that don't mean handing over ..then probably easier but at your stage in the role I think it is too soon. Maybe look for a role that is part time?

Because @AlexaAmbidextra my commute zaps 2 hours of my day already, so it's give me at least an extra bit of time either side of the working day!

So interesting to see how much it varies. Most job shares in my dept have at least one cross over day and many of them act as one - one email inbox and so on. We also have a job share network, and the CS has a job share database you can sign up to to look for matches.

Probation works both ways- it's also your opportunity to establish if it works for you.

I wouldn't see any problem with raising your concerns during your review to sign it off, that's when you could start to make suggestions that would improve your working life and you can get a feel for how they will respond - and from that decide if the job is one you want to continue with.

@Levithecat which dept are you in? I'll definitely look up the jobshare database, sounds a great idea. I saw one advertised on Facebook today in fact, not a CS one but a generic website that matches jobshare partners.

@slothbyday I think you're right and that's how I feel, it works both ways, like an interview really, so I'll raise it then. Just a month and a bit to go!

Oh really? That sounds great @goldpendant.
I’m a G7 in Defra currently. Very friendly dept and flexible approach

I'm on a different grading system (F), but it's senior management, just below Head. I'd like to think I can negotiate a bit more flexibility.

A job share where 1 day a week overlaps is hugely expensive for any organisation. With austerity and reduced budgets this has to be something that isn’t sustainable. It’s way too costly. If you are a company making a huge profit - great! If you are a public organisation then it’s hugely wasteful and the public should be better served.

@BubblesBuddy, I think that view assumes the job share is delivering some a fixed portfolio of work and the shared day is somehow wasteful. In my organisation it just means more work gets done, and more quickly. In my experience you can get a lot more from two people sharing than if one person worked a six day week.
It helps if the organisation is geared up to sharing and has things in place to minimise any admin/handover. And if it works well it can improve recruitment and retention (for example keeping brilliant employees who want more flexibility - often mums), reduce absenteeism, improve productivity in the sharer and their team. Most importantly I think it provides continuity compared with PT, which is really important in my work.

I’ve done it. Public sector role. My partner worked Mon - Wed and I worked Wed-Fri, so 6 days FTE between us. We had some additional responsibilities to equivalent role-holders to account for the extra day. The overlap was essential for effective handover.

The idea was actually suggested by our line manager, as we’d both applied for the same job (both of us already had a few years at the organisation) and been the best 2 candidates, and both asked about part time working. We both has preschool age dc at the time. There were at least 2 other job-shares going on at the time.

Sadly, whilst I was on mat leave again 3 years later, our organisation was restructured and our role ceased to exist. Org err things had changed too, and that was the end of the partnership.

To ask about a job share, you need to show that it’s - if not beneficial, then at least not detrimental - to your employer. I found the overlap day essential, so is there a particular task/role you could take on to justify the extra day?

Identifying a potential partner is great? Have you spoken to them about it? If they are a lower grade, then they might need to be interviewed, or the post advertised (in which case you can’t guarantee that the person you want would get it).

Think about your mutual strengths and how you’d carry out the role? In my case, I’m very technical and the girl I job shared with is very “peopley” and these were very complementary skill sets for the job. We both learnt a lot from each other. We thought about whether to split the job into tasks use: that she would do this type of stuff on her sats, and I’d do that type of stuff on my days

Also, what’s your get-out plan if one of you wants to stop the arrangement?

Sugguest a 3 month trial?

.... posted too soon.

What we decided worked best was that we both did everything on our days as it arose - we aimed to be “seamless”.

We both worked very hard to make the job share work, because we both needed it to so much! In 3 years we only “dropped the ball” once - I missed a meeting in a different city because my partner hadn’t passed on an email- the reason being that she’d been rushed into hospital.

Some of the positives of a job share
1 - if one person is ill or on leave etc, the job still gets done for part of the week
2 - Staff retention and morale (How valuable are you to the company?)
3 - Staff development - we both learnt from each other’s skill sets.

In your shoes OP, I’d say it can’t hurt to ask, but go in with a well thought through plan of why this is a brilliant idea that wont impact the business and actually be a benefit.

Good luck

I do know where a Headship of a school is a job share. Also Deputy Heads. They have a 1/2 day overlap (10%). Obviously the school would not want to pay for a 6 day Head. Most schools are really struggling with money as it is. Although job share does allow for recruitment options to be explored.

I can see that if a job is worth 6 days, and not 5, then job share at 6 days for 2 people makes perfect sense because it is budgeted for. However, most people come at job share through an employee request, so making extra funds available at 20% over budget for one job is a problem. Two people doing 3 days each is not a big deal if it suits the organisation. However many would see the 20% extra pay for one job as a deal breaker if the job is truly 5 day or equivalent a week. Any handover time adds to costs. There is a big difference between working 6 days and a handover day catching up.