Job share advice

[CaractacusPott]

I'm looking for a bit of advice please as I'm due to return to work from maternity leave soon...

I'm returning to my job on a part-time basis as a job share. The job share has been recruited on a temporary basis and we are doing this on a trial basis for a few months (and if it doesn't work out, I'm not sure that I'll do as I won't be returning full-time).

Can mumsnetters share any pearls of wisdom on how to make try and make this a success? Any systems to implement, programs to use, tips and tricks etc. My job share and I do not have any cross over days, they are new to the team as well, so will need to learn everything from scratch (and I feel like I've forgotten a lot of what I used to do!).

Looking forward to any advice :)

What's the pattern going to be if no crossover days? Are you working consecutive days and then handing over? Or odd days?

Will you have an opportunity to meet this person to build any kind of working relationship?

Hi! We're working consecutive days, rather than odd days. And we will meet briefly I think before I go back, but won't meet/be working the same days after that.

It's difficult to be able to advise, without knowing what you do.

My best advice would be to divide up the work you do so you each have your own jobs and actually don't rely on each other. That works in some jobs and not in others.

If you do have to both work on the same projects / clients / customers / files / whatevers, then, if it were me, I'd arrange a meeting a fortnight in, once you are back in the groove a bit and (s)he has had time to get their head round things, and go for a coffee, and talk about what is working well and what is difficult and how you can resolve it. Even if it meant going in unpaid, or meeting up at the weekend or something. If it made life easier over the coming months, that has to be worth investing in at the start.

Depends on the job but a trello board may help. It’s an online task list and you can save emails to it, make notes etc so you’d be able to have your list, job share’s list and hand over list. You can both access the same board and manage could have access too for oversight.