Flexible working: job sharing

There are many potential benefits to operating a job share, particularly having two people’s experience in one role. Other potential benefits include:

• reduced absence
• greater productivity and teamwork
• mutual support between partners
• retention of skilled staff.

Potential concerns may be:

• what to do if one job-share partner leaves
• difficulty in monitoring individual performance, which may lead to morale problems
• increased amount of supervision required
• managers may overload the team with work on the basis that there are two people doing the job instead of one
• problems between the two partners, or their different ways of working, may result in delays.

It is important to enlist the support of middle managers to ensure job shares work effectively. The implications need to be communicated to other staff members.

It needs to be made clear if a particular job is not suitable for job sharing. In many cases, some overlap between the two job sharers is a good idea as it improves communication. Job-share candidates should be judged on their individual merits. If the most suitable person for a job is a job-share candidate, they should be offered the job, but if there is no suitable partner the job should be offered on a full-time basis. It should be made clear whose responsibility it is to find a replacement if one member of the job share leaves, and what will happen if a replacement is not found. Bank holidays should be split on a pro rata basis. Training may need to be joint or, if a job is split down any particular lines, it might be possible for one partner to do specific training related to their responsibilities.

See FEO (undated) Job share: a guide to good practice, Flexible Employment Options/HEFCE.