Job-Sharing Experience/Resources?

[TLee4]

People on this board know EVERYTHING, so I figured I'd put this out there! I am currently pregnant and when this baby is born in Aug, Baby #1 will be 14 mos old. I am considering job-sharing my job. My company (an academic medical center) has not done many formal job-shares. My understanding is that there are two types. One where two people share and are responsible for one full-time job, and one where both of you are basically both considered part-timers.

I think I could only afford to do this if I had the first type, b/c in that arrangement both people tend to get the insurance benefits of a full-timer, and they split the holidays, etc. (They also cover for each other when sick or on vacation, etc). In the second type, I'd have to pay the insurance rate of a part-timer (which is twice as much) and would not have paid holidays. I am going to draft a proposal, proposing arrangement #1.

So I am looking for:
--your experiences job sharing
--any resources you know of for a sample contract/proposal
--anything else I'm not thinking of!

I am a social worker and I manage an internal employee assistance program. I've been in my job for 9 years and I'm basically a department of one, other than a part-time secretary. I think I have several potential candidates who would be interested in job-sharing.

Thanks,
Terri

[HRJ]

Hi Terri,

I have a job-share arrangement at work, and it has worked incredibly well for both myself and my job-share partner. I have the first type of arrangement you talked about -- my partner and I are responsible for one full-time job. We work in the publications department at a university, and we've had this arrangement for six years.

My job-share partner originally had the job on her own--then she decided she wanted more time at home with her kids, so the job-share position was created, and they advertised for someone to fill the other half -- that's where I came in. We have a job-share contract -- but my files are kind of disorganized, so it would take me a while to dig it up.

The nature of our job leads to a fairly clear-cut division of responsibilities, so we have never had any problems regarding who does what work, etc. In general, we each take complete responsibility for specific projects -- so if I start an assignment, I handle it all the way through to completion, and vice versa. This way, neither one of us is stepping in and trying to take over a half-completed assignment, or anything like that. There are a few things we have worked on collaboratively, but that's the exception, not the rule.

Generally, my partner works the first half of the week, and I work the second half. We overlap on Wednesdays, which is when we have a brief meeting -- sometimes by ourselves, sometimes with our supervisor -- to go over the status of stuff and otherwise catch up. Our supervisor has been very happy with the arrangement, mainly, I think, because we both do good work and make our deadlines, and we have never had any issues or disagreements that we couldn't work out between ourselves.

I think one of the reasons the arrangement works so well is that my partner and I are fairly evenly matched in terms of experience in our field, and in terms of our skill sets -- either one of us can pick up a particular assignment and the results will be of generally equal quality. Neither one of us needs to spend time "training" or "coaching" the other one. I think this match of skills is important.

Also, we have similar "work ethics" and both take the job-share seriously -- it's important to both of us to be able to stay active in our field, yet also have flexibility and time for our kids. So we're not going to do anything that would jeopardize the arrangement. Of course, it's easier to see if a potential job-share candidate has similar experience/skills than it is to know in advance whether s/he has similar attitudes/levels of commitment.

One thing I'd mention -- my job-share partner says that before they interviewed me, they had many well-qualified candidates who applied for the job-share -- but when they came for interviews, it became clear that what they were really looking for was a part-time job, with the hope that it would evolve into something full-time. Anyone interested in a job-share situation should understand what makes it different from a typical part-time job.

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.

Helene

[TLee4]

Thanks Helene..that is great info and it's good to know it has worked so well. For me, if we ended up with one of the job-share partners that I have in mind, I feel good about it because we have known each other for many years and I know we would work well together.

So do you get your benefits at the full-timer rate? (Or maybe your university offers benefits to part-timers? We do OFFER benefits but they cost a whole lot more...)

If you happened to come across your contract, that would be great.

Terri

[DebGo]

Terri,

i too was involved in a job share where 2 people shared 1 job. not uncommon in my line of work (teaching).

you should be asking questions of your h/r person. in our situation only 1 person received benefits (although i understand this differs greatly from district to district) -- as part time i did not qualify for any of my insurance benefits.

i shared with my former close friend. notice i saw "former"... this was very tough on our friendship and although we made it work (mostly because i am easy going and let much slide off my back) in the end we just could no longer be friends. **NOTE** the friendship broke up after the job share was over and over an issue not related to our job although i felt extremely strong that the job issues made getting along as friends more difficult.

my recommendation would be to be certain you and your "partner" have the same work styles, values, ethics, etc. spend time brainstorming and planning how you would handle specific and stressful situations. make sure you can communicate. make sure you have clear & concise manners of communication so you can pass tasks off efficiently when the need arises. meet often at least during the beginning of your job share to discuss how you both feel things are going and if there are any problems that need to be worked out.

i know many successful job shares and it can be a very rewarding way to be a mom & keep your career on track.

good luck

debbie

[TLee4]

Thanks Debbie. I actually work in the HR dept (although I'm geographically separate) and report to the VP of HR. She is fairly new and mentioned that she has "seen it done" both ways (as I described in my original post). My hope is to make a case for option #1!!

Thanks for sharing your experience re: work styles/friendship, etc. as well.

Terri

[stefania4]

I once worked for a very large corporation that claimed it offered job-sharing, but one was hard-pressed to find anyone who was actually allowed to do it. Two friends of mine successfully lobbied to have the opportunity. However, even if the corporation supported the idea our local management decidedly did not and held the two job-sharers to a much higher standard than the regular FTE's. If job sharing is an uncommon practice in your office, it's something to address proactively and be sure that your direct management is truly on-board with the idea.

Performance reviews is another area to consider. If your partner does a terrible job, how does that affect your review?