How can I make
job sharing a success?

Having clear expectations and good communication is the key to successful job sharing. This includes agreeing on how written communications will be done, regular and timely handovers and what happens where there are disagreements.

When agreeing job sharing arrangements, it is important to have some overlap of hours to maximise continuity and consistency and minimise disruption for other team members. Having a handover day or hours may result in the total hours worked by the job sharing partners being more than one full-time equivalent (FTE) but the benefit to the business should justify any additional financial cost.

Managing staff is one of the most sensitive and complex areas for job sharers. However, this has numerous advantages for employees including access to a wider range of skills and expertise and more objective decision-making.

Occasionally, where job sharing partners share line management responsibilities, this can result in a lack of clarity for the team’s ‘vision’. Job sharing managers must take the time to develop a shared vision for their team or unit, and plan how this will be communicated and monitored.

Some job sharing partners split the formal line management responsibilities for their staff, even if both partners work closely with all team members on a day-to-day basis. Although one person is formally the manager and writes the final end-of-year performance report, both managers will contribute to the report.

It is important to ensure that the working arrangements are clearly explained to your surrounding team members and that there are procedures in place when one partner leaves so that the job sharing arrangements can continue to work effectively in the future.

Job sharers must have work objectives that reflect a balance between shared tasks and individual contributions so that each partner knows what is expected of them. This will depend on the nature of the job and how the partnership is set up.

At the beginning of the year, your manager should discuss with and agree with you both, the role objectives and how the yearly assessment process will work.

However, personal development plans will be different for each of you as you may have different levels of experience, skills or motivation.