Bucket loads. Employees get a fulfilling career and role while having extra time back in a week. They also get a buddy that is committed to the success of the role - holding each other accountable, learning from each other, strategizing together, and encouraging each other. Employers get twice the smarts, when typically they settle for one set of skills for a role. They also get more than typical full-time coverage on the role - when one partner is away on leave, the other can keep things progressing. They also retain employees and attract new talent. See our Roleshare Guide section for the 8 Benefits of Shared Roles. And see the general benefits of flexible working from the UK Department for Business Innovation & Skills.

Sharing a role / job share has been around in education, hospitals, and the public sector for ages. Also, many other industries have been doing it, without knowing it. For example, a copywriter and art director at an advertising agency can in many instances stand in for each other; and shift workers that require a handover every day are in many ways sharing a role too.

2001 was when job share was at its peak with over 26% of companies offering it as a perk (Source: inc.com), today 9% of companies in the US offer it as a benefit (source: Society of Human Resources Management). Typical job share arrangements have been lucky matches between people in the same company, with the same need for flexibility, and complementary skills - not scalable. It's a perk that was ahead of its time. Today, approximately 40% of Fortune 100 top companies offer job share as a company perk, but only 0-3% of employees do it. Roleshare interviewed 26 Directors and VPs of HR about job sharing - 62% felt it is too difficult to set up, but 57% said they would use a service that helps set it up. To scale and sustain such a flexible arrangement, companies need the support of HR and enterprise communications technology, which did not exist in 2001. Now is the time.