The question of "how people actually job share or roleshare" comes up often, quickly followed by assumptions around information getting lost, duplicated efforts or lack of clarity for the team. When something seems new or different, it's natural to feel uncertain or be curious. It might even feel unnecessary or overly complex to do something new. But is it new? What if we've been doing it all along?
"Nothing is as invisible as the obvious."
- Richard Farson, PhD.
So let's answer the above question with another, whose answer will likely feel obvious to readers, "How do colleagues today work on projects together?" That answer is precisely how people share jobs. Except, rolesharers do it even better. Let's dig in. First, let's chat about how colleagues share projects and then let's talk about the roleshare advantage.
Roleshare is team work. Simple.
Today, teams around the world are working together on projects to solve for various objectives. Let's imagine a Customer Success Manager (CSM) at an enterprise saas company, he or she is responsible for implementing and driving adoption of the solution within the client portfolio. The CSM might be working with a Marketing Manager to deliver a self-serve implementation campaign to produce educational content. Now, let's assume they're working hybrid in different cities. So how are they working together?
1. Objectives: They set joint objectives, budget, and a timelines for the project.
2. Responsibilities: They agree on division of work based on their respective expertise.
3. Tools: They're using email, Slack or Teams, Zoom, Voxer (voice note), Asana (project management), Jira, Monday, Calendly et all to communicate. Rolesharers will often also have a joint email inbox and calendar.
4. Communication: They use the above tools to set 1:1 and 1:few channels, groups, and projects to share regular updates to keep themselves, their managers, and other stakeholders, in the loop.
5. Transparency: There is tremendous transparency in this process.
In summary, how people share projects or jobs is by setting joint objectives, timelines, uniting and conquering; and by using common team communication tools, populating them with the right audiences, and communicating regularly.
The healthy peer pressure and social contract in a roleshare drives higher 1:1 accountability.
Rolesharing is an idea that was ahead of its time when it entered the corporate world in the 70s. Technology and enterprise communication tools had to evolve to where they are today to give roleshare the chance to sprout properly. Pop. Now is the time. For example, Roleshare is a global talent marketplace matching part-timers, freelancers, fractional workers together to co-apply and share jobs. Companies also use Roleshare to retain existing employees and attract a new class of talent who want to work part-time in full-time jobs. We've established rolesharers share work in the same way colleagues work on projects together, but rolesharers do it better. Remember? They are more meticulous, more focused, and they perform at their individual best. Why? Because they win or lose gold together. Their performance is measured as a unit. As a result, there is healthy peer pressure and a social contract between the pair, driving higher 1:1 accountability and more productivity. According to MIT Sloan Management Review, there is a 30% gain in productivity and 11% increase in wellbeing when people share jobs.
Imagine again the Customer Success Manager and the Marketing Manager. What if the Customer Success Manager's overall performance rating is heavily impacted by the results of the project, but only slightly so for the Marketing Manager? Do you think this will create the best possible quality output? How to share work across a team is nothing new. Remote and fully distributed teams have been sharing work successfully the last two years. The new bit, and also the magic of roleshare, is in the shared accountability, shared performance, and shared objectives.
It's less about the "how" and more about the "what" is shared.
When people roleshare they share the salary, benefits, responsibilities of the job. How the job is shared or split can take a number of different forms. Some sharers like to share every bit of the job - the traditional job share. Others like a hybrid approach with individual areas of ownership as well as joint. Others do job splits, but then the joint performance is probably less likely and more like a part-time silo.
Still have questions on how to share a job here are additional resources:
How does a job share work
How to pitch Roleshare to your manager
8 benefits of job sharing
4 tips for managers considering roleshare
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