Video: Job share tips
Keywords: job share, part-time, flexible working, management, leadership, teamwork
Industry: Financial services, professional services, marketing
Sophie Smallwood, co-founder and co-CEO of Roleshare, shares insight on why it's not more work for a manager to manage professionals working part-time in a job share. You might be pleasantly inspired and surprised.
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Sophie Smallwood:
No, it's not more work for the manager to manage people who are job sharing.
The reality is when two people are sharing a role, they're much more autonomous. They're self solving together.
It's like a triangle.
You have more of a hard line between the two people who are job sharing, they're holding each other accountable. They've got their plan, their objectives that they're sharing, they have their principles of how they work. And so they're self solving. And then it's more like a dotted line into the manager. When things are really difficult or really sensitive, at that point, they might escalate to the manager.
So on a day to day, it's actually less work for the manager. But technically, yes, it's two people on the team that are sharing in this role. And maybe there's a bit more work around the performance review, but they are sharing the objectives of a role and the metrics as well. So really, the extra work would be around each person's individual development. So again, it's not more work for the manager when they are managing a job share.
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Here are some things a manager can do to support a job share:
1. Help them to develop a clear plan and objectives for their role, including how they will work together and what each person will be responsible for. Download our free job share plan templates for candidates.
2. Hold them accountable to this plan, and help them to troubleshoot any issues that come up.
3. Support their individual development as well, so that each person is able to grow in their career even while sharing a role.
4. Be available to answer questions and provide guidance when needed, but allow them the space to solve most problems on their own.
5. Recognize and celebrate their successes together, as a team.
Job sharing can be a great way to manage a team, and with the right support from a manager, it can be successful for everyone involved.
Download our free practical guide for candidates or our free employer guide to plan an effective job share arrangement.
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