JOB SHARING

In today’s work environment, more and more women are returning to work. And what a great resource to tap into (after all women know everything)! Seriously though, when you are looking to recruit, don’t rule out working mums, and don’t rule out the possibility of job sharing.

Job sharing has become increasingly common and it’s a way of allowing flexible working practices in roles that would ordinarily require a full time employee. However, it can be complicated, so detailed below are some tips for minimising “issues” that arise when setting up a job share arrangement.

Some things to consider first;

• Is the position one which lends itself to a job sharing arrangement? (Don’t pre-judge this issue – it is sometimes surprising the number of jobs which are carried out successfully on a job sharing basis)
• Does the proposal being put forward meet with the needs of the role?
• If the proposal being put forward doesn’t meet with the needs of the role, is it possible for either the role to be changed or the proposal to be changed so that it does meet both the needs of the role and those seeking to job share.
• What will the impact be on the other members of staff?

Ensuring the job sharing arrangement works in practice not only requires commitment from the employees but also clear written guidelines. As a minimum, the job sharing agreement should set out:

• The core hours each sharer is expected to work.
• Whether or not these hours can be varied by agreement between employees or whether you have the final say.
• How the employees are to keep each other informed of new issues, e.g. copying all emails into each others accounts, daily debriefing conversations and hand over meetings.
• How the job sharing arrangement is to be reviewed.
• On what basis you may terminate the job sharing arrangement.
• How the job is divided, whether strictly by time or task/project.

It is important to remember job sharers are different people and if important staff announcements are going to be made, if possible, both sharers should be present. A job sharing agreement needs to set out what will happen if one party’s employment is terminated either by resignation or dismissal. The agreement should set out the following points:

If it is not possible to find a replacement for an employee who leaves, then this may lead to the termination of the job sharing agreement.

The remaining employee will be consulted before any decision to terminate the job sharing agreement is made.

If the job sharing agreement is terminated, then the remaining employee will be offered the position on a full time basis. If the employee does not want to undertake the job on a full time basis, the employer will seek alternative roles for the employee. If there are no suitable alternative roles, then the employee may be dismissed.

The dismissal is essentially a redundancy as the job sharer role is no longer available. You need to decide whether or not redundancy compensation will be payable in this instance. If redundancy compensation is not to be paid, this should be made explicit in the agreement.