Job sharing is not a new phenomenon; it’s been around since the ’70s. However, this flexible working arrangement is coming under a fresh spotlight in 2024 as employers explore new ways to help attract and retain talent.
Whereas part-time jobs are usually limited by the scope for weekly hours, job sharing involves the splitting of a full-time role—and the corresponding full-time salary—between two or more employees.
This can be done in various ways. Some job shares may choose to split a role between two people, with one taking two days per week and one taking three days per week.
Alternatively, if a role is particularly demanding or requires attention all week, other employers may choose to create a share across slightly more than full-time hours, allowing two employees to pick up three days’ work each.
Many employers don’t actively promote job shares, rather they typically come about when employees or job seekers approach a company to ask for one as a solution to fitting work around their life needs. Job seekers who wish to job share may even apply for positions as a team, including a clear outline of how they envision the job share working.
Advantages up for grabs
Job sharing brings flexibility across all seniority levels, which is important for gender equality and to increase female participation in the labor market. Moms have historically often been forced out of the workplace due to the lack of flexible working options within more senior roles, particularly as it is often unfeasible to transition senior positions to part-time hours.
Job sharing can solve this issue, with numerous high-profile success stories demonstrating the power of the trend, including two women who became CEO and marketing director of the U.K.-based charitable organization Macmillan, via a job share, which saw them promoted together four times within 10 years.
It’s not only women who benefit. Job shares can also help employers support disabled workers, students, or simply attract those seeking greater work life balance. For employers, offering job sharing can open up the talent pool available to them.
There’s also evidence that it can boost productivity, with research showing that a job sharing team of two is 30% more productive than a single full-time employee. Part of this stems from a company effectively gaining access to two skill sets, not one, with a job share position, which can be highly advantageous. For example, if two job sharers both have 10 years of experience each, an employer gains 20 years.
For job sharers, alongside the allure of boosted work-life balance, a key benefit is having someone to share the load. Having someone as part of their team to share stresses and successes helps support healthy well-being. The little things like having someone to stay on top of their inbox while they’re taking PTO make a huge difference.
What’s more, job sharing creates a creative and productive environment, where employees can motivate, bounce ideas off, and learn from each other.
Considerations
The most obvious stumbling block is that job sharing means accepting a lower pay packet, which may not be feasible for everyone. For employers too, onboarding, training, and setting up multiple employees for a position is simply more expensive.
A successful job share is also reliant on total trust between participants. People who work in a similar way to each other may find it easier to develop seamless ways to collaborate, while those with different working styles can rub each other up the wrong way. In some ways, a job share colleague is the colleague you can’t escape from, so it’s incredibly important you get along and can work well together.
Creating clear boundaries is fundamental. Having clear KPIs for each participant, a well thought out time management schedule, and open lines of communication, are key.
Navigating a job share can also be tricky if one person decides to leave. It can take years for some people to find someone whom they trust and respect enough to enter into a job sharing arrangement with, so it’s important to have aligned expectations regarding how long you plan to stay within a role, as well as an agreed “exit plan” that respects all parties.
It’s also important to note that not all roles are suitable for job sharing. For example, positions that require a deep level of immersion into long-term projects or niche skill sets and experiences are not always easily shared. Examples here could include some software development roles.
Trendspotting
Despite the many complexities, the growing demand for flexible working options means job sharing is slowly making a comeback.
Adzuna data shows the trend is on the rise in the U.S., with the proportion of job ads offering job shares nearly doubling since the pandemic, up from 0.013% in January 2020 to 0.02% in January 2024. However, this still only accounts for 1,532 job ads—a tiny number. But with workers demanding more flexible options, and many employers struggling to attract the talent to fill open roles, this could be set to change.
Yet estimates suggest around a fifth of employers are open to job-sharing arrangements, as many simply don’t promote job sharing as an option within their job ads. For those seeking a job share, it’s worth asking the question even if it’s not explicitly obvious a share is available.
Job sharing isn’t for the naive or underprepared, but for those who make a success of it, the rewards are multiple—for both job seeker and employer.
