Business, Innovation and Skills CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Linda Wells
THE POSITIVE ROLE OF JOB SHARING IN THE WORKPLACE
My experience working as a job share for fourteen years has convinced me of the many advantages job shares offer to the employer as well as to the employee. I worked as a teacher, but I found talking to other job-sharers in the civil service, medicine and the private sector that they too echoed the points I am making. Although this is about women, men too (carers/parents) benefit from the opportunity to job share.
1. Skill Development
By being in a job-share women can retain and develop skills which they would lose if they had to take a complete career break.
2. Staff Retention and Loyalty
Employers retain experienced staff if they can continue to work while having to parent etc. Job sharers are known to be loyal workers as they cherish the advantages of their position, so less staff turnover. Job sharers are inclined to go the extra mile, as to have the job share is so important to them. I do not see this as exploitation, as some do, but as a common-sense, realistic approach.
3. In a Small Workplace Job-sharing Extends the Size of the Workforce
eg I worked in a small school, between us my job share partner and I took on extra management responsibilities, more of a workload than one person could have taken on.
4. Employers get more than One Full Timer
A job sharer when not at the workplace will be reflecting on their job, so the employer gets more hours of input; a single worker is one worker, a 50:50 job-share probably in reality provides 1.5 worker time. I know that a reluctant civil service boss admitted after a time that he was won over realising that his job sharers were mulling over work in free time and reckoned he got not 50% and 50% but 75% and 75%.
5. Less Time Taken Off
In teaching the work is physically exhausting and teachers do have time off for sickness. My experience is that job-share workers take off very little time, because they have rest time so get ill less, and also can “keep going” on their work days—knowing it is not for a full week.
6. Continuity is Easier to Maintain
During 14 years with four job-share partners if ever one of us was off sick (which was very rare) we were always able to cover for each other. As a result the class never had to have a stand in teacher so the continuity of teaching was maintained.
7. Flexibility
Having two people completely up to speed on one job gives the workforce flexibility to allow for individuals attending courses, holidaying etc without loss to clients. In the private sector, (where the criticism of job sharing is break in continuity) I would say that the lesser likelihood of neither person being available for clients etc, as one covers for the other, means better continuity over all.
8. An Employer has two People Working on each Issue
Job sharers talk over the job with each other, so eg a class of 30 children have two teachers talking about how best to teach them rather than one teacher on their own. The active process of handing over the job each week to a partner ensures that issues are explored, difficult matters that a worker without a partner might choose to ignore, cannot be ignored but must be talked through with the job share partner. Decisions as a result are more likely to be considered judgements rather than impulsive.
9. No Hiding Place!
Responsibility to one’s partner means that the job sharer is very loath ever to do shoddy work, it is so glaringly obvious; so untidiness, sloppiness doing the wrong thing, less likely to occur.
14 November 2012