What is job-sharing? An overview of the flexible work option

One key component of running a successful small business is employee happiness. While many different factors can affect how your employees feel about the job, work-life balance plays an important role in ensuring job satisfaction, according to research published in the journal Society. 

When looking for a better work-life balance, employees might ask for more flexible work arrangements or the opportunity to work part-time. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people working part-time for noneconomic reasons increased by 3.9% in the past year. But job-sharing could be an option if your business is not in a place to reduce employee working hours. 

In this article, we’ll review how job-sharing works and the benefits it can bring if you’re looking to retain top employees while providing a flexible work schedule.

How does job-sharing work?

Job-sharing is a work arrangement that allows two or more employees to share the responsibilities of one full-time position. With this arrangement, each employee works fewer hours in a week to split the job with the other employee.

Implementing job-sharing will vary depending on your business and goals. Generally, here’s how job-sharing works:

1. Evaluate job roles: Identify if the position is suitable for job-sharing by considering tasks and responsibilities and whether you can divide them between two employees. 
2. Decide how to divide the work: Consider whether each employee will have the same responsibilities and tasks or if you’ll split the responsibilities between them. 
3. Organize a schedule: Establish each employee’s schedule and whether they’ll work on the same days but different hours or the same hours but different days.
4. Develop guidelines: Create documented formal policies and guidelines for job-sharing, outlining the process, schedules, and responsibilities for each employee to sign. 
5. Support the arrangement: Provide any necessary support and resources to ensure the work-sharing environment functions properly, such as providing training and tools for communication. 

Job-sharing might not work for all businesses and positions, but adjusting it according to your needs and goals can effectively offer a flexible work option for your employees. 

Remember, the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t address job-sharing, and it should be an agreement between you and your employees. Which means, you should discuss their salary and benefits before agreeing to move forward with this arrangement.

For example, you can split up a full-time position between two employees, each with different responsibilities. Then establish a schedule that works best for the position, such as having one employee work the morning shifts and the other the afternoon shifts.

Benefits of job-sharing

If you’re considering implementing job-sharing—whether because the employee requested it or to provide more flexible work—there are plenty of benefits for both you and the employees.

Some benefits of job-sharing include: 

• Improves work-life balance: With reduced working hours and responsibilities, employees can better manage their personal commitments and responsibilities, which can help avoid burnout. 
• Increases flexibility: Gives employees more flexibility over their schedules, allowing them to pursue personal projects and making it easier to plan for time off. 
• Enhances employee productivity: Distributing workload allows employees to focus on specific tasks, allowing them to develop expertise and work more efficiently. 
• Retains top talent: Helps retain employees who want more work flexibility or reduced hours and attracts talent seeking flexible work arrangements. 
• Help with continuity and coverage: With two employees sharing one role, job-sharing ensures tasks are covered, reduces disruptions due to sick days and absences, and promotes collaboration between partners.  
• Can reduce business costs: Your business may be able to reduce hiring costs due to retaining talent, or if you’re not required to provide 

Depending on how your business arranges job sharing, it might also help reduce business costs. For example, you could reduce hiring expenses due to retaining talent and decrease costs tied to company benefits, if both employees aren’t entitled to benefits. Additionally, you can also see lower overtime pay expenses since one employee can cover the partner’s tasks. 

Keep in mind that not all of these benefits might apply to your business, since they will depend on the specific job sharing arrangement you establish. Before moving forward, determine whether employees will earn the same salary and if they are eligible to employee benefits.

Overall, job-sharing can benefit your business if you establish well-known guidelines and manage your team properly. Ultimately, it can help employees looking for a flexible work arrangement feel more engaged and satisfied at work while maintaining a better work-life balance. 

Job-sharing challenges

As we mentioned, job-sharing can bring various benefits, but it might not work for all positions and businesses. Additionally, there are also potential challenges you’ll have to address when implementing job-sharing in your business. 

Some job-sharing challenges include: 

• Communication: Lack of communication between job-share partners can lead to misunderstandings and errors. Some employees may struggle to maintain constant communication to keep their partners fully informed.
• Handover procedures: Transferring tasks and responsibilities between partners without the correct procedures can lead to incomplete tasks and errors. 
• Overlapping responsibilities: Poorly coordinated schedules and overlapping responsibilities can lead to missed tasks, confusion, and gaps in coverage. 
• Partner compatibility: Incompatible partners can lead to misunderstandings, but finding job-sharing partners with similar work styles and compatible personalities can be difficult.
• Task consistency: Partners may have different approaches and standards when working on tasks, affecting quality and execution.
• Career development: Work sharing can decrease career advancement opportunities as employees are sharing the same responsibilities. 
• Managerial duties: Your management team may need additional training and will see an increase in managerial duties to managing an extra employee instead of one. 

You can address these challenges by clearly defining the job-sharing arrangement both in writing and verbally, ensuring effective communication, giving proper manager training, and monitoring the process. 

Before setting up this work arrangement, consider whether the benefits are worth the added managerial duties and training. Planning for these potential challenges takes time and enough training to ensure it’s successful and productive. 

Best practices when implementing work sharing

If you’re interested in implementing job-sharing into your business, planning ahead of time and establishing clear guidelines will lead to a successful flexible work arrangement. 

Some best practices when implementing work sharing include: 

• Ensure partner compatibility: If possible, allow employees to pair up with each other, and ensure partners have a similar work ethic and complementary skills. 
• Foster effective communication: Establish open and transparent communication between partners and provide the right tools to ensure they can easily communicate and get information about tasks and responsibilities. 
• Establish a clear schedule: Define each partner's job description both verbally and in writing, tasks, and responsibilities, as well as ensure they have a set schedule to avoid overlaps and gaps in coverage. 
• Align on handover procedures: Create a process for handing over processes and tasks with pending tasks and ongoing projects to ensure a smooth transition between jobs. 
• Provide training: Provide special training to the manager overseeing the arrangement and encourage meetings between partners to discuss tasks, projects, and concerns.
• Keep improving: Monitor the job-sharing arrangement, evaluate its effectiveness, and make adjustments based on outcomes and feedback. 

Tailoring these tips to your business needs and employees and providing sufficient training can help you successfully implement a work-sharing arrangement to benefit your employees and your business. 

Job-sharing examples in small businesses

Job-sharing is more common and might work best in roles you can split into clear tasks or parts, such as administrative positions, customer service, and project management. It may not work for jobs that require employees to be present all the time, such as certain customer-facing and managerial roles. 

For example, an administrative assistant might need more personal time but would still want to keep working. Since you can divide their position into two part-time positions, you can create a job-sharing arrangement with one employee working Monday through half of Wednesday, and the other from Wednesday through Friday. 

Each partner would be responsible for the same tasks while clearly communicating with each other on Wednesdays what the other needs to complete. It’s also helpful to have a manager overseeing and documenting the process to ensure employees are handing off and completing tasks properly.  

A marketing specialist still completing their graduate program is another example of job-sharing. They may want to work part-time while studying, but your business needs a full-time employee. As a workaround, two marketing specialists can job-share a position, with one focusing on digital marketing while the other handles content creation and social media management. 

Run your business with confidence

While flexible work arrangements might not work for every business, job-sharing could be an opportunity to provide your employees with a better work-life balance and give them the chance to spend more time with family or pursue a passion project. In return, it may help you retain top talent and increase employee productivity. 

Now that you know what job sharing is, consider how this arrangement can benefit your small business and whether it outweighs the challenges you may face. And remember, for a successful job-sharing arrangement, you need to ensure employees are tracking time correctly and managing their time effectively.