Job sharing has been well documented as a form of work pattern that helps colleagues to maintain their work-life balance.
The Grid below shows the potential differences in work experiences between people who work in Full Time, Part Time and Job Share work patterns.
The examples below are drawn from real colleagues experiences and are not exhaustive.
Full Time |
Part Time |
Job Share |
9 – 5, 5 days per average working week |
9 – 5, 3 days per average working week |
9 – 5, 2.5 days per average working week |
Busy all working week |
Busy for 3 days |
Busy for 2.5 + 5 days |
Work beyond contracted time, e.g. urgent and important work must be done |
Work beyond contracted time, e.g. want to not have unfinished work which mounts up |
Work to contracted time supported by handover with Job Share Partner |
There are reasonable amounts of promotion opportunities |
There are less amounts of promotion opportunities than Full Time |
There are reasonable amounts of promotion opportunities as Job Share Partners apply as one FTE |
Don’t get as much time with Partner and Child as would like to |
Do get time to be with Partner and Child |
Do get time to be with Partner and Child |
One set of knowledge, skills and experience brought to one role |
One set of knowledge, skills and experience brought to one role |
Two sets of knowledge, skills and experience brought to one role |
Can attend training on any working week day |
Can only attend training on one of the 3 contracted working days |
Job Share Partners can only attend training on own working days however the Job Share Partnership can share and benefit from the learning gained with each other. |
Middle amount of Employee Engagement |
Lowest level of Employee Engagement |
Highest level of Employee Engagement |