Job sharing is a flexible working arrangement where two or more employees share the workload and duties of a full-time job. This could mean one partner working specific days of the week, or another flexible arrangement that suits the individuals and the business. 

There are a variety of reasons many chose to job share – whether due to a change in personal circumstances, or to balance other responsibilities in life. This arrangement can prove effective and beneficial for the  parties involved through careful coordination, communication and flexibility. Individuals can bring complementary expertise, perspectives and knowledge to approach a diverse range of challenges or tasks, ultimately fostering greater collaboration, creative problem solving and innovation.

It’s important to consider the most appropriate guidelines and processes to have in place to ensure this works effectively for both the employees within the role, their wider organisation, and any clients they may work with.

We have recently started a job share together at Thinks Insight & Strategy: Lucy Farrow, who has been managing director of the Dialogue Practice for some time, is now sharing the role with Anna McKeon, who has just joined the team. Job sharing is new for Thinks, and while we have worked together in the past, working as a job share is new for us too. We see it as an opportunity to try out a different kind of flexible leadership model, to learn together and to explore what it really means to share senior responsibility in practice.

Before we began, we carried out some light-touch research, speaking with people who had direct experience of job shares and co-leadership. What we’ve written here isn’t about the nuts and bolts – the practicalities of planning, handovers, or scheduling – as there are already excellent resources for that. Instead, we want to share the perspectives and insights that shaped our thinking, helped us understand what matters most in making a job share work and guided us in imagining how we wanted ours to feel and function.

The sheer joy of job sharing

While job-sharing is less common that it was a few years ago (perhaps due to the Covid-boom in other types of flexible working), those who we spoke to were almost evangelical about its benefits. They spoke with passion and clarity about what made it work for them and generously gave their time to share their experience and offer advice.

“We did our jobs so much better because we were a job share… and oh the sheer joy of when you’re out of the office, not having to think about work because you know someone else is doing the job.”

While there was likely some positivity bias in our small sample of interviewees, we found those we spoke to had also clearly approached their arrangements with enormous care and exceptional communication. No-one took the arrangement lightly, and all were grateful and highly respectful of their job-sharing counterparts.

Clearly the match with your job-share partner is the all-important ingredient. Not everyone we spoke to had worked with their counterpart before they started job-sharing, but all were known to each other, and had their “fit” validated by peers. A strong foundation of trust was a consistent theme.

The why is as important as the how

The questions we asked our job share interviewees mainly focused on the how: how people split days, how they handled handovers (very important), how they managed teams and how they were managed themselves. In the market research industry, this is especially pertinent – for example with tight (and often rigid) deadlines on project timelines or proposal deadlines, or scheduled fieldwork that needs to take place.

However, what really stood out was how attuned people were to why they were doing it – both personally and professionally. They understood each other’s motivations, respected each other’s boundaries, and shared a clear rationale for why the role worked as a job share – as opposed to a job split or solo role.

“It means I can do the other part of my job, and she can manage her childcare. And we know we are both open to being flexible if we can – if I’m on holiday or unwell, she may pick up some more shows, and vice versa.”

It reminded us of the clarity you feel when you’re aligned with an organisation’s mission and vision. The sense of purpose you get when working on an impactful project that can help make a difference – whether it be for stakeholders, or the audiences they serve. If you understand why you are doing something, it builds empathy, strengthens your working relationship and supports better outcomes.

The most common “why” was being able to work part time while still holding senior responsibility – often to balance other roles in life, whether caregiving or portfolio work. That’s true for us too, but there is another reason that feels just as important to name.

We are super excited to be peers again. To have someone to bounce ideas off, to challenge and support each other, and to navigate complexity together. In senior roles your peer group can get smaller just as the decisions get harder. Having someone on tap who is equally invested is a huge plus.

Accountability like no other

An insight we found particularly powerful was the unique kind of accountability that job sharing creates. It’s not just about meeting deadlines or delivering on objectives, it’s about showing up for your partner and working in a way that is complementary to them and can enable their work and growth at the same time as your own.

“You are not held to account by anyone in the way you are in a job share. We see everything.”

That depth of visibility may be challenging at times, but it also drives high standards and shared pride in what you can achieve together. For organisations, this can mean more resilience and flexibility, as well as new levels of productivity. For clients, this could also mean versatile or comprehensive support in the face of challenges or issues that might arise.  

This linked to another common thread that ran through our conversations: checking your ego at the door. Job sharing is about collaboration, dealing with issues together and celebrating shared successes. There is still a space to reflect on your own contributions – especially for your CV if and when you need to move on – but the overwhelming sense was that job sharing at its best is deeply collaborative and mutually reinforcing.

“We’re not competitive, we’re in it for the same goal.”

Shared values, complementary skills

Contributing to this strength of collaboration, was the way in which the job sharers we spoke to felt they had complementary skills to their partner. Most pairs shared core values and ways of working, but brought different strengths and styles to the table. This mix of alignment and difference often led to a natural division of responsibilities, while still presenting a cohesive leadership voice.

“We saw the world in the same way and had the same values. But we had different skills. We didn’t always agree on everything – but that was a good thing.”

When it came to disagreements, partners rarely let them escalate. They had the self-awareness, and the awareness of each other, to spot potential tensions early, raise them openly and work through them before they became problems. Everyone agreed that presenting a unified voice was essential, so backing each other’s decisions, even if it meant having a difficult conversation behind the scenes first, was seen as key to maintaining strong relationships inside and outside the organisation.

It’s personal

Overall, our biggest learning from this exercise, which may seem obvious, is that you have to find a way that works for you. The success of a job-share hinges on relationships – between the partners, the wider team, across the organisation and with external stakeholders. That can’t be prescribed. It’s not about finding a template, rather crafting a bespoke arrangement.

This is a new way of working for Thinks, and we know there’s still more to learn; about maintaining consistency, sharing visibility, communicating with clients and adapting as the role evolves. But we’re confident that the benefits are real and that with thought, structure and mutual respect, job sharing can be a powerful model for senior leadership.

We’ll continue to share what we’re learning as we go, and we’d love to hear from others doing the same.

Lucy Farrow and Anna McKeon are co-managing directors at Thinks Insight & Strategy Dialogue Practice