Balancing work and family creates a productive workplace and a rewarding family life. Today's workplace must respond to changing labour force demographics, the need for increased workplace flexibility, and the importance of a skilled and engaged workforce.

A possible method of achieving this is job-sharing; a flexible and voluntary arrangement where one full time job is shared by two employees. Both are employed on a permanent basis, and whilst hours do not have to be split equally, hours are assessed on a ‘part time’ basis. With careful evaluation and planning, most positions can be ‘shared’ successfully.

A successful job-share position offers many benefits to both you and the employee:

• A practical way to attract and retain experienced staff who would not otherwise be interested in a full time position due to personal commitments.
• Increases stability and staff retention in instances where a very demanding role would otherwise result in high turnover rates.
• Job-sharing extends and retains intellectual capital, where two employees, instead of one, have the knowledge to perform and maintain a role, cross-train one another and provide support and encouragement.
• Lower absenteeism; employees can fulfill their personal responsibilities outside of work hours.
• Businesses may even be able to consider extending their business hours (if possible and practicable), allowing the business to run six or even seven days without overburdening the one employee. A shared position can cover extra days and any extended hours required easily, without incurring costs for overtime.
• Job-sharing also promotes a wider range of skills for the benefit of the company, where two employees contribute their combined skills and experience.
• Back up assistance is likely to be automatically available in this situation should there be a need for someone else to step in and continue a task or take on a certain responsibility, although this depends on the other person’s personal commitments and responsibilities.

For job-share positions to be managed successfully, the following guidelines should be considered:

• Have concise Position Descriptions that allocate tasks and responsibilities to each employee.
• Consider individual strengths when allocating tasks. Depending on the role and the level of responsibility attached to the position, different tasks and responsibilities may be allocated to employees depending on their background and experience.
• Have a communication standard that ensures information is transferred from one employee to the other so that the role appears seamless. Determine whether any overlap is required between the two employees to allow for the transfer of information and job continuity.
• Communicate to existing staff on how the job-share position will work, and who can be contacted on what days and times and for what purposes. Subsequently, team meetings may need to be scheduled when both employees can attend, or notes provided.
• Have clear guidelines around who will cover when sick leave or annual leave is taken by one employee or both simultaneously.
• Have clear guidelines on how the job-share position will be managed, including who will conduct the performance review and set objectives / goals.
• Compatibility between the two employees who will undertake the job-share arrangement.
• Other factors to consider for successful part time arrangements include:
• Ensure clear guidelines and agreements around employee wages / salaries, number of days and hours to be worked are established. Part-time employee wages / salaries and entitlements are worked out on a pro-rata basis; emphasising the importance of agreeing on how many days and hours the employee will work. These factors can be outlined in their individual Employment Agreement letter.
• Ensure that there is clarity around annual leave, personal leave and public holiday entitlements.
• Define expected outcomes and objectives, and set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the employee.
• Establish clear communication channels. Critical to the success of a part time arrangement and the certainty that your client commitments are met, effective and clearly identified communication channels are essential. Use overlap periods (if job-sharing) or nominate specific times for employees to exchange information to the relevant parties.

Remember to consider career progression and career path opportunities for job-sharers and part timers. Open communication with the employees is advisable to ensure that they have opportunities for promotion and/or other opportunities.

Hours of work can be modified for part time employees by providing appropriate notice. Refer to your relevant Award or Industrial Instrument for more information.