Career
Sharing a job starts with convincing the bossby Joan Lloyd
Dear Joan,
My coworker and I are both pregnant and due in December and January. We are both faced with the challenge of wanting to stay home with our children—yet have a challenging career at the same time. We'd both like to come back to our separate positions in customer service on a part-time basis but know that our supervisors wouldn't be too excited about that. So, we believe that we've found the "perfect" solution…job sharing.
We'd like some advice on how to appropriately approach our supervisors to sell them on the idea of letting us job share one position. We feel completely capable of working out our schedules between ourselves, to have one of us in the office during the day to take care of the tasks at hand. We also understand that our salaries would be cut in half, too. We both have supportive husbands whose employers provide health insurance and such. We understand that working part-time, we wouldn't be eligible for benefits and that's ok.
We are a good team and feel that we could create synergy within this position with both of us doing it. Whether or not we would swap working full days or both come in for a half-day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) we're not sure of yet. It would also be a position that needs us to work more hours during the Spring (March to June) and less in the Summer, Fall and Winter.
The Company has never had anybody to do this type of part-time work before and we know it will be a challenge to sell them on our idea while maintaining credibility at the same time. In a previous conversation with one of our supervisors he stated that, "Part-time employees aren't dedicated and only work by the clock." Based on this, I know it will be a challenge to bring up the topic of job sharing. Any advice you could give us, or even any other people we could contact is appreciated.
Answer:
Sharing a job is a little like having joint custody of a child--it will take a lot of compromise, maturity and selflessness to make sure the job doesn't suffer. If your supervisor is biased against part-time workers, he's going to like job sharing even less. What you have going for you is a good track record (I'm assuming you are both valuable employees with a good work ethic).
Here is a strategy:
First, assess how difficult it would be to find and train a full-time replacement for each of you. If you have a lot of job knowledge the company won't want to lose you and you'll be in a good bargaining position.
Make a list of every objection you can think of and write down a clear, realistic response. Customer service jobs are notoriously difficult to convert to part-time or job-sharing situations Be brutally honest: Can this job be done by two people without a lot of extra administration? Will customers have problems working with two people instead of one? Do you each have the skills to do the same job?
Next, think through the best way to schedule the arrangement. Be ready with a proposal instead of leaving it up to your supervisors. The more you think through, the better chance you'll have of selling it. And keep in mind that it will always be very important that your employer know who is to be working each day.
Write down the proposal so that your supervisors will have something to present to their managers. This will help your proposal stand on its own and dilutes the negative bias of the non-supportive supervisor. The proposal can be separated into categories such as:
One paragraph presents the idea.
The next section outlines exactly how it would work, including pay and benefits.
Following that, list the advantages to the company and the customer.
Then list the potential barriers to this arrangement, along with a solution for each one.
End the proposal with a positive statement about how you would like to try a "pilot" for six months. Include some objective measures. After six months, they will be in a better position to measure its effectiveness.
Consider presenting this to both of your supervisors and the person who does the recruiting in Human Resources. Human Resources professionals are on the front lines when it comes to finding new employees and you may have a strong advocate for this idea.
Be prepared with a back up plan if the answer is, "No". Perhaps one idea is to work as contract employees during the busy Spring season. If you are interested in working there in full-time positions, be careful not to burn your bridges. The trick will be to push for the idea without pushing yourselves out of a job.
The market is tight and good employees are hard to come by. If you are valuable, technically skilled employees, it will be to the company's advantage to retain both of you. After all, you will be less likely to leave, once you have this arrangement, and you will both be very careful to make this work. So, what does the company have to lose?
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Joan Lloyd is a speaker, trainer & consultant for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to the Fortune 500, as well as trade & professional associations across the country. Reach her at (800) 348-1944, Email info@joanlloyd.com, or www.joanlloyd.com.
