Share Your Job Share - Hannah & Rachel // The Job Share Pair

To demonstrate the breadth, potential, and diversity of successful job share teams, we are working to compile job share stories from around the globe.

Hannah & Rachel, @thejobsharepair

About the job share

Role: Directors | Co-Founder, previously Co-HR Director

Industry: Real Estate, Consulting, Coaching

We began working in a job share post our first maternity leaves, in a global commercial real estate firm in the role of HR Director. Our role was high volume and fast paced and we were the first job sharers in the UK arm of the business. As senior women in the business, we recognised the value of role modelling the work life balance that job sharing afforded us to upcoming talent. After setting up our Instagram account to learn more about job sharing ourselves, many were seeking professional advice from us - given our experience as senior job sharers and senior HR partners. We felt that we had an opportunity to help others with what we would have needed when we started job sharing, so our business The Job Share Pair was formed to help coach businesses and individuals to successfully embed job sharing.

Country: United Kingdom

Description: We support businesses new to job sharing to embed it as a successful flexible working practice by aligning two sets of unique skills to one role whilst maintaining full time coverage and business continuity. We also coach individuals to make their job share partnership a success from day one.

Years of Job Share: We’ve been in a job share for 3 years and counting.

What did you like most about job sharing?

Rachel: For me, having the ability to share quality time with my children whilst maintaining my own professional identity in a career of meaning and value was the ultimate utopia.

Hannah: My driver is absolutely the same as Rachel’s - and we have both benefited from working in an amazingly unique microteam where we learn from and bounce ideas off each other on a daily basis.

What do you wish people and companies knew about job sharing:

Rachel: That it enables for greater gender diversity at Board level and can markedly improve your gender pay gap. I wish there was better company understanding as to what job sharing is and reduced societal stigma when working part time.

Hannah: That job sharing doesn’t mean taking your foot off the pedal...in fact, you are able to give so much more energy during your working days. Part time does not mean part ambitious!

What were the main reason(s) you wanted to job share?

Rachel & Hannah: To balance the demands of a high profile senior role whilst enjoying the special fleeting moments when our little ones are growing at a rapid rate.

How did you find your job share partner?

Rachel: We met at work, Hannah was my boss for a period so we had some experience working together, and when we found out we were pregnant at the same time we knew we wanted to pitch a job share.

How did Benefits work? Benefits were split

How did you share your schedule and responsibilities? Equally divided (40 hours). Both shared responsibility for all tasks and divided up the days. We divided the management of our team and certain small projects but always on the proviso that we could pick up should there be a huge issue.

If you or someone you know is in a job share, please encourage them to share their job share story here: Share Your Job Share