Job Share For Accountancy Recruiters

by Amanda McCulloch

We're embracing job sharing for the first time as accountancy and finance recruiters, Suzanne Burr and Claire Little, return from maternity leave.

The shift to flexible working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has unlocked demand for permanent changes to our working patterns. With evidence that productivity and wellbeing have improved for many, organisations are beginning to announce big changes.

Will the revolution in flexible work extend to job sharing, with 2 part-time employees sharing the work of one full-time job?

The concept of job sharing has been around for decades but it's poorly adopted with around only 123,000 employees in the UK working on job sharing contracts.

At a recent CIPD webinar, Emma Stewart, co-founder of Timewise, reported that only 24% of jobs advertised in Scotland referenced any type of flexible working, and of those roles, less than 2% mentioned job sharing.

In an environment where diversity and productivity are increasingly important priorities for businesses, we believe job sharing is a clever way to retain talented people who need, or want, to work part-time.

And innovative ideas such as the Coronavirus Work-Sharing Scheme recommended by the Institute for Public Policy Research and the TimeWise Power List are evolving our thinking around how part-time work can be effectively structured.

We're embracing job sharing for the first time as accountancy and finance recruiters, Suzanne Burr and Claire Little, return from maternity leave.

I acknowledge that their circumstances are a great starting point for successful job sharing - both recruiters are long-term employees of TMM Recruitment and worked together before going on maternity. They understand each other's skills, knowledge, working style, and communication preferences. Their time is structured so there's cover across the 5-day working week, including dedicated handover time.

I'm thrilled that we can support Suzanne and Claire, helping them to achieve the work–family balance they're looking for. It feels like a real step-change for our business, to retain the skills and experience of 2 people within 1 role.

Part-time flexibility is not only about parenting or caring responsibilities. A quarter of all full-time employees would specifically prefer to work part-time. And job sharing isn't only about working in one role, this option is of growing interest to senior executives seeking a portfolio career.

What do you think about the future of part-time working and job sharing, will it significantly contribute to the workplace revolution? You can share your thoughts on our social channels, or tag us on social conversations.