INTHEBLACK June 2022 - Magazine - Page 42
F E AT U R E
// J O B - S H A R I N G
Below: Padraig “Pod”
O’Sullivan, The
Leadership Context
“These women were very experienced and
wanted to work part-time because they had a
new child, or even ageing parents,” he recalls.
“Organisations were a bit slow to embrace this
in my experience, as they figured that it meant
they weren’t that ambitious.”
The reality could not have been further from
the truth, O’Sullivan says.
“They were more ambitious, in fact, because
they were willing to compromise both aspects of
their life, and my experience is that someone who
worked a job-share three days a week invariably
worked four days a week, because they fit so much
in,” he says.
“Organisations that saw this and embraced jobsharing did very well.”
O’Sullivan adds that job-sharing among women
may be a solution to the paucity of female C-suite
leaders.
“We know that the pipelines into C-suite roles
for women stalls between the ages of 32 and 39,
owing to maternity leave,” O’Sullivan says.
“If we can solve the problem at this stage, we
are going to have a higher representation at those
springboard roles into the C-suite much later.”
42 ITB June 2022
“MY EXPERIENCE IS THAT SOMEONE WHO WORKED A JOB-SHARE
THREE DAYS A WEEK INVARIABLY WORKED FOUR DAYS A WEEK,
BECAUSE THEY FIT SO MUCH IN. ORGANISATIONS THAT SAW THIS
AND EMBRACED JOB-SHARING DID VERY WELL.”
PADRAIG “POD” O’SULLIVAN, THE LEADERSHIP CONTEXT
Perhaps most importantly of all, job-sharing
can act as a signifier to current staff and future
employees that, as an organisation, you are flexible,
that you value your staff and that you respect their
life outside of work.
Alilovic says she wouldn’t be surprised if there
was an uptick in job-sharing as employers embrace
flexibility more generally.
“We have seen people enjoy and respond well to
work flexibility and the added wellness that they get
from it, and it has a positive impact on the business,”
she says. “So, I think from that perspective,
employers are open to it and, in fact, they are not
just open to it, but starting to come up with their
own policies and procedures.”