Melissa NicholsoN INTRO

MELISSA NICHOLSON: I’ve discovered that there are actually five different reasons that people are weary about creating, selling, and getting approval for their job share. So what are the five reasons? I can tell you what they are because they come up time and time again. They are that they don’t have enough time, the right job, boss, or a partner to do it with, or that they can’t afford to do it.

Introduction

INTRO: Welcome to Job Share Revolution. The show about job sharing—a partnership between two people to bring two minds and skill sets to one full-time position. I’m Melissa Nicholson, former job sharer turned founder of the first U.S. job share company. But it wasn’t long ago that I felt like an utter failure at work and as a new parent. Job sharing was my game-changer. I reclaimed four days a week to fully engage in my life while my capable partner handled everything. Together, we achieved more than I ever could solo. Fast forward to many lessons learned to bring you the training and support I wish I’d had to change lives and the modern-day workplace. Let’s live life and slay work.

Melissa NICHOLSON

MELISSA NICHOLSON: Hello friend! I hope that you had the very best, most relaxing completely offline and unplugged Labor Day weekend and I hope you spent it with all of those people that you love so much. The humans that you care about the very most—your friends and family, and you just really relaxed. And I want you to carry that feeling with you. Those holidays that we have, those three-day holidays, that for a lot of people are four-day holidays because they’ll take a Friday off. I want you to think about how it feels. How freeing. How incredible it feels. And then I want you to imagine that that was your reality every single week. Because that is what job sharing feels like every single week. Everybody is unplugged and offline and off together. They’re national holidays so the expectations are low, right? It’s that way. It feels that way when you’re job sharing. I just want you to carry that feeling with you. OK, let’s dive in, my friend.

Now, you know how much I love job sharing, right? Doing it, what it gave me and my family, my amazing job share partners, helping others do it. It’s why I called the podcast Jobshare Revolution!  I want to spread the practice like wildfire! And I genuinely believe that nearly anyone can do it regardless of gender or parental status, in any job, and in any industry. And that it won’t stunt your income or career potential, but actually, the opposite. Sharing your job can give you a momentum and career trajectory you never thought possible fueled by two talent in one role! 

So why are there not more job sharers all around you? And why do some people hesitate to do it, even if they can transform their life and work by doing it? I mean, come on! Why wouldn’t anybody job share to reclaim half their time while leveling up in their career? It just takes people time to wrap their heads around job sharing. After all, it’s two people in one job. And they have so many questions. Trust me, it’s not as complicated as it seems from the outside. And there are more people doing it or who have done it all around you, you just don’t know it. I’ve discovered that there are actually five different reasons that people are weary about creating, selling, and getting approval for their job share. So what are the five reasons? 

I can tell you what they are because they come up time and time again. They are that they don’t have enough time, the right job, boss, or a partner to do it with, or that they can’t afford to do it. So I’m doing a myth-busting series to help you have a clear understanding of how you can create a job share.

Number one is that they are overwhelmed, stressed out, and burned out by their unreasonably demanding personal and professional lives, and they don’t have the time to do it. But that’s precisely why they can’t afford to wait months or years because the way they’re living and working isn’t working, it’s not sustainable. It never was but the pandemic made it worse. And now we know better. We can’t do it all in every area of life, not all at the same time for sure. If you can halve the load and hand it over, both at work and with your parenting partner, time slows down for you. Opportunities open up to you. You start living on a whole new plane of existence. A happier, more joyful one. The front-end work it takes to thoughtfully create a job share is nothing compared to the years, if not lifetime of working this way, better and happier than ever.

Now as far as timing, the timing to make a life-transformational change will never be perfect. It’s never gonna be perfect. It wasn’t for me, it’s not for anybody who makes a big change. Don’t wait around. I mean, that’s the one thing. I tried and tried with job sharing and it was like, yeah, the timing was never right. I got back into the radio industry thinking this will be great. Well, those middle managers, they were middle-aged white men with stay-at-home wives. I’ve told you that. They were not into it. The timing is never gonna be perfect. You can’t keep waiting for the right boss, the right job, or the right company to do it. Ya just gotta go for it. And when you hit a roadblock, don’t let that stop you. I didn’t. Keep going for it. I pitched job sharing multiple times, even to a hiring manager before finally job sharing myself. And it was 100% worth the time and effort. I didn’t have Work Muse then or it would have been a lot sooner.

By the way, Job Share Academy is designed for folks with on-the-go lives. The short, actionable videos and downloadable lessons take no more than a few hours of time a week. No filler. No unnecessary lessons. And if you’re a reading/writing, auditory learner, or kinesthetic learner, we’ve got ya covered with transcripts and audio downloads, plus hands-on activities. The goal is to get you the info you need to implement in the least amount of time, with flexibility—on your timeframe. Even our live group coaching sessions are flexible, recorded and in your Member’s Area, waiting for you once you return rested and ready to get the most out of them :). I’ve hit every end of the caregiving spectrum myself, new parent to sandwich caregiver, so making a succinct way for folks to get from A to job share as quickly as possible, so they can reclaim half their time (maybe forever), is always my front and center goal.

But today, I want to talk about the second reason, and that is feeling like it just won’t work in your job. I mean, you don’t see anybody else job sharing around you who has your job, do you? If people were able to job share in your role or industry, they’d be doing it, right? 

There’s a two-part answer to this. You might be surprised that a pretty decent percentage of companies actually have some job sharing. And when I say decent, I’m talking around 20% of U.S. companies offer job sharing. They’re just really sucky at promoting it and creating systems to advance it internally, they don’t champion it openly or support those doing it with training, policies, and ways to apply internally for job share positions. So a tiny sliver of people, mostly mid-to-senior level on up, and mostly those with a huge motivation like caring for kids or kids with special needs or family members for health reasons—a big motivation. Those are the people, who self-advocate for their job shares. And that’s who’s doing it. And those people? They’ve got a really good thing. I mean, a really good thing. With so few doing it, they’re gonna keep it under the radar. It’s a scarcity mindset. I mean, I hope to change that by the way. But that mindset—that it’s a rare privilege that can be taken away from them at any time. It means they keep it on the DL, and you never even hear about job sharing at your workplace.

Only a few, like their boss and their direct stakeholders really know what a force they are in their jobs. And those stakeholders? They think it’s because the two people are all stars. They have no idea that the structure of the job share—the built-in accountability, collaborative nature, and productivity leveraging both skill sets—creates the SuperTeam.

So that’s one thing. The other is what I shared. Job sharing isn’t complicated but there are many areas to consider. How will two points of contact work for clients, patients, or students? Most people find it hard to wrap their heads around how to share their job, believing it too complex for a partner to get the intricacies. Or they believe job sharing only works in certain types of jobs.

Research reveals job sharing works in most roles, including those that seem like it wouldn’t. In fact, it works particularly well in demanding roles where a support system, a second brain, and the ability to rest and recharge is a game changer. And it’s very likely to work in your job and industry too.

I have a little challenge for you. Think about a task you do in your home like doing the dishes that you’ve mastered. You’ve done it so much that you’ve got a system that gets good results every time. But what if you wanted your life partner or spouse to do it half the time? Maybe you’d start by showing them your method—how you do it. Of course they’ve done dishes before, it’s just been some time. You’ve been doing it all. But you have to give up some control to regain something you want: time and trust that they will do it. They may do it your way, or find one that works better for them. And it’ll be just as good. Do you know why? Because it’ll be freakin’ done. And done is just as good as perfect, my friend. So it may not be done your way but it’ll be done.

You kind of have to put your ego aside and realize, “Yeah, somebody else can come in and do your job. Probably every part of your job. If we’re going to be honest. And they can bring their own individual experience, ideas, background to it all. That’s what makes it better. Don’t you get it? That is what makes it better. It’s the combination. The problem-solving of two diverse perspectives. That’s how these complex roles can be shared for better solution-driven results. It’s why job sharing has never gone away, and why the collaborative, soft-skills driven, fast-moving AI and automation future of work that’s about to slam into us  is primed for more job sharing. 

Just to reinforce this, data proves job sharing works in sales and client-facing roles, leadership and team management roles, strategic and knowledge-based roles, fast-paced or highly transactional roles, and senior roles in global, fast-paced organizations. There are even lawmakers and CEOs who job share. This really needs to sink in

I want to share a few industries I’ve personally seen or worked with clients to job share in to give you a clearer picture. Because when you see it, you believe it. You are more likely to take action so that you can achieve it.  A few that come to mind are industries with a higher percentage of women, like teaching to bring two educators helping students together, or stressful sales positions, like those in the media industry (radio, television, newspapers, cable) which I came from, as well as pharmaceutical and medical supplies. HR is another industry job sharing is more prevalent. Why wouldn’t HR professionals who discover job sharing and how incredible it is, create their own job shares? It makes sense to me. There is also more job sharing in the medical and legal fields which are intense, often emotionally and time demanding industries. You can also find job sharing in the public sector in government jobs, from the city to the federal level—as a way to recruit military families, those with disabilities, and diverse talent.

There are just countless types of jobs including professors in academia, journalism, product, strategy & planning positions, therapy practice directors, advertising, PR, sponsorship and events, tech, computer software, product managers, consulting, energy, the automobile industry, retail, People professionals, actors, investment banking, the civil service, lawmakers, editors, law partners, non-profit executive directors, CEOS, communications managers, realtors, developers, startup founders, business owners. Are you getting my drift here? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Truly job sharing can work in almost any job or industry, including yours, my friend.

While job sharing has been around since the seventies, originally for mothers in administrative roles, it’s definitely moved up the payscale with 78% having a decade or more of professional experience and 80% at the manager, senior manager, or director level, and has opened up to men and non-parents as well. Turns out our work-to-live society in the U.S. hasn’t served us so well, and these time-greedy jobs, often with hefty workloads, demands, and travel—can be better served by engaged leaders able to put their well-being first by sharing the responsibilities with a partner, while leaning into their individual strengths and learning from one another. Co-leadership. They might not be calling it job sharing, but this is who I’m hearing from: Non-profits who want a co-leadership model, for profits.   Leaders have been crying out for a different way to work since the pandemic. It’s a different day my friend.

The takeaway is that once job sharers put in the up-front work to decide the handover, decision-making, and communication processes to onramp smoothly, stakeholders overwhelmingly experience positive results working with them. Ironically, the things managers or companies fear most — accountability and communication — are where job share partners shine.

A little bit of upfront work to thoughtfully create and plan for a job share can lead to years if not decades even, of happy, successful job sharing. So the next time that little devil is sitting on your shoulder whispering “Job sharing will never work in my job,” brush it off. Let it fall right off your shoulder knowing, “Yeah, job sharing definitely can work in my job.” And by the way, if you don’t currently HAVE a job to share, it can certainly work in your job share partner’s job. In that case, you find your partner and presto, they champion you into their job to share it! Voila!

I want you to grab a FREE resource I created for you, our Summertime Job Share Playlist featuring advice specifically with you in mind from 5 incredible job share teams who to help you do the same. Because seeing is believing, and NOW is the time to lay the groundwork to put your plan into place.  You’re not the only one who’s just come off of summer break chillaxin’ a bit, your boss has too, with some space away from work to think about how to support their team’s well-being. Go to work muse dot com forward slash playlist to get it!

There it is! If you’ve been job share curious and feel a little inspired about at least exploring this, then I want to invite you to something special. Twice a year, I offer a bootcamp called Jobshare Jumpstart. It’s a five-day live interactive experience where I personally guide you through the core steps of validating your job share. The decisions you need to make, the steps you need to take to get started. And we’re going to cover everything from making sure job sharing is right for you to finding your job share partner. And here’s the best part. My number one goal is to help as many people to job share as possible, so my bootcamp is designed to show you how to create a job share without breaking the bank. For just $27 dollars, it is the least expensive thing I offer and you’ll get access to all the content that I teach to get started with your job share in a supportive community of like-minded folks doing the same. You can’t help but be inspired as everyone lifts as they rise sharing their wins. A truly special experience. If this is something that you’re interested in, if you want to learn step-by-step how to create your job share on a really tight budget, join my bootcamp Jobshare Jumpstart.

I’d love it if you could share this episode with a friend who’d jump at a job share, especially if they confidently knew it could work in their job, or any job. Who knows.  You might just find your first or next job share partner! Make sure to tune in next week—same time, same place—for our myth-buster series! You won’t want to miss it. And to get the show notes with links you can go to work muse dot com forward slash one four.   Sending you a lot of big mom love this week for you parents navigating back-to-school, and all that that entails. For a lot of us, we’re doing this job share thing for those kiddos. How cool is it that it turns out it’s for us even more?! OK, friend – see you next week, same time, same place. Bye for now!