Melissa NicholsoN INTRO

MELISSA NICHOLSON: We can’t afford to wait. Thankfully, with job sharing, you don’t have to wait. You create your own path. You drive the car—with a partner, not AI.

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 INTRO

MELISSA NICHOLSON:

Hey friend, it’s Mel, and I’m so glad you’re here.

I hope you enjoyed our four-part, actionable myth-buster series on the biggest barriers to job sharing. If you’re job share curious—of course you are, you’re here, right?—and would like to check it out for yourself or your employees, I’ll link to episodes 48 through 51 in the show notes. As a side note,  you can always go to workmuse.com forward slash the episode number to get Jobshare Revolution show notes. So for example, for episode 48, you’d just go to workmuse.com/48.

OK. A few housekeeping things! We’ve got some exciting initiatives in the works for 2026! To protect my work-life balance, we’re sticking to our bimonthly schedule through the end of the year. Now, this time is crazy with the holiday mental load anyway, so hopefully, that works perfectly for you too!

Second, you know my mission is to empower as many people—parents or not, men too, come on men!—to job share to excel at work and to reclaim time they can’t get back to live their lives! Please share this episode. You are part of the jobshare revolution movement, and it would mean so much to me.

And third, I’ve made a shift in the episodes I’d planned to bring you over the coming weeks because, well, the world has kind of lost its damn mind, and it’s affecting our workplaces, our jobs, our families. So I can’t put my head in the sand and, you know,  just NOT talk about it. What happens in the world affects our safety and security, and of course, affects who we are when we show up at work.

Systems are being dismantled. Progress is being rolled back. And federal jobs have been cut at an unprecedented level. I mean, it is affecting people’s livelihoods, especially people of color, LGBTQ folks, and women.

When research proves that ethnically diverse and gender diverse companies financially outperform their peers by more than 30%, all rationale has been thrown out the window when it comes to practices to retain and recruit diverse talent by leveling the playing field. I mean, the term “inclusion” is actually being used to mean the exclusion of diversity. The “us versus them” mentality is not serving anyone and it is hurting everyone.

I don’t want to get on a soapbox. I really don’t. But before you move forward, sometimes it is important to get a grasp on the landscape and what is affecting it in order to understand the complexity and how to navigate it before you can start putting a plan into action for changes in your professional or your personal life. Believe me, I’m doing this as much for me as I am for you.

The Landscape

Let’s face it, by now it’s clear that the September Surge in job hiring did not hit this year. Look, it’s been a brutal job market in 2025, especially with the knee-jerk jump on AI. But it wasn’t until I started seeing LinkedIn post after LinkedIn post about the 212,000 women who’d been forced out of the workforce in the first seven months of 2025 alone, that I just how bad it has been for women. It gave me déjà vu of the pandemic and the two million women forced out during that time. I mean, that was rough.

Then, I came across Alana Semuels’ TIME article: Why So Many Women are Quitting the Workplace. Alana interviewed me for an article about job sharing as a solution to burnout—another reason women have quit. I’ll share a link in the show notes to both of those articles.

  Alana’s article got straight to the problem: white men with “care privilege” are the ones making decisions that affect mothers’ abilities to work full-time.

Let me read you something from Jessica Gross’s powerful New York Times piece, American Women are Leaving The Workforce. Why?

She writes about how the current administration has targeted the Women’s Bureau—the very agency created over a century ago to advocate for working women. The message is clear: women’s workforce participation isn’t a priority. In fact, it’s being actively undermined.

I mean, this isn’t just about policy. This is personal. For every single one of us trying to build careers, raise families, and contribute to our communities. The defunding of support systems, the rollback of flexible work policies, the elimination of diversity initiatives—these aren’t abstract political moves. They’re direct attacks on our ability to work and thrive.

And friend, that is exactly why we need to be proactive. Alert. And ready to create our own solutions.

Among the drivers pushing women out? Companies retracting flexibility, the childcare funding cliff in 2024, and new immigration policies impacting paid caregivers.

The research for flexibility as a catalyst for increased productivity, engagement, and retention continues to be ignored by many companies.

The good news…let me give you some good news now though. That was a lot. So let me give you some good news. The good news is that the vast majority of those who job share create their own arrangements. In other words, you don’t have to wait for your boss or company to “offer” it to you. And over 70% of job sharers who apply are promoted together. And many retain their benefits. I did and my clients do too.

So what about these women who are quitting? And why does it matter so much? Well, as a workplace expert and midlife woman myself, I’m gonna tell you why. When women divorce and outlive men, they need their long-term retirement savings. It’s not a nice-to-have; it’s a necessity. As primary caregivers to children or even aging parents, women often are forced into downshifts or career breaks, losing hundreds of thousands of dollars they will need down the line.

And don’t blame yourself. Don’t feel bad about that if it’s happened to you. It’s happened to me too. Thankfully I was able to job share, but, the sandwich generation hit and taking care of an Alzheimer’s parent without a social safety net is just a lot. And something’s gotta give.

So let’s get wonky. The data reveals there is a 3% decrease in women’s labor force participation after years of progress—from 70% to 67% for mothers ages 25 to 44 with children under five. It may not sound like much, but it is big. And the rate of unmarried mothers dropping out is double that of married women. That’s leaving a lot of single moms in a real scary place.

With diversity, equity, and inclusion under attack, the instability of the political climate that we are all feeling, and AI infiltrating everything—it’s why I put together this special series for you. Women are leaving. Let’s understand why—the problems—and not wait on employers to bring solutions. I mean, if I have learned anything, it’s that we can’t afford to wait. We ain’t got time for that. Thankfully, with job sharing, you don’t have to wait. You create your own path. You drive the car—with a partner, a job share partner. Not AI, and no Waymos.

By understanding the macro landscape and brainstorming solutions together, my intention is to prepare you to make your big moves come the New Year. I know that seems far away, but trust me, this is the time.

For high-achieving working moms and those returning from a career break, the biggest challenges are a new wave of rigid return-to-office mandates, the rising cost and difficulty of securing childcare, persistent career penalties and biases, mental health pressures, and the challenge of reintegrating after a career gap. These issues are collectively driving a concerning exodus of women from the workforce, reversing some of the progress that we actually made during the pandemic.

I’ve identified seven issues we’re going to explore and solve for—so that you, or if you’re a leader, your best female talent, don’t become a statistic.

The seven challenges we are going to dive into in this series are: Return-to-office mandates, cultural shifts, the childcare crisis and affordability, the mental load and burnout, the persistent motherhood penalty, inadequate support for eldercare—one I know about, and career transition or relaunching a career after a career break.

Today, we are going to start with RTO—the dreaded return-to-office mandates.

The RTO Reality

Let’s look at what’s actually happening, okay? According to the Flex Index, full-time in-office requirements among Fortune 500 companies jumped to 24% in the second quarter of 2025, up from 13% at the end of 2024. So that is an 85% increase in just six months.

Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, AT&T—major employers—they all returned to five-days-a-week policies in 2025. President Trump ordered federal employees back to the office five days a week in January, even though many had negotiated remote work arrangements and some had even moved far away from their offices.

And here’s what the research tells us: It’s not a coincidence that women’s participation in the workforce is falling as flexibility disappears. Women capitalized on remote work and flexibility during the pandemic and stopped exiting the labor force. Now, many are not able to do so.

A KPMG survey from February 2025 found that 76% of working parents say having children made them more motivated at work. But here’s the rub: fully in-office working parents report being more content with their career progression opportunities at 84%, compared to hybrid at 77% and fully remote at 65%.

But—and this is crucial—fully remote working parents report greater satisfaction with the time they spend with their families and are less likely to feel stressed about juggling work and parenting responsibilities.

So we’re in this completely impossible catch-22. This tradeoff, right? Career advancement or family time. Like, you’re gonna get ahead or you’re going to have time with your family. And obviously that ends up getting gendered, right? Because of primary caregiving. It shouldn’t be this way.

The KPMG study also found that over half—53%—of working parents report struggling with ongoing childcare arrangements, and 49% say their companies do not offer onsite or backup care. Big, you know…that’s not even surprising to me.

Return-to-office policies are not proven to make companies more productive. One 2024 study of resumes at Microsoft, SpaceX, and Apple found that return-to-office policies led to an exodus of senior employees, which posed a potential threat to competitiveness of the larger firm.

 And nearly two-thirds of C-suite executives said that return-to-work mandates caused a “disproportionate number” of females to quit, according to a 2024 survey. Many of those CEOs who reported women quitting said they were struggling to fill jobs because of that loss of female employees and that their overall workforce productivity is down. Maybe they need us after all.

As one expert put it: “When I hear about these companies making everyone go back to the office, the most normal situation is it’s being ordered by some old white male person with what I call care privilege, which is that they have someone who cooks their meals, irons their clothes, or picks their kids up from daycare.”

I mean, that hits hard, right? Because it’s true.

What Employers Can Do

So what can employers do to meet this moment? Here are three concrete actions:

As Better Life Labs’ Brigid Schulte shared, First, focus on outputs, not inputs. Define excellence by the output worker s produce, not the input of long hours and presence in an office somewhere. Engage your teams in interrogating the how of work. What meetings can be cut? What outdated processes can you let go of so you can all focus on the outcome that matters most?

Don’t be lulled into equating the appearance of being productive with actual productivity. This “performance of work” fosters a culture of busyness and low-value work, and disadvantages those with care responsibilities.

Second, offer truly flexible arrangements—and mean it. If you’re going to require some in-office time, give employees autonomy over which days and allow for real flexibility when life happens. A sick kid shouldn’t be a career-limiting event.

Better yet, explore alternative models like job sharing that provide structure for both in-office collaboration and protected time off.

Third, provide tangible childcare support. So d on’t just acknowledge the problem. Offer on-site childcare facilities, subsidized backup care, or partnerships with local providers. Research shows that employers offering on-site care have retention rates 7.4 times higher than those who do not.

What Working Mothers Can Do

And for you, working moms navigating these mandates, here’s what you can do:

First, negotiate strategically. If you’re job searching or up for a promotion, negotiate for flexibility upfront. Frame it around the increased productivity they’re going to get , not as a personal concession. Use company data on the value of retaining female talent to make a strong business case.

Second, set firm boundaries. Create hard divisions between work and home. Don’t respond to emails after a certain hour. Designate “no-work” weekends. You need to communicate these boundaries clearly to colleagues and managers. Your boundaries matter.

Third, build your support network. Connect with other working parents through employee resource groups, online forums, and local communities. Share experiences, vent, find solidarity. You are not alone in this. You can even join our group Job Share, Live Life + Slay Work. You know I will put a link to that in the show notes.

How Job Sharing Solves This

Now, here’s where job sharing becomes absolutely brilliant for navigating RTO mandates.

Think about it: Regardless of whether your company requires in-office work, hybrid, or remote work, job sharing gives you the ability to separate and prioritize work on your typically three days a week at work. This lets mothers tackle household management, spend time with their families maybe, and like, prioritize their own self-care on their days off.

An RTO mandate only three days a week is so much easier on an employee who commutes. It provides in-office collaboration and a place to be away from the home half the week—which honestly, for some people is a huge relief. I mean, the last thing that you want sometimes is to be around your screaming kids, your fussy husband.  Or is that the other way around? But for some people, it is such a relief to get to an office, to have that separate space. Just something to think about.

But here’s what really gets me excited: Even a fully in-office RTO mandate might not impact a job share team the way it impacts solo workers.

Why? Because job sharers have a built-in work bestie. When morale seems lower at work, they’ve got their bestie. They have an accountability partner for achieving goals and deliverables. They actually might not feel the negative impact an employee returning five days a week in-person might feel.

This isn’t exactly just like RTO. But after I had my second kiddo, I was entering a job share and it was right after The Great Recession, and everything felt very unstable, there was economic instability. We were in marketing and clients were pulling all of their advertising. A lot of people were like, you know, cowering under their desks, looking for other jobs, and just really scared. That all kind of floated my partner Ginny and my head, because we had one another. We could almost kind of put a dome around us where anything negative just kind of bounced off. And we could just focus in on our goals and get really clear without the anxiety of everyone in the office.

So, I know there’s a lot of anxiety around all of these return-to-office mandates. I mean, everybody’s talking. It’s like the water cooler, right? Same thing! Being with that job share partner can kind of put an invisible shield around the two of you.  So that it just doesn’t affect you in the same way.

You’re not dragging yourself to the office five days a week, burnt out and resentful. You’re showing up three days a week, energized, with your partner handling things the other days. There’s continuous coverage for your employer, but you get real recovery time.

So let’s talk about the commute. If you’re commuting three days instead of five, that’s 40% less time in traffic, 40% less gas money, 40% less wear and tear on your car and your mental health. I’m just gonna say, priceless on that one.

Plus, on those in-office days, you have your partner. Someone to brainstorm with over lunch. Someone to debrief with about that challenging meeting. Someone who actually gets what you’re dealing with because they’re in it with you. They’re living it too.

The structure of job sharing naturally creates the boundaries that RTO policies try to destroy. When your partner takes over on Wednesday, you’re not checking email from the carpool line. You’re actually present. You’re actually off. Unplugged.

I remember during my years of job sharing in the crazy, insane 24/7 media industry—one of the most demanding, always-on environments you can even imagine—I had four consecutive days off every single week. Four days to rest, be with my kids, take an acting class, take a deance class, serve on a nonprofit board that I was super passionate about. I never would have been able to have done that.

And on my three work days? I was laser-focused, creative, and more productive than I had ever been working five days a week. I mean it just wasn’t possible.

And honestly, between my first and my second job share, I was back to working full-time, and I tried desperately to work they way that I had job sharing, which is basically like shoving five days into three. It was just impossible; I was completely spent.

So being able to do all of that? It’s not because I’m special. And it’s not because other job sharers are special.  It’s because the structure of the job share supported my well-being instead of depleting it.

Closing

So as we wrap up today’s episode, I want you to remember this: RTO mandates are pushing women out of the workforce at an alarming rate. But you don’t have to be part of that statistic.

Whether you’re an employer who wants to retain your top female talent, or you’re a working mother trying to figure out how to make it all work, job sharing offers a path forward that actually works.

In our next episode, we’re going to tackle societal and gender cultural shifts—including the rise of the “tradwife” movement and what it means for women in the workplace. Whew! I’ve got thoughts. You’re not going to want to miss it.

Before I go, I’d love to hear from you. Are you facing an RTO mandate? How is it affecting you? DM me on LinkedIn or leave a message in the show notes. Your stories matter. If I get some good ones maybe I’ll even share them on the podcast.

And if this episode resonated with you, please share it with a friend who’s struggling with return-to-office policies or is worried about it even. You might just change their life.

Remember, when it comes to creating the flexibility you need while excelling at work—you’ve got this! It’s all in you, friend.

I’ll see you in two weeks, same time, same place. Take care of you. Bye for now!