Job sharing

One role still creates two employment relationships

Job sharing divides one role between two employees. The pair may split days, overlap for handovers or divide parts of the work, but each person has their own employment contract, pay, holiday and rights.

That makes job sharing more deliberate than employing two unrelated part-time workers. The organisation needs one clear account of how the whole role is covered as well as separate terms for each job sharer. Acas describes job sharing as two people doing one job and splitting the hours.

Divide accountability without leaving gaps

Agree which responsibilities are shared, which have one named owner and how decisions move between the pair. Set the hours, overlap, handover method, shared systems and contact point for colleagues or customers.

Do not make one employee automatically responsible for covering every absence of the other unless that is expressly agreed and workable. Decide how holiday, sickness, training and a vacancy in one half will be handled. Access to meetings, development and promotion should not depend on which days a person works.

Keep each person's terms separate

Record each employee's hours, days, pay, benefits, reporting line and any overlap requirement. The Great Britain part-time-worker guidance explains the general right not to be treated less favourably without objective justification. If an existing role moves to a job share after a flexible-working request, confirm the contract variation for the employee concerned.

Review the arrangement with both people, particularly after responsibilities change. The Northern Ireland part-time-work guidance explains the separate NI protections; its flexible-working request rules should also be checked separately.