Job Sharing: A Promising Solution for Working Mothers

Nathalie De Wachter and Marie-Christine Moreels, a successful duo and passionate advocates of job sharing (https://www.twoforonejob.be/), were MMM’s guests for an exclusive members’ webinar on March 24, opening our minds to creative work-life balance solutions, and engaging in a great and fun conversation with attendees.

An unknown solution

A little-known but promising solution for a flexible yet rewarding professional life is job sharing. Few people are familiar with the concept, although it offers a range of benefits that seem to satisfy all parties.

Before talking about what job sharing is, let’s clarify what it is not. Job sharing is not a part-time job. Rather, it is a full-time role shared by two people who take joint responsibility and work on interdependent tasks. It maintains continuous coverage with a colleague who understands the full scope of responsibility.

This is a crucial difference with part-time work, with more advantages for all parties.

• For the employee, it enables caregivers to stay in or (re)integrate the workforce even if they cannot commit to a full-time role, allowing them to maintain professional momentum while fulfilling caregiving responsibilities. It provides continuous career progression, personal satisfaction, and the ability to engage in meaningful activities beyond work. Job shares also benefit from a coaching-like relationship, sharing identical scope but different perspectives and strengths.
• For employers, the benefits are numerous. Companies can retain talent that would otherwise be unavailable due to caregiving or other commitments. Moreover, they gain access to broader competencies—two brains for one job—and can fill difficult-to-staff positions more effectively. In addition, job sharing supports continuous project momentum and often leads to faster progress than traditional single-employee models. In addition, it provides built-in coverage for sick leave, personal leave, and other absences. Importantly, the cost of two job sharers equals the cost of one full-time employee.
• The benefits also extend to society by offering a practical solution for people who would otherwise be excluded from the workforce due to caregiving responsibilities.

Job sharing is applicable across all roles and industries. Although the benefits of job sharing are recognised once implemented, the key challenge is still that companies are unfamiliar with the concept and hesitate to try it. Education, awareness and successful examples can help build confidence and drive adoption.Currently, shared jobs are already well established in Germany and Switzerland, where one in four companies already embrace job sharing!

Key factors for success

Trust, rigor and communication are essential to successful job sharing.

A critical factor for success in job sharing is finding partners who can trust each other and jointly own responsibilities. It is key that partners openly discuss differing work styles and leverage each other’s strengths to maximise effectiveness. They will need to prioritise results over process to avoid ego conflicts and misunderstandings in decision-making. Successes are shared. Failures are shared. It’s crucial they see themselves as one team rather than opponents in moments of stress or failure. Communication is part of the solution.

Communication is essential. Job sharers need to establish clear and thorough ways of working that suit their duo. This must become a structured and consistent part of their routine to ensure that information flows seamlessly between them. For example, they might spend half a day each week together to address complex decisions, while using voice messages or brief updates to share key daily interactions. Clear channels and habits are critical to maintaining continuity.

Job sharing reveals each partner’s strengths and weaknesses clearly. Rather than viewing this as a challenge, successful pairs leverage each other’s strengths and can complement each other. For example, one partner’s superior organisational skills benefit both when managing shared files and information systems.

Job sharing represents a powerful and practical solution to balancing work and family responsibilities while maintaining professional ambition. As one participant noted, the arrangement isn’t “one plus one equals two”—it’s significantly more valuable because of the collaborative coaching dynamic and complementary strengths that emerge when two qualified professionals share responsibility for a single role.