For people who need to care for children or elders, or who want to fill their non-salaried life with more than can fit in a weekend, moving to a part-time role usually means giving up strategic functions and senior positions. But that doesn’t have to be the case — the alternative is to share a job with someone of similar skills and experience.
Aiming to make that happen, UK startup Roleshare is building a matching site for job-sharing — a concept that’s been around for decades, but never really took flight. Employers fretted about processes, and employees couldn’t find shareable jobs or peers willing to take on a role together.
It’s not just employees who benefit from working as a tiny team — employers get two brains and two skill-sets for the price of one. And unlike a typical full-time role, job-sharing means coverage is built in. When one person is on leave, the other can keep projects moving forward.
Roleshare recently closed a preseed funding round and plans to roll out its platform globally.
Trend Bite
In a March 2021 survey of over 16,000 people across 16 countries, EY found that 54% “would consider leaving their job post-COVID-19 pandemic if they are not afforded some form of flexibility in where and when they work”, and 33% wanted a shorter working week full-stop.
Managers who were once adamant that remote work just wouldn’t work at their company discovered their fears of sloth and mayhem were unwarranted. Similarly, flexibility in working hours — including Roleshare’s job-sharing and the four-day workweek — could finally become widespread. And thanks to the Great Resignation, employees and job seekers have more bargaining power than ever to demand greater autonomy over their schedules.
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