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Job sharing within the financial services industry

Job sharing within the financial services industry

Mark.Freed / 01 Nov 2016

Occasionally we come across businesses that share the same ethos and are promoting and supporting women. One such firm is ExecJobshare.   Anita and Belinda the founders worked in executive search and have been executives themselves found that there are not many job sites for more skilled employees looking for part-time work. ExecJobShare aims to fill that gap, providing executives looking for part-time work easy access to the best selection of job share opportunities; and offering employers the option to benefit from the skills and experience of two different people sharing the same job.
 
Here they share some thoughts on job sharing in financial services along with some practical advise.

Job sharing within the financial services industry

Job sharing within the financial services industry can work effectively across many of the different functions and roles and we believe that there are opportunities to create job share roles within the following areas:

  • Trade Support
  • Business Development
  • Client Support
  • Regulatory, risk, legal and compliance
  • Governance
  • Product Management
  • Project management
  • Business analysts
  • Sales and business development
  • Wealth Management support roles
  • Relationship Managers
  • Marketing (events, editorial, new business and digital media)
  • HR
  • Investment Strategy Writers

It is less likely to be available in front office operations (i.e. sales and trading, trading analysts, investment banking, wealth management, private equity) and prime brokerage or for hedge fund managers, trading and investment bankers and trading analysts but contrary to common belief it is not limited to support functions as the Job Share Project (*Capability Jane 2010)  found out with examples of successful job sharing in most role types including sales and client-facing roles, leadership and team management roles, strategic and knowledge-based roles and some fast-paced or highly transactional roles. 

PWC carried out a survey in 2014 specifically relating to the financial services industry Integrating Flexibility at Financial Institutions - PWC 2014 with some interesting and challengeable findings and employers need to understand that working flexibly does not just mean working from home or working part time. This is where job sharing can make flexible working a reality at all levels.

 

The Practicalities

There is a lot of information available in the Job Share Info section on the ExecJobShare.com website to help guide you through the process of requesting a job share and making it work successfully and there are some further links attached which will help you both make an informed approach for job share to your employer and give hints and tips for how to manage it successfully. Planning and communication are key to a successful job share at any level and approaching your employer with a well thought through and detailed proposal make it more likely they will consider your request favourably.

  1. Can job share work at a senior level? 
    • The CEO of Macmillan job shares, as do the leaders of the Green Party. Check out the at Guest Blog ExecJobShare.com for some interesting insights into the role of a job sharing CEO 
  2. How to request job share from your employer (https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/flexible-working/flexible-working-how-to-make-a-request/)
  3. Can my employer refuse my request? Your Right to Request Flexible Working
  4. Best practice: making it work (https://hbr.org/2013/09/how-to-make-a-job-sharing-situation-work)
  5. Different types of job share exist - it’s not a one size fits all which is useful to know if you are negotiating with an employer unused to job share. Below are some examples of job share split but you can negotiate your own to make the job share work.
    • Straight Split – one role divided into two with divided responsibilities (e.g. divided by client base/region/skill set etc.)
    • Hybrid Role – two people taking equal responsibility but with key strengths being split (e.g. strategy/finance for one and HR/ projects the other) 
    • Pure Share– one job done by two (same skills/same experience/interchangeable)

 Follow us @ExecJobShare for tweets about job sharing and flexible working


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