Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 21, 2004 Sharing is caring for new mother By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Job sharing is gaining in popularity as busy parents search for ways to balance the demands of work and family. For Talent Police Department Clerk Kaylie Newell, splitting her position with another person means she is able to continue her career while finding time for her seven-month old daughter, Lucy. Little Lucy Newell plays while mom Kaylie Newell answers phones at the Talent Police Department. Kaylie Newell job shares in order to spend more time with her infant daughter. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings "The best thing I do with her is nothing," Newell said. "I can put her on the bed and just stare at her and coo. I know if I worked full-time I would miss out on it." Newell worked full time at the police department for a year and a half before her first child was born in December. During her 10-week maternity leave, Michelle Gideon filled the clerk post. "Michelle had come in to fill in and I knew she was getting ready to look for another job," Newell recalled. "I called her to see if she was interested in job sharing and she was." Newell said she was inspired to make the proposal by her sister, who shared a teaching position within the Phoenix-Talent School District for a year after the birth of her own baby. After winning approval for the arrangement from Talent Police Chief Bob Rector, Newell came back from maternity leave and began working from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Wednesday. Gideon worked those hours on Thursday and Friday, but recently left to take a new job in Medford that offered more hours. The police department is in the final phases of hiring another person to round out the shared position. The situation highlights one of the drawbacks to job sharing. While the arrangement offers many benefits for employers and employees, finding the right people to make job sharing work can be a challenge, according to Rector. "There are definitely pros and cons. We are dealing with one of the cons right now," he said. "We thought we had two people sharing one position who both wanted to remain in part-time jobs and they would be a good fit for long-term stability. What we're hearing is it's easier to find people who are happier in long-term full-time jobs versus part time." Employers searching for someone to fill a job-share position should look for a person who wants to work part-time, according to Rector. "One of my obvious recommendations is when you recruit, emphasize to folks you're talking to that you're looking for a commitment on a part-time basis. You're looking for someone to stay years, not months," he said. Making it work Newell agreed that both people who share a position must want to work part-time. "One of the situations where it wouldn't work would be where one person wants to work full-time. Both people have to be happy," she said. Finding the right job share partner is the most important factor for making the arrangement work, according to Pat Katepoo, founder of workoptions.com, a company based in Hawaii that offers proposal forms for various flexible work options. Prospective partners can be found at work or through personal and professional networks, placement offices, employment agencies and advertisements, she said. Flexibility and good communication also are key, according to Newell and experts on job sharing. "Anyone who wants to job share needs to be flexible. You have to be able to roll with the punches," she said. "The more flexible you are, the better." Unlike regular part-time workers, job sharers must coordinate to complete tasks that normally would be handled by a single person. Newell and Gideon left messages for each other to complete tasks that weren't finished during each person's block of work time, such as receiving a request for a police report, getting approval from the police chief for release of the document and calling the person who made the request to inform him or her the report was available. Two heads are better than one Although job sharing presents challenges, Rector said there are advantages to having two people fill one position. Each partner brings different strengths to the job, allowing the organization to capitalize on two sets of talents and skills. Additionally, the partners can share ideas on how to be more effective, he said. "There is a synergy when two people are involved in the same effort. There's a lot of idea sharing and swapping about how to do a better job and how to make the services we provide for the public smoother," Rector said. One of the most obvious benefits of job sharing for employers is that it provides an important retention tool. "When you find a good employee like Kaylie, you want to be flexible, if you can, to meet their needs as they change," Rector said. "Good employees make good organizations, not only in police departments. The most important decisions we make are in who we hire. If you hire the right people, they can be trained and developed to do difficult tasks. Once you get those folks in an organization, you've got to do what you can to keep them." For her part, Newell said sharing a job and also being a mother still means hectic days, with never enough time to get everything done. But she said she is happy with her job share position and realizes many working mothers are not as fortunate. "I just am very grateful that I have a really great boss and I'm grateful that they let me do this. It's so nice to be able to spend time with my daughter and have a job to come back to. I would recommend it," Newell said. "It's like having the best of both worlds. I would go stir-crazy at home, but if I were at work all the time, I would want to be with my daughter." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams