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RESOURCE HARBOUR
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The End of A Chapter

22/7/2019

 
School's Out! It’s The End of an Era!
by Sarah Taylor

School's out for Summer! But for some of us, infant school, junior school or senior school is out forever! It is the end of an era and a new chapter awaits. 

Happy End of (School) Year! It is July. The holidays are upon us. This is the month or week of endings and change as children finish at infant, junior and senior schools all over the country. It is a crazy time if you are a parent; there are sports days, school plays, concerts, schools trips and sometimes leaving ceremonies. School leavers might depart on a gap year. For me, it is the last school drop off at Junior School ever, George moved to secondary school last year and Kate moves this year.  So this is a real ending. George misses his junior school but he has moved on, Kate will miss junior school and her friends very much. And what about me? I feel the ending more than the children I think!

For parents and children, summer holidays are great... for overstretched working parents the summer holidays require some organising. Try not to get too overwhelmed – that is difficult when juggling school holidays with work but take some time for you and some R&R - the weather is so amazing. Enjoy your summer holidays, get back to nature, feed your soul and spend time with your loved ones.

If you are not a parent, enjoy the easy commuting, and be very grateful that you do not need to holiday in the school holidays … I remember those days vaguely! 

For every young person, September means a real sea-change from one school year to the next, one milestone to another, or leaving one community for the next. They are equipped with their provisions: new school uniform, shoes, pencil case and haircut seem to indicate a new start.

In September, the carefree summer comes to an abrupt end and school busyness and activity starts: a period where routines change, friendship groups alter, travel itineraries and timetables transform - a new chapter or adventure.
And each September your children become more independent and rely on you less and less as the academic years roll by.
Children experience and embrace this change and we sit on the side lines and cross our fingers and hope it all goes OK – feeling slightly out of control …

As a parent, grandparent or carer you will need to help young people traverse these changes and look to the next horizon, be ready for when the conditions change or the course might need to be altered. You also need to navigate the whole new world of social media as they move into secondary school.

NOW LET’S FOCUS ON YOU!

There is something about the start of the academic year that remains with us as adults – whether or not we have children. As an adult or parent, buying the new school uniform or pencil case might be replaced by moving from a summer wardrobe to an autumn / winter one and resolving to be more efficient, but it seems like a new start and it is a great time to think about your long term work / career plans.

September seems like a good time to take stock and focus on our career journey, take the time to reflect on the new horizon. September still has warmth, we might even be more rested or rejuvenated from the longer days and perhaps more time in our home environment.

In many cases your dependents might be less dependent, I am thinking of my many friends whose children are off to university or college. It is a massive change as you become an "empty nester".

If you need some help shifting your career to re-provision, adjust to new conditions or face a new point on the horizon, book onto a Resource Harbour workshop (dates to be announced soon on our website) and you will spend a morning focusing on you. After the session you will come out with a clearer idea of where you are heading workwise, you will understand what value you can bring to an employer or client and this will help you land a flexible new role or client. Please check our website for support and inspiration navigating your way into your next adventure.  

Also follow us on Instagram with our #50day #getintoflexwork challenge and on Twitter too.

Ten Top Tips for Managing a Job Share

14/6/2019

 
Job sharing is not two people working part-time jobs in parallel – that’s part-time working.
Job sharing is two people, through shared responsibilities, identities and accountability occupying one position. They are a single unit, a team and a complete resourcing solution. With job share, employees get the flexibility they crave, and employers have the complete resourcing solution they require to get the job done.
The benefits are clear. Increased productivity is well documented, a built-in sounding board comes as standard, plus of course easy holiday, sickness and redundancy cover. When job share runs smoothly like in Resource Harbour’s recent case study of director level job share everyone is happy.
Our ‘Does the boss love job share’ case study shows that the satisfaction extends to the job share’s Line Manager.
A successful established job share has virtually no downsides, all parties get what they want. However, to gain the benefits, some work upfront is required to ensure the partnership runs smoothly. Job share requires very good job design and great people matching.
Here are Resource Harbour’s Top Ten Tips for making job share work:
  1. Find the right partner. A face-to-face meeting is a must. We also recommend some psychometric testing to gain greater insights into personality and behaviour.
  2. TRUST is the most important factor in the job share partnership.
  3. Values of the job share partner should match (try www.findmywhy.com).
  4. Agree schedule and diary – who’s working and when and handover time.
  5. Clear systems of communication – whatever works for BOTH of you. Maybe one of you prefers email communication and the other prefers telephone conversations. You need to agree the best way of communicating. Resource Harbour can recommend free tools for both phone and laptop to support.
  6. Clear systems of reporting into Line Manager, reporting KPIs and milestones.
  7. An open and honest conversation at the beginning of the assignment around your values, strengths, weaknesses, what you enjoy doing (and what you don’t!).
  8. An honest conversation around your personal circumstances and why you are job sharing. What you want out of the job share in terms of flexibility and ensuring you get that.
  9. A conversation around the role, and who can do which parts and splitting it up between you both so you play to your individual strengths while ensuring there are no gaps.
  10. And don’t forget for all the above... REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

The Flexible Green

6/6/2019

 
Like many companies, Resource Harbour takes its ecological responsibilities seriously. At a recent trade fair, we were proud to have the cleanest stand; our banner, laptops and us; no biros, badges or single use plastics ready to hand out. In the office we have a ‘think before you print’ policy, and our stationary is sourced from suppliers who recycle. More than this though, our core business has more than a hint of green.
Resource Harbour specialises in helping businesses diversify their workforce by finding excellent candidates that might not be found by traditional agencies and job boards. We do this via partnerships and events that reach out to professionals who might be overlooked by traditional recruitment methods, or feel unable to apply for standard job ads. 
We recruit full time and part time across IT, finance, sales, marketing, HR and more. We work with businesses to open up their roles to attract and retain amazing people who need a little flexibility to make their chosen career doable. This can be as light touch as working unusual hours to suit the business, through to two people working as a structured job share; staffing a one role with two compatible professionals. Zero hours commuting and remote working are a big part of the range of flexible working options open to companies.
Home working is a big attraction to many of the incredible candidates out there. Working parents can reduce their working day by as many hours as their commute. Older, more experienced staff may well be persuaded to remain in role longer if they can work from home. For example, at one of our recent candidate events, we met a married couple; one an experienced IT professional, the other his partner, who has in recent times been required to be her full time carer. Other than his fantastic CV, what was most striking was how keen both of them are for him to work, and not just for financial reasons but for both of their well being. Wanting to care for loved one and wanting to continue in your chosen career do not need to be mutually exclusive. 
From Forbes, to Wikipedia, the research is out there, working from home reduces the cars on the road, reduces emissions and makes your staff themselves think green; after all every time they print, it’s their paper, turn on a light, it’s their electricity bill. For a business, the costs of office space are reduced and staff retention improves. Of course, there are considerations to ensure remote working really works; not only keeping team spirit and communications alive and well, but also considering how to ensure that employer employee trust levels are high. At Resource Harbour, we offer consultancy services as well as recruitment; consultancy to help you adapt your processes and tools to accommodate a flexible team and embrace the benefits of a diverse, ecologically friendly workforce.
As well as being green about the way we work at Resource Harbour, our team has first hand experience of running a renewables business and we are currently working with a renewable energy company to help find them people passionate about renewables.  We have many affinity partnerships with green organisations so can tap into this hidden talent pool.
If your business is open to flexible working, and wants to resource green, then come talk to us at hello@resourceharbour.co.uk

Where Have All The Girls Gone?

6/6/2019

 
A couple of years ago my girlfriends and I entered the Enduro mountain bike race. It was tough to get out and train over the summer months due to the school holidays but we cycled frequently and we were very much looking forward to the event. We named our all girl team “Tour de Force.” We were up early on race day and we were all pretty nervous, not as much banter as usual.
We arrived, took the bikes out and waited at the start line. What was the most striking thing? No girls, really few females, it was an all-male environment and we completely stood out. On some part of the race, someone called out “The chicken run is to the left girls.” For those of you that are not aware, in mountain biking there are jumps on certain tracks and you can choose not to go on those jumps and cycle alongside on the flat path known as “The Chicken Run.” As accomplished cyclists who have been mountain biking for years we are very capable and bombed along the jumps and obstacles. The day after the race, I checked the results board and it confirmed my suspicions, in total, there was a 7% female contingent.
Professionally, at the time, I was having a similar experience. As a back to work mum, searching for roles in sales and marketing to fit around my home life, was daunting to say the least. Roles at a level suitable to my experience and skill set were simply not available with the hours I needed. Flicking through local business magazines, I struggled to spot a female face... Where have all the girls gone?
Living in the Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley, I have to say, from experience that the cycling is some of the best in the country, indeed the world.  I now have a local “tribe” of girlfriends to cycle with and we have amazing adventures our gorgeous landscape. When we return from a cycle it feels as though we have been on a mini holiday and we have really connected through our love of cycling. Our shared experiences range from escaping bulls and badger spotting, to discovering our local villages and woods, happening across amazing buildings, architecture and scenery.
At work, I have done the same, forming Resource Harbour with my two female co founders. We are a recruitment company with a difference, working with local companies to open up professional roles across IT, HR, marketing, sales, finance and more, to a diverse and exceptional workforce who are often overlooked by traditional recruitment and retention methods. We specialise in helping businesses diversify their workforce by finding excellent candidates that might not be found by traditional agencies and job boards. We do this via partnerships and events that reach out to professionals who might be overlooked by traditional recruitment methods, or feel unable to apply for standard job ads. 
​
We recruit full time and part time, working with businesses to open up their roles to attract and retain amazing people who need a little flexibility to make their chosen career doable. This can be as light touch as working unusual hours to suit the business, through to two people working as a structured job share; staffing a one role with two compatible professionals. In everything we do, we have diversity at the core.

Three years after the male dominated Enduro race, and I am racing again. I am competing in the Ladies Do Downhill. It’s on my bucket list and I think I’ll do this and that will be it, but you never know I might get the bug and continue. I am in the grand vet (over 50s) category, there isn’t an over 60 (super vet) category for women – so I might need to race again in another 6 years.
If you want to work in a career you love but still have time to bike, see your family or do whatever rocks your ride, then come talk to us at hello@resourceharbour.co.uk

Does "The Boss" Love Job Share?

10/4/2019

 
Recently we interviewed a job share partnership who instantly cemented our thoughts that a job share at a senior level really can work but does their boss agree??
We caught up with Andy, “The Boss” to get his views.
Andy, an Executive Director at a private bank, has 32+ years of financial services to his name. He has worked all over the world and is well versed in the demands of his profession, where 60 to 70 hour weeks are not unknown. Prior to managing Vicky and Sam, job share partnerships were not really something he considered; mainly because he has always worked in the financial sector where there is minimal understanding of the value such resourcing approaches can add to an organisation.
When he started in his own role at the bank, Andy inherited a team with a mix of working arrangements; fulltime, part time, compressed work and job share. He describes his initial feelings as intrigue rather than scepticism; he was keen to understand people’s arrangements and how they would fit together to deliver as a whole and meet the needs of the business.
As their manager of several years, nowadays Andy is happy to show case Vicky and Sam as a shining example for how a job share partnership can really work. Everything Andy says to one of them, the other knows, to the point where he forgets who he told. He is aware they work hard at it though; it’s not just overlapping their days by one day a week that makes them so joined up. They communicate with each other when they are not in the office. They are flexible, within reason, moving their days to suit business needs. Their consistent management is a perfectly balanced mixture of their similarities and differences. They have similar backgrounds but bring people management and tax expertise in different but complimentary ways.  
If there was ever a pitfall to the arrangement, Andy says that he would occasionally have liked both their expertise in the room at the same time, but Sam and Vicky put in a lot of effort to make sure they are both available on critical dates. The cost is also slightly more than one full time employee (FTE) to cover the overlap day and employee costs, but this is not a big concern for Andy as the benefit is an in built sounding board, an independent view on a plan and ultimately two fulfilled employees who really deliver every day.
Job share partnerships are not common, at least not in senior positions in Andy’s industry. There is one senior part time manager in their business and she really makes it work. Andy explains that making a success of part time is also down to the individual being focused and taking responsibility to deliver what the business needs.
Andy works in an organisation with flexible working policies and an interest in bringing diversity to senior management positions, but job share and part time are still not commonplace. He feels this has to change. The younger generation coming into the workforce expect flexibility and do not belong to a culture where a 70-hour week is a badge of honour. Flexibility is a growing need for people, male and female a like.
As Andy knows, the key to making a flexible team deliver on business requirements is that each employee agreement is aligned to ensure continuity. Balancing employee needs with business benefits is the biggest issue for managers when considering flexibility. Where there is flexibility across a whole team, individual arrangements cannot be made in isolation; the team needs to function normally across all working hours.
Andy is so sold on the idea of flexible working he may even consider it himself as a form of phased retirement in the future!
Resource Harbour provides flexible working consultancy to rethink roles and support businesses to transform, enhance or maintain their flexible working policies, as well as recruitment services to engage talent pools that may otherwise have remained hidden.
If we can help your business, contact us at hello@resourceharbour.co.uk

Men At Work: Chris' Story

22/3/2019

 
It’s a biological necessity for women to take time off work at certain points in life, but like most modern families, balancing busy careers and parental responsibilities has proved a real challenge for the Sheasby family. 
Dr Chris Sheasby told Resource Harbour how he came to don his apron to help remedy his eldest son's weight loss, after he was diagnosed with a serious illness: “Betty Crocker cakes can cure all sorts, apparently. Hey, don’t judge - this isn’t the Bake Off!”
Until recently, Chris’ partner (a research scientist) had shouldered most of the childcare responsibilities (as well as having a career of her own) but, when the family circumstances changed, they decided his career was the one that was best suited to flexing hours to accommodate the hospital visits and additional care their son needed.
Chris met his partner whilst studying for a doctorate in immunology, but these days is an experienced Financial Director (FD) providing strategic financial advice to SMEs and not for profit organisations. 
Surely that’s easy in this enlightened day and age?... It would seem not.
In the past when Chris worked in the commercial sector, Chris’ workplace asked why he needed to attend his son’s outpatient appointments. The assumption was that it was the mother’s job to go - not his. Conversely, Chris felt that there was an implied criticism of female colleagues who were 'choosing' to work long hours in the office, rather than being at home with their young children.
Admittedly, this was quite a few years ago and attitudes have improved for the better. But as recently as last year, a friend of Chris’ decided to take shared parental leave, despite a rather awkward meeting where he was told "off the record" by his boss that it would affect his career. Not to be disheartened, Chris negotiated with his employer, condensing his full working week into four days so he could spend more time with his two sons.
Of course, Friday was pretty full, and condensing 37.5(+) hours into the other four working days, makes for a long old week.   Yet Chris would often receive comments such as “You must be enjoying your Fridays off...”
So, working as a consultant FD, going it alone, whilst initially a daunting prospect, seemed the best way forward to achieve the flexibility and autonomy Chris needed.
But when he approached recruiters, the most common feedback he received was that part time, consultancy-based work was not worth it for them, the margins were too small and they would not hit their revenue targets.
There were a handful of recruiters, Chris says, like Resource Harbour that he could turn to and he was also able to reach out to his own network.  Within a relatively short period, he now has a client base he is proud of.
Mainly working from home, Chris communicates with Jakarta, Luxembourg, Sao Paulo and Sheffield! Unified comms (conference calls and other remote working tools) have enabled him to turn his spare room into a business hub; he avoids the commuting and has more time to spend at the school gate.
A third of parents at his school gate are dads. Ok, so the dads mostly wait in the cars or walk straight to the classroom, avoiding the huddle of mums on the tarmac. Chris himself still feels a little self-conscious when texting mums to organise play dates and has been known to sigh at the frequent mention of mums (and not dads)  on the school run, on the car radio whilst he picks up his kids. 
So, it’s not all equal yet but it’s getting there.  In the scheme of things, this feels like minor, 'casual' sexism but Chris and his partner both feel that this latent, legacy expectation of working dads indirectly impacts the prospect of women achieving true parity in the workplace and closing the gender pay gap.
It is true that equality in the workplace, gender imbalances and 'casual' sexism are reducing, but to truly gain workplace equality, Chris feels we need equality of benefits for both sexes. And that is not necessarily about changes to employment law, but changes to commonly accepted working practices. Fathers are getting more involved in childcare and so changes to social norms are inevitable. Chris is also noticing a change in working practices in the “millennials” who are seeking a better work-life blend and gender balance in the workplace, which will further accelerate trends towards flexible working for both genders.
Only with structural and attitudinal changes, mums and dads will be able to share the load equally and be truly equal partners both at home and at work.  To quote Professor Bohnet “we need structural change – to examine procedures such as how do we advertise, how do we evaluate people, promote people…. To start closing some of those gaps.”
Resource Harbour is a recruitment agency with a difference. We want to help employers attract exceptional talent like Chris across Finance, IT, Marketing and more, and help companies do this by advertising roles that are structured differently to allow incredible people to bring real business benefit while living full lives outside of work.
If we can help your business, contact us at hello@resourceharbour.co.uk

We Find Exceptional Hidden Talent in South Wales and the South West

21/3/2019

 
At Resource Harbour we’re always on the look out for exceptional talent and our flexible working event last week uncovered some real gems!
Our flexible working event at the Lime Tree in Chepstow, held in collaboration with the Children's Hub and Information for Parents (CHIP) enabled us to share some of our expert knowledge on the range of flexible working options that many employers now offer. We were overwhelmed by the number of professionals who turned up to the event and the feedback we received was really positive.
We are continually blown away (but not surprised) to find that Chepstow and the surrounding area is teeming with professionals from different backgrounds, with a diverse range of transferable skills that we know employers really want. One highly skilled attendee mentioned that having recently been made redundant they are finding it difficult to find part time work that fits around their family commitments - a perfect candidate for Resource Harbour. These are exactly the kind of extraordinary professionals we are talking about, when we refer to there being exclusive - yet elusive - talent out there, which we help our clients to reach.
We explored a range of different flexible working options and how they can work well in different industry sectors and roles. Once again, job share partnerships came up as an attractive option for many of our participants who are looking to make their next career move, not just because of the flexibility it can offer, but also for the opportunity it can provide to work in collaboration with a talented colleague.
We're confident that many traditionally full time job roles can be effectively restructured to work as a job share, and we aim to stand out as a specialist in pairing up professionals for roles as a job share team. In certain roles (such as change management, or project management roles) the job share pairing of a technical expert with someone who has a flair for relationship management/business strategy can work extremely well, offering to the employer a broader skill set across the role than they might find by employing just one person full time.
We are working with employers across the region to reengineer roles to attract the very best talent, reimagining their jobs to appeal more to talented professionals just like those we met last week.
Thanks so much to everyone who came along. Please spread the word within your network of friends, colleagues and family, that we are building our talent pool and we would love to hear from them if they have skills and experience in one of the job functions we specifically cover:
  • Marketing including social media
  • Sales
  • Finance
  • IT
  • Business administration
  • Supply chain management
  • Change management
  • HR
  • Engineering and technology
  • Project management
  • Digital transformation
  • Business management
  • Research
We will be holding these events on a regular basis and our next event will be in July 2019.

Two Heads Are Better Than One...

8/3/2019

 
Job sharing isn’t a new concept of working but can it really be done at a senior level? YES IT CAN!
Vicky and Sam are both Directors at a private bank, working as a job share. The advantage to Vicky, mother of three and Sam, mother of two, is of course the flexibility to work part time around their home life and outside business interests. What’s in it for the bank though?
Employing a job share, the bank get two brains instead of one. Vicky and Sam work ideas through before involving their wider teams, taking less of their boss’s time. They can cover each other’s holiday and sickness, and will flex their own hours to meet peak demand where required. They always have each other’s back, so the stresses and strains of management are shared.
Their job share journey hasn’t been without its challenges though. All the way, Sam and Vicky have had to make the case for it.
How did it begin?

The idea of working as a job share started when they decided to start a business together.  They both handed their notice into their employer at the time, a big 4 accountancy firm, who convinced them to stay on 2.5 days a week and run their business alongside their employment.  They looked after the same clients and their job share journey began.
Their hours were adapted at different stages to meet their own family and business commitments as well as the business needs of the firm, but between them they always covered the whole week with some overlap. When a particular project ended, they choose to take redundancy, and used the opportunity to grow their own business.
Sam in particular was after a greater degree of financial security and so the hunt for a part time role began. A friend showed Sam a contracting role at a private bank but it was a full time role that Sam couldn’t commit to on her own.  Sam suggested to the recruitment agency involved that herself and Vicky could fill the role as a job share.  At first the agency were unwilling to consider putting them forward but Sam and Vicky’s perseverance led to the agency giving them a chance, and after being interviewed separately, the bank agreed. After trialling the approach on a contract basis, the bank were extremely pleased and the job share become a permanent position and team S&V were soon promoted.
How is their job share perceived?

The bank were really impressed by their ability to work together at a senior level and the feedback they received was fantastic.  Comments were made that the company should definitely do this set up more often (there was only one other job share in place at this level).  Their immediate boss was initially wary of the concept but now he champions them.
Sam and Vicky see jobshare as a great opportunity for women to keep progressing into senior roles and is a way of creating more diversity at the top of organisations.
How to job share effectively

Sam and Vicky have made job share work by overlapping their days, being willing to have complete transparency with each other and fundamentally having the same outlook, sharing the same values but having complimentary skills. Even though they look nothing alike, they sometimes get called by each other’s name. While that would not necessarily be an aspiration for every professional, it is certainly a measure of a job share’s success!
Next week we speak to Sam and Vicky’s boss to get his perspective on job share - does it work for him? What are the benefits and pitfalls for the business?
Are you interested in hiring people who work flexibly?

If you are interested in flexible hiring as an employer, we can help! At Resource Harbour, we bring compatible professionals together and work with companies to highlight the enormous benefits of this way of working. Contact us at hello@resourceharbour.co.uk
#JobShare #WorkingMothers #WorkFlexibility #TeamsThatWork #WorkThatWorks #JobPartnerships

Software: That's Women's Work!

25/2/2019

 
I have worked in IT, technology and digital companies for over two decades. I was the only female in 100 undergraduates studying computing, and the workplace gender balance has not changed dramatically since then.
As PWC findings show that only 15% of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) workforce are women, falling to 5% at board level.
But it hasn’t always been that way.
After listening to the inspirational Sue Black on the Life Scientific on Radio 4, I discovered that in the early days, women were often assigned software tasks because software was seen as electronic secretarial work.
"It’s not that managers of yore respected women more than they do now," Rose Eveleth writes in Smithsonian magazine. "They simply saw computer programming as an easy job. It was like typing or filing to them and the development of software was less important than the development of hardware. So women wrote software, programmed …"
After the Enigma machines of the 1940s, and before the 1980s personal computing revolution, computers were about the essential stuff we take for granted; train signalling, payroll automation, banking systems, air-traffic control.
Here are a few of the early female programmers who made software, into an engineering discipline.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, women founded some of the first software houses in the UK.
Dina St Johnston quoted in the Computer Journal in 2008: “There was a shortage of processor-oriented people who were happy to go round a steel works in a hard hat.” Dina St Johnston, however, loved it and founded Vaughan Programming Services creating software for the BBC, Unilever, BAA, British Rail and GEC. The company she founded still exists, now as a part of GE.
Stephanie Shirley took a maths degree at night school and founded her software house, Freelance Programmers, from her dining room table in 1962. She wanted to be able to work while raising her family, and was determined to help other women do the same. Shirley only employed female programmers until 1975, when the Equal Opportunities Act meant she had to open up applications to men. Her company, renamed Xansa, was listed on the FTSE-250 and sold software in areas including banking, transport and telecoms
We’ve all heard of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and the lunar landing but maybe not the Apollo Guidance Computer software written by a team at MIT headed up by Margaret Hamilton.
"I began to use the term 'software engineering' to distinguish it from hardware and other kinds of engineering," Hamilton told Verne's Jaime Rubio Hancock in an interview. "When I first started using this phrase, it was considered to be quite amusing. It was an on going joke for a long time. They liked to kid me about my radical ideas. Software eventually and necessarily gained the same respect as any other discipline."
So does it matter that today women don’t fill as many technology roles as men? From a diversity and inclusion perspective of course yes, but it also matters if a company wants to find and retain the best talent. At Resource Harbour, we believe that flexibility is a key attribute in any company keen on diversifying their workforce. With a mainly male workforce and all male senior management, introducing flexibility into the workplace can be a cultural challenge.
Resource Harbour works with employers to open up STEM roles to attract talented professionals who have all the skills needed, but may require flexibility of some description to allow them to work.
If we can help your business, contact us at hello@resourceharbour.co.uk
#IWD2019 #InternationalWomensDay #WomenInTech #WomenWhoCode #ProfessionalWomen #DiversityAndInclusion

Job Share: Kick Start 2019 With The Healthy Choice

18/1/2019

 
Here’s Resource Harbour’s very own Sarah Taylor, with her Job Share story.
I remember a job share in the marketing department in Dairy Crest in the late 80s and it worked magnificently. I cannot understand why job sharing is not more usual.
In the mid 1990s people thought that senior roles could not be hired on temporary or interim basis – we changed that.
Since then progressive companies have been developing innovative and fluid management structures to deal with the ever-changing business environment. The flexible working movement is really gathering pace. 
Unfortunately job share is often overlooked. It is seen as more complex because you need to analyse job roles, reengineer how they can be split and reimagine how available talent could actually collaborate to get the work done. You need to hire two heads instead of one and the financials in the first instance may look less attractive. If you have two people working three days a week, this will equate to a 1.2 FTE.
But start to look at the big picture and you start to see a really intelligent and commercial resourcing solution.
You are likely to have two very engaged employees, increased output, increased productivity, holiday cover, increased motivation, collaboration and joint thinking on a role, increased retention and let us not forget access to HIDDEN TALENT which is not available on a full-time basis due to other commitments. You also only have half a problem if someone resigns that gives a breathing space to source a new incumbent.
Workplace mental health issues costs the UK economy almost £35bn a year with 15.4 m working days lost to work-related stress, depression or anxiety. With digital technology the 24/7 workplace is a reality and the day doesn’t seem to end. When I started work in the late 80s, you would work from 8.30 to around 6 or later if you needed to, but when you arrived home, work was finished for the day, you were completely unplugged. Nowadays, we are plugged-in constantly and many employees are literally wired. Job share can really address life / work blend issues. 
I cofounded a start-up in the mid 1990s, and I had a business partner Alyson Gilbert-Smith. We worked as one, we could not have had such a successful business if we were working alone. We couldn’t have done it without each other and indeed, we have never been able to replicate such success since. We had complimentary skills, we had each other’s back, we trusted each other absolutely. We also took 3 months holiday a year and could do each others job – indeed the Senior Leadership Team could all do each others jobs, so we were all replaceable and the business worked like clockwork whether we were there or not. 
According to the Health and Safety Executive (the government agency for workplace wellbeing) work-related stress, anxiety or depression now accounts for more than half of all working days lost due to ill health in Britain with some 15.4m days lost in the last year – a record high.
Jobsharing can be the ideal solution for individual at certain life stages, enabling them to keep their career on track. They can take on challenging roles, which are rarely available part-time. They can arrange your hours to suit their own circumstances. They can fully focus on whatever they do during their time off, confident that emails are still being answered and the work is getting done. They can bounce ideas off their partner and utilise each other's strengths. When they are walking the dog on days off, they might come up with their most creative work thoughts. If one finds the right person it can even turn into a successful long-term partnership and you can plan your future career together and #workhappilyeverafter
Job sharing is not 2 people working part-time jobs in parallel – that’s part-time work. Job sharing is 2 people, through shared responsibilities, identities and accountability occupying 1 position. They are a single unit, a team and a complete resourcing solution. Job sharing gives individuals the flexibility they crave and employers the complete resourcing solutions they require. Of course, if the perfect resourcing solution is one person in one role then we can work like that too. Resource Harbour are aiming to get people who might not ordinarily be considered by companies back / into the workplace and we aim to give companies a way of hiring #exclusiveyetelusivetalent and #hardtocomebytalent.
At Resource Harbour we can find candidates a work partner, and support companies to setup and fill job share roles. Contact us to find out more at hello@resourceharbour.co.uk  
#JobShare #FlexibleWorking
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    Sarah Taylor and Zina Pearce are Resource Harbour's co-founders.

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