The next article in this series will be on negotiating for job flexibility. Rather than losing good support staff members, Resource Development, the Medical Department and the Department of Athletics each decided to offer an employee the option of cutting back to a part-time schedule and adding another person to share the position. Though this concept is still rare at MIT, it may be one that grows in the future as employees seek more flexibility in their work schedules. Sharing a position with another person is probably trickier than holding a normal part-time job simply because of the shared nature of the work. The partners have to operate as a team, even though they work at different times.
Good communication is critical to success.
Judy Leonard and Cynthia Silck-Flannery, who share a position in the Research and Systems office of Resource Development, use several additional methods to communicate the status of work. There are certainly advantages to job-share situations for both the employees and their departments. Employees who work at least 50 percent of a full-time schedule earn MIT benefits and also have more time to deal with family commitments or outside interests. The areas they work in get additional depth in the position from the experience and skills provided by two people rather than just one. She had managed the process of tracking MIT seniors who hadn't completed their physical education requirement, and she continues that responsibility in the job-share.