From pandemic frontline to the National Audit Office — how Verity and Laura have built a remarkable career share
In our latest episode of Jobshare Stories, Laura spoke to Verity Prime and Laura Lucking, Executive Directors at the National Audit Office — the UK's public spending watchdog, responsible for auditing the accounts of over 400 public bodies every year. Not only are they jobsharing one of the most senior and scrutinised roles in UK public life, they've done it across five organisations over six years. Their story is a powerful example of jobsharing as a genuine career accelerator.
Verity Prime & Laura Lucking - Co-Executive Directors, Infrastructure Group. National Audit Office
Finding a connection
Verity and Laura's jobshare began the way many of the best ones do — through word of mouth and a trusted recommendation. Verity had been jobsharing in the Department for Education, and when the role became too big for her part-time hours, her manager agreed to advertise for a partner. A text to a mutual colleague led to an introduction to Laura — who happened to be sitting right next to the person who received it.
They had just one conversation and a coffee before Laura applied. What made the difference wasn't time — it was values. As part of the appointment process, Verity's manager, herself a jobshare pioneer, gave Verity the final say on who to appoint, understanding that the right partner matters not just for the immediate role but for the long-term career. And that decision paid off – the starting point of a long and effective jobshare partnership.
Starting a jobshare in a pandemic
There's starting a new jobshare, and then there's starting one the week before the country goes into lockdown! Verity and Laura began working together in April 2020, and didn't meet in person until the following autumn. Laura made a surreal early morning journey across an empty Parliament Square to collect her IT kit before the doors closed — and then the pair began the process of getting to know each other – despite not meeting in person, and through the challenges of the pandemic.
However, rather than being a disadvantage, the circumstances brought them closer faster. They had to get to know each other personally and professionally at pace, in the most pressured of contexts. Within months, they had moved from their Further Education strategy role into a full COVID response position — responsible for local government delivery of testing, tracing, vaccination and self-isolation.
Laura is clear that she wouldn't have taken on that role without her jobshare partner by her side:
"I don't think I would have done that had we not been job sharing. You knew what the calls on you were going to be — on your time, your resilience, the content of the work. It was incredibly difficult."
But jobsharing didn't just make the role possible — it made them better at it. Even though it was effectively a seven-day-a-week job, they were able to take two days back. When Verity was on, Laura could genuinely switch off. And crucially, this wasn't just good for them — it was role modelling for their teams, who were working in shifts and needed to see their leaders taking rest seriously too.
A career share across five organisations
Since those early days, Verity and Laura have built what can only be described as a career share — jobsharing their way through Department for Education, the COVID response, Department of Health (where they led on maternity services and patient safety), the National Lottery Community Fund (where they joined the executive team as Directors of Strategy, Communications and Impact), and now the National Audit Office, where they are Executive Directors.
In several of these organisations, they were the first senior jobshare — navigating unfamiliar territory and helping those around them understand what working with a jobshare pair actually looks and feels like.
How to successfully move as a jobshare pair
So how do you actually navigate job hunting and transitions as a pair? Verity and Laura have done it enough times to have developed a clear approach.
Their top tips for moving as a jobshare:
· Be clear and confident about what you offer. Don't shy away from talking about why being a jobshare is an asset — the resilience, the combined experience, the signal it sends about organisational inclusivity. Don't apologise for it; lean into it.
· Test the organisation's appetite. If you phone or email to ask whether a role could be a jobshare and they say no outright, that tells you something important. Some organisations aren't ready yet — and that's useful information.
· Be open to questions. When meeting potential managers, create space for honest, curious conversations about how it works. The more comfortable you make those conversations, the easier the eventual transition.
· Don't rule out roles advertised as full-time only. Always ask. You might be surprised — and a well-framed explanation of the benefits of jobsharing can go a long way. As Laura put it:
"You don't want permission. This is additive to the organisation."
Landing well — the first few weeks
When they join a new organisation, Verity and Laura now have a tried-and-tested approach to landing well. For the first two to three weeks, they work the same days — together. This means the team only has to share information once, but Verity and Laura are hearing the same things at the same time, making it much easier to develop their shared understanding and shorthand for this new context.
They also share a two-to-three-page document with every new team and manager that sets out not just the practicalities of how the jobshare works — one inbox, one calendar — but who they are, what matters to them, and how they like to work. It sets the tone, answers the obvious questions, and opens the door for others to ask more.
Tips for line managers
One topic that came up at the end of the conversation — and is worth highlighting — is how line managers can get the most from managing a jobshare, particularly if it's new territory.
Verity and Laura's advice: be curious, be honest, and review regularly. Joint accountability feels different from managing individuals, and it's worth naming that openly. Verity and Laura's approach is full transparency — shared objectives, open conversations in front of both of them, and a clear understanding that if something can't be discussed with both in the room, it's a signal the jobshare isn't working as it should.
The good news? As a manager, it does get easier. As Laura noted, jobsharers tend to require less individual line management — but they need their manager to stay curious and engaged, and to keep checking in on what's working.
What they'd want everyone to know about jobsharing
When asked what they'd want people unfamiliar with jobsharing to understand, two things stood out.
First, the data: in government staff surveys, jobsharers consistently come out as happier, more fulfilled and more committed to their organisations than either full-time or part-time workers. The wellbeing benefits are real — and they flow through to teams.
Second, the mindset shift: jobsharing requires you to give up your ego. You take the wins and the losses together. You trust that what your partner did on the days you weren't there was the right call. For some people, that trade-off is completely worth it. For others, it's a genuine stretch. Knowing which one you are matters before you start.
As Laura reflected: "Because you have to put aside your ego, because you can't be a control freak — it does put you in a different brain space for some of those big conversations and decisions when you're running a whole organisation."
And that, perhaps, is the most powerful thing of all about Verity and Laura's story. They haven't just made jobsharing work — they've let it make them better leaders.
Want to hear more?
To hear Verity and Laura's full story — including their advice on navigating the pandemic, job hunting as a pair and line managing a jobshare — search for Jobshare Stories wherever you get your podcasts.
To find out more about how jobsharing could transform your organisation, get in touch at hello@TheJobshareRevolution.co.uk
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