Jobsharing: the ultimate holiday hack

How jobsharing can amplify impact and wellbeing during holiday season!

Have you ever had the post-holiday dread?? Like Sunday night fear but only much much worse? That feeling as you’re returning from holidays and you start to think about the volume of work that will face you when you return. How much effort it will take to get to grips with what you missed. Spending the next week playing catch up.

For me, it used to creep in on the Thursday before I went back to work. Wondering what happened while I was off. Wondering how many emails awaited me on my return. Wondering what would hit me when I walked through the door on a Monday morning.

I loved my job, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I had no one to cover when I was off. I was good at delegation, it was clear who owned what and they had accountability for delivery in my absence. But, leading a big team, my main role was to coach, support, make decision and lead. So whilst things could, and would, continue whilst I was out, I needed to catch up when I got back!! And that was a task in itself. I remember once coming back from holiday to 2500 unread emails. This was in the days before co-pilot and auto-sort of emails. I had to sort through every single one, work out what I needed to read, digest and action. It felt overwhelming.

“That feeling of dread, of how many emails I would come back to, how long I’d take to catch up and what I might have missed inevitably led to me checking emails relentlessly whilst I was supposed to be off”

 Now there’s a fair argument to say that was symptomatic of a broken culture and ways of working. Fair point. But changing the world of work is a big uphill battle and we need to start somewhere!!

So, what rescued me from this disaster?

 Jobsharing!!

When it comes to holidays, jobsharing is a game changer! Firstly - jobsharing means that when you go on holiday you can really switch off. At The Jobshare Revolution, we recommend that jobsharers stagger their holidays - not taking the same week off (other than single week holidays). This means that while you’re on holiday, your jobshare partner is still around. This maintains continuity for the organisation but also means you can fully switch off from work, knowing someone is still around taking care of things whilst you’re out!

Choe enjoying the Deershed Festival in North Yorkshire, fully switched off because Laura is holding the professional fort.

When you return from your holiday, your jobshare partner has not only kept things moving along, but also stayed on top of updates, progress and emails. So, on your return, rather than wading through hundreds of emails to work out what’s important, your jobshare partner prepares one concise handover note - perhaps supplemented by a voicenote - which you can quickly absorb and get up to speed!

Knowing that everything is covered and you’ll brought up to speed when you get back is liberating whilst you’re off. It means you can be fully and completely “off”. When you do an intense job, it can be difficult to switch off. If you’ve got responsibility for delivery, you feel the pressure to make sure things happen and if you’re not able to oversee this, the temptation is to think about it (or, often to keep doing it whilst away). But knowing someone else is in charge means you really can forget about work.

And the impact of this on wellbeing is transformational! Doing high impact, high stress jobs takes its toll. Staying at the top of your game, for longer, relies on taking time out to recharge every now and then. Jobsharing can reduce burnout by genuinely enabling rest and recharge. We often say, with a jobshare - what you’re “on” you’re fully on and when you’re off, you’re fully off. So you can come back recharged and raring to go again!!

Laura, doing what she does best to relax, safe in the knowledge that Chloe has it covered at work

Jobsharing also has organisational benefits during holiday season too. With one employee, you might have 2 weeks without cover when they go on holiday. With a jobshare, there’s continuity throughout - meaning important projects and operations maintain pace. So, it’s a win win - great for organisations and great for individuals.

This is one of many reasons why jobsharing is so transformative for organisation and individuals. If you want to find out more about the benefits of jobsharing, check out our website.

The best bit of jobsharing - being reunited with your jobshare partner, both refreshed and in control of the day job delivery!

If you want support to implement jobsharing in your organisation or jobshare coaching for yourself of your team, get in touch to see how we can help.

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