Unlocking Human Potential Thru Job Sharing

[Music]

2020

what a year how lucky are we to be alive

right now

a global pandemic and recession

quarantine

and social distancing working from home

and if you’re really lucky working from

home with kids

and just when you thought things

couldn’t get any worse

violent protests against systemic racism

it’s heart-wrenching how are we still so

divided and the upcoming election is

just making things worse

2020 marks a major turning point the

events of this year will be some of the

most significant

if not the most historically significant

events of our lifetime

right now we have the opportunity to

challenge the status quo

and to make significant changes but to

do this we have to come together as a

society

and recognize the problems that we’re

facing and create

real solutions that make life better for

future generations

the global pandemic has impacted many

aspects of our lives

but none as much as work there has never

been

a more relevant time to take action and

build an intentional path forward

which is why we’re starting a movement

to challenge and transform

traditional thinking of work and life

covet 19 has blurred the lines of work

and life unveiling the illusion of

work-life balance

and has forced us all to rethink and

re-imagine

a new work-life integration

even before covid a study by harvard

found that employees wanted flexible

work arrangements

outside the traditional eight to five to

fit their demanding lives

they found that 96 of employees

wanted some form of flexibility yet only

42 percent had

access in order to remain competitive

and relevant companies are now being

forced to think beyond traditional ways

of working and find creative ways to

recruit

and retain top talent to engage untapped

talent pools to train and upskill

employees

and quickly adapt to collaborative ways

of working

the eight to five work model is way

outdated and hasn’t evolved with our

technological advances

it doesn’t make sense for our modern

society

like so many we personally felt the need

for a different work model

before starting a company together jess

and i had different experiences

but face the same challenges how do we

make

work and life work

after dedicating many years to obtaining

a phd and advancing my career

i was finally ready to start a family

but i had no idea how difficult it would

be

to have a baby let alone twins and have

a full-time job

my girls were born early and started

their lives in the nicu

and doctors recommended that they not go

to child care

outside the home for two years

i’m so grateful i was able to stay home

with them

and love my new role as a mom but also

felt a huge

loss of personal and professional

identity

when i was ready to go back to work

there just weren’t any options

that utilized my expertise and allowed

the time

i wanted with my family i felt stuck

before i was even married i was obsessed

with finding a way to have it all

you know having an inspirational

marriage

happy children a fulfilling career but

by the time i had my third child

the balancing act was overwhelming i

felt stressed

and burnt out i understood why we

weren’t seeing more women in leadership

they were going through what i the same

thing i was going through you had

something had to give my career which

fed my passions or my family and

kids which gave me all of my joy it felt

impossible

maybe it’s the eternal optimist in me

but a possible was not an acceptable

answer

it was about that time that gina and i

got together and we really began to

wonder

how did we get here how did we get here

and where did the 8 to 5 work model even

come from

our society’s obsession to constantly

improve

our quality of life has led to four

industrial revolutions

and they have marked major

transformative times in the history of

our humanity

advances like the steam engine

electricity and mass production

have influenced almost every aspect of

our lives

including how and when we work

the work model we use today was actually

popularized by henry ford

over 100 years ago so while we’re

able to build smart cars like tesla’s

we’re working like we’re building model

t’s

we’re living in the beginning of the

fourth industrial revolution

which builds on the advances of

computers and the internet and

everything else that we’ve developed

over the last 250 years

although these advances have made our

lives easier in many ways

they’ve also disconnected us and left

many with feelings of isolation

and depression as technology replaces

work

that has been done for done by humans

for centuries

we must recognize and take advantage of

what technology cannot replace

even the most advanced artificial

intelligence

cannot replicate our creativity our

experiences

our values and our judgment these are

the keys

that can unlock the most powerful

resource

that’s right in front of us are actually

within us our own human potential

to do this we must revisit and re-learn

the qualities that human beings thrive

on connecting

communicating trusting cooperating

and one of the most basic behaviors

we’re constantly taught as children

sharing in fact behaviors like sharing

are what distinguish us from other

primates and has enabled us to develop

as a species

when we share we’re happier we’re more

fulfilled

we’re more connected and we’re more

productive

everything falls into place we often

think of sharing

as giving something up but actually by

sharing

we end up with more as co-founders

without even realizing it we started a

job share

a job share is when two people come

together to share the role

responsibilities hours and compensation

of one full-time position

when we were researching flexible work

options we had kind of an aha moment

if you shared your job you could

continue your career path

and get time back in your life it made

the impossible

possible you could have a career and a

family

we quickly realized this wasn’t just a

solution for women or

parents it was a model that could

support anyone in the multi-generational

workforce who had a passion for their

career

but needed more time in their lives like

your parents

who would like a slower transition into

retirement or your

friend whose husband’s in the military

and is having trouble maintaining her

career because they’re always moving

or your brother who after 20 years in

his career

is ready to make a change or your sister

who’s been home with her kids and is

ready to re-enter the workforce

or your co-worker who’s trying to find

care

for their children and aging parents

or maybe it’s you who’s looking to get a

little bit of extra time back in your

life

to finally pursue your passion and go

back to school

or start a business really anyone who

needs a slightly different model for

work

and life everyone can benefit from a job

share at some point in time in their

career

so how does this actually work think of

it this way

there’s a race with two runners around a

track

and at the starting line as you see them

going around the track they’re pretty

much running at the same pace

at the halfway point you notice the

first runner has someone else waiting

for them and

passes the baton the person grabs the

baton and with the burst of energy takes

the lead further and further and is able

to finish the race at full speed

the second runner after slowing down

finished the res finishes the race

exhausted and gasping for

air effective job share pairs can be

nearly 30 percent

more productive than one person in a

typical full-time role

at a time when businesses are being

forced to provide employees more

flexible work options

job sharing provides continual coverage

through the week while maximizing

productivity

because job share partners share their

weekly hours

they’re able to go further faster on top

of that

businesses benefit from job share

partners as they are more engaged

they stay at companies longer and bring

a diversity of thought

experience and skills that when looked

together

create a unicorn employee makes sense

right

and sounds simple enough but there is

one crucial thing

to making it work the match

a well-matched job share pair is the

number one

factor of success but it’s also the

hardest part to get right

which is why we built a company around

standardizing the job share

matching and onboarding process that

leverages

both technology and human input

we knew that if we got this right job

sharing could be widely adopted

and have an impact on long-standing

social issues

like closing the gender pay gap and

increasing diversity in leadership

and the overall workforce job share

pairs

learn how to work together towards a

shared goal with the same values

they benefit from each other’s

experiences and perspectives

we know this to be true not only from

the countless job share

pairs that we’ve interviewed and placed

but by what we’ve experienced together

as a job share pair starting a business

jess and i have been able to move

further and faster than we

ever could alone plus we get the

additional time back

that we needed with our families and

there’s a huge added bonus

of a trusted friend and advocate who

truly has your back

through it all job sharing has changed

our life

and has truly improved the quality of

our lives

and our overall happiness we are

lucky to be alive right now but we must

take action our mission is to

standardize job sharing

our vision is that through job sharing

we will empower individuals to lead

happier

and more fulfilling lives that will

positively impact the family unit

their communities and society as a whole

but we can’t do it alone we invite you

to join us

and join this movement and share your

passion for work

and life by transforming the way we work

and live

we can finally realize our unlimited

human potential

that is truly better together

you