Talk Roleshare

Joy Burnford, founder of Encompass Equality, is a gender equality advocate. Joy's journey began with a crisis of confidence in a male-dominated workplace and she has since dedicated her life to help women develop their confidence, and inspire organisations to create a better workplace experience for all. In this episode, she highlights common workplace practices that perpetuate gender inequality, such as lack of flexibility and gender bias in promotions. Joy shares insights from her book “Don't Fix Women” and offers tips for individuals and organizations to build more inclusive workplaces, including the use of job sharing. Let's dive in to this episode of Talk ⁠⁠⁠⁠Roleshare.⁠

Sarah O'Connor and Annella Osborne job share the Head of Go to Market at Virgin Media O2. With different career backgrounds, they bring unique experiences and perspectives to the decision-making process, resulting in increased efficiency. They share their strategies for effective communication, prioritizing tasks, and creating light touch handover documents. Tune in to this episode of Talk Roleshare to discover how their job-sharing partnership has proven to be an effective approach for senior-level positions.

On this week's episode of Talk Roleshare we interview Aurorah Cheney and Kate Jackson Wendelboe. They are the co-directors of strategy and growth at BT security, and they have one of the first director-level job shares at the company. Kate and Aurorah share with us their experience in job sharing, how they manage their team, and the benefits and challenges they have faced so far. If you are interested in learning more about job sharing and how it can work at the director level, you won't want to miss this episode. And if you want to learn more about how to make job share work for candidates and for companies visit Roleshare.com.

"The power is bringing people who think differently and who maybe have a different outlook on life, together." This week on Talk Roleshare we discuss the importance of job sharing in the workplace with Laura Walker and Chloe Fletcher, who job share the Senior Finance Director Transformation position a ASDA. We explore how job sharing offers unique benefits to businesses, such as creating a "unicorn employee" with different skill sets and perspectives, and the importance of multi-generational job sharing to gain a competitive advantage.

Off the back of Covid, new ways of working, remote, hybrid, and the wider adoption of AI technology - the traditional corporate world is on the brink of a radical shift. Companies like Roleshare are creating new sustainable opportunities and true diversity in staffing for the workforce. And this, as Kevin Withane, founder of Diversity X, points out meets his aspirations as a "recovering" ethics lawyer, and now investor.

Let's kick imposter syndrom's ass. That is precisely what Claire Ferreira is on mission to achieve with her growing community of mothers working in marketing. Mums in Marketing helps mothers in the marketing industry by providing resources and advice to help them succeed in returning to work and managing their career. In this Talk Roleshare podcast episode we discuss the challenges working moms are facing in the marketing industry and what can be done about it.

Nicola Golding is an absolute job share rockstar. She has shared three positions in the UK government Civil Service, and today shares the role of Head of Strategic Projects at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The arrangement benefits the organization by allowing for coaching and feedback between the partners, low maintenance requirements from their manager and increased energy levels throughout the workweek. Learn more about the future of work and job sharing at Roleshare.

People unfamiliar with job sharing might wonder about duplication in a job share or how the partners will hand over responsibilities effectively. I recently met Liz Morgan, who was in a very successful senior job share as HR manager at the National Autistic Society in the UK. She and her partner, Dawn, attribute their joint success to their very effective handover, which, in their experience, also added incremental value to the business. Listen to Liz on Talk Roleshare as she explains how the partnership started and the handover that made it great. We promise it's not rocket science.

Learn how this charity in the Netherlands working with Roleshare may have just painted the path to a better future through job sharing.

Hear from Azeem Azhar author of Exponential – a book about how "Accelerating Technology Is Leaving Us Behind and What to Do About It." We talk about how productivity, creativity, and innovation have increased in the last few years due to available technology tools and our ability to deliver working from…well, anywhere. And how stability in the future of work will feel a little bit like skiing. I should mention Azeem is an investor in Roleshare – so we're doubly thankful for that and for sharing his views here with us. Listen to Azeem to explain the exponential age and how it will impact the future of work.

There is a revolution happening in HR. The rebels vs. the traditionalists. There is a yearning and a need for a novel mindset in HR. Listen to David Reay, SVP People at Condé Nast, as he shares how his diverse career experiences, and startup principles, has shaped his view on HR and how that marries itself to the shift in the workforce from company-lead to individual-led.

Meet "serial job sharers" Rhiannon Clapperton and Lisa Watch. What does that even mean? "Serial Job Sharers." Well they've shared not just one, two, but three jobs together at three different companies,and twice were hired together as a pair for a new role! Today, they are co-Directors of Communications and External Affairs managing a team together and reporting into the CEO at Kinship - a charity for kinship carers to children. Together they are a great example of the potential of job sharing for people and companies, and they answer many of the questions people ask us at Roleshare around the questions "how do people actually job share"

This finance executive was promoted three times at a global IT company, managing teams up to 120 people in Europe, Middle East and Africa over the course of 10 years. The leader was praised for high employee satisfaction scores and team spiritedness. On the personal life front,the executive managed to write a science fiction book while also caring for young and growing children and looking after aging parents. For most people, this would lead to burnout or negatively impact performance at work. But for this leader, it was the opposite. Optimal performance and the happiest chapter of an impressive career. This finance executive secret? They were two. Two leaders sharing one role. Today, we interview Céline Barral and Hervé Chastel, who for 10 years shared finance executive roles at Hewlett Packard. I interviewed them for a Roleshare blog earlier this year and had an incredible response. I invited them back to continue the conversation.

Nabeela Virji is the Equity, Inclusion and Diversity lead at X, The Moonshot Factory, formerly Google X. We talk about how feeling safe to share at work is key to equity, inclusion and diversity, from feeling safe and supported to share the reality of our lives and our situations, to sharing jobs for greater diversity and opportunity. Diversity drives innovation, innovation drives revenue. Simple mathematics. Learn how you can square that with job sharing with Roleshare.

The norm is limited by what is possible. Technology widens what is possible and puts the norm under the spotlight. Is the norm the best way? Look at companies like Uber, Airbnb. Think back about your reaction when you first heard of their business model. Surprised, intrigued, curious, uncomfortable perhaps? When people hear about Roleshare.com, sometimes their reaction is based on the norm. Surprised, intrigued, curious, uncomfortable. Historically, sharing a role has been for the lucky who knew someone in their immediate network with whom they could share a role. Today, more so than ever, flexible working is a competitive lever for companies, but staying connected as a team is key. Even before the pandemic, global organizations faced the challenge of being disconnected, connectivity, transparency, and communication are core to the success of any team - be it a global, regional, local, core, or a micro team like a Roleshare. Workplace from Facebook is a disruptive tool in the enterprise communication space, turning workplaces into connected communities. On this episode of Talk Roleshare, we speak with Julien Codorniou, VP, Workplace from Facebook. Hear how Workplace enables working in ways beyond the norm.

Imagine you’re looking to fill a PR leadership role and you see this CV land. Sr Reporter at Newsquest, Sr. PR Manager at eBay, Chief Reporter at Clarke White Publishing, Editor at Mobile News, Global Head of Communications at Cobra Group, Director of PR at Bryden Wood, Director of External Communications at Lastminute.com, Director of Communications at LinkedIn. We’re talking about nearly 40 years experience, it would be very difficult to find this level of targeted expertise in a single individual. So, is this too good to be true? No! It’s a roleshare. Meet Sherelle Folkes and Nichola Johnson-Marshall sharing the Sr PR leadership role at Open Banking. The chemistry and the energy that exudes from this partnership, the perspective and balance they bring to the role, and the power of their combined strengths and experiences is awesome in every meaning of the word. They, and Open Banking, are both fortunate in this working arrangement. Listen to this episode of Talk Roleshare.

When you think male dominated industries, what do you think about? Well, imagine being a woman, a mother, make that a mother of twins who needs career flexibility, as a detective in the metropolitan police. That was Ellie Pyemont. Ellie served as a detective jobshare on a public inquiry about Undercover Policing. On this Talk Roleshare episode Hear how Ellie and her partner secured and succeeded in the jobshare on highly sensitive, high profile inquiry.

Unilever has achieved 50/50 gender balance in their leadership roles and their openness to shared roles certainly contributes to that. Dr. Shelagh Muir and Jane Maciver share the role of VP Research and Development at Unilever. This is the second role they’re sharing at Unilever. Hear first hand why they chose this roleshare working model, how they secured it, and how they succeed in it. Learn why success is about the individuals and the role design, rather than the role itself. Any doubts you have about leaders sharing a role might just “poof” dissipate… .

Justine Roberts is an inspiring example of a woman entrepreneur. She started Mumsnet – the UKs most popular website for parents - after becoming the mother of twins. We spoke ahead of covid. It’s ironic, eerie, whatever you want to call it. We talked about the difficulties of working remotely with kids at home, and the burden of childcare on women’s careers. Little did we know all of this would become exponentially true in just a few weeks with the lockdowns. Empathy, understanding – these are key ingredients to a sustainable workforce. Covid 19 is yet another reminder we need to protect women’s positions in the workplace by enabling their career longevity and growth. Companies like Mumsnet and Roleshare - the jobshare matching site bringing part-time workers together for full-time roles - help to do that.

"As a leader you get thrown curve balls you weren’t expecting and you have to adjust your thinking." Derrick McCourt, General Manager, Customer Success at Microsoft UK has enabled a number of successful shared roles within his organization. Today, he is moving to a position that every role for his organization is to be advertised as a shared role potential. Find out more about why.

Career progression meets career flexibility in a sector known for putting in more time – the legal sector. Alison Pullen, one of the Heads of HR at Allen & Overy, an international law firm, talks about how companies can sometimes get stuck doing things the old way because it’s worked. She explains how being open and different about ways of working can make companies more market leading, and retain and attract top talent. During her 20-year tenure at Allen & Overy, Alison shared a role and also managed a job share.

"What if you don’t..." empower, enable, and support your direct reports to work flexibly? This simple, yet powerful question is one Jill Katz, HR influencer, transformation expert, and CHRO at AssembleHR, will ask leaders as part of her work. Jill's passion and point of view on flexible working or, as she states, "it's simply 'working'," will inspire you and empower you to nurture your "also's" in life, should you want that.

We talk to Matt Ballantine, a "no non-sense" writer, technology consultant, and sociology aficionado. Matt is an author and contributing writer to Forbes where he often writes about the future of work with insights on sustainable and fulfilling ways of working. Matt is passionate about how we can bring "play" back into work to surface ideas, experiments, and innovation. For the last 6 years, he has been advising CIO, CTOs, Heads of HR on how to work better together.  

Hear about the future of roles from "Q" Hamirani, Head of People Ops at Airbnb. Why skills agility, and sharing roles for cross pollination is a part of their employee experience and hyper growth strategy.

Vanessa Gilardi, Head of HR Wealth & Global Asset Management at the Royal Bank of Canada in Europe, shares how banking must embrace flexibility and new ways of working to attract and retain diverse talent. She shares her thoughts on leadership strategies required to enable this transformation in a traditional banking environment. 

Steve Fogarty, Director of Talent Experience at Twitter, wants to build a culture of hyper obsession with candidates, recruiters, and hiring managers. He brings a fresh perspective to HR to solve the ever-growing challenge of finding the right people for roles, speedily, in a competitive and scarce talent market. 

Fleur Bothwick, Director of Diversity & Inclusive Leadership at Earnst & Young for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa, talks about the future of work and diversity and how it’s ridiculous we are not absolutely littered with more people sharing roles today. She talks about how professionals seeking flexible work must themselves also be flexible and agile to make it work. 

What is diversity? Race, gender, ethnicity, cultural heritage, people with disabilities, sexual orientation, etc. It’s also all the things we try to make time for on any day – our interests, passions, values, situations. All of which encompass the notion of the “authentic self.” In this episode, we to talk about flexibility as an enabler of diversity and inclusion with Asif Sadiq, Head of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at the Telegraph Media Group.

Line managers with young women in their families, who happen to be at the start of their careers, are more likely to approve flexible working arrangements and shared roles for their direct reports. This is what Tatjana Tasan identified, along with other findings, when she advocated for and piloted a job share program in a previous HR leadership role at Vodafone. Her aim was to drive greater diversity in senior roles. Today, she brings the same forward-thinking mindset as Chief People & Culture Officer at EKOMI, a consumer feedback company where trust and lasting relationships is core to their product and consumers experience.

Have you attached a persona to the concept of flexible working? If so, I bet few people imagined Sam White and Will McDonald - two fathers,  sharing the executive role of Group Sustainability & Public Policy Director at Aviva. What started as a pilot to accommodate their personal lives with career dedication, has continued into a dynamic and productive micro-team for the last two years. Learn how they make their roleshare arrangement "seamless from the outside."

Christine Michel Carter is a leading voice on the subject of black millennials and millennial moms with featured articles in Forbes, TIME, The New York Times, and many others. Millenials anticipate having career ultra marathons. Hear how their expectations will undoubtedly impact the future of work - flexible working and meaningful work being at the core.  

Claudia Henderson, Chief Human Resources Officer at the Boston Media Group, shares her view on what it takes to drive change inside organizations and how sharing roles could potentially challenge biases, drive more leaders to appreciate diversity, and upskill individuals with utility skills critical to an organization.  

“Ask for more. Do more.” This was Louise Holden’s strategy when sharing a relationship management role at MasterCard – and in doing that, demonstrated to the business this was a working model that was commercially beneficial to them - while she got the flexibility she sought. Listen to Louise, who today is VP Humanitarian and Development at MasterCard. 

Hear how a leader's open mind drove talent retention but also resulted in a top-performing roleshare team. We talk with Scott Dahlgren, an investor executive leader in eCommerce technology, who directly managed a client and partner-facing job share.  Learn how the benefits far exceeded anyone’s expectations.

Adele Cestari, Head of Global Talent, and Diversity and Inclusion at Nestle Waters, talks about trends that must be addressed for continuity of the business and her strategies to convert aspiration to action – some of which include role modeling of shared roles at senior levels. Listen to Adele on “trends of the future no more” – they are the new reality… .

Helena Zaum and Ellen Wilson share the role of Industry Solutions Executive at Microsoft. Hear how sharing this strategic role has given them the personal balance they seek, while progressing in their careers. Learn how this dynamic microteam pitched the concept of sharing a role, how they got into a groove, the criteria for a successful match, and the benefits they gained as individuals and for Microsoft through this working arrangement. Visit Roleshare - the smart matching site for shared roles.

We are in the fourth industrial revolution – where roles are being replaced by technology, but the fifth industrial revolution already started. It’s all about connecting back to our values and humanity – career flexibility is at the core of that, in societies where we have that luxury. At Roleshare, our goal is to enable a sustainable workforce, where people get more from their roles, and where balance in work and life is normal – gender neutral and reason agnostic. In a world where automation, robotics and ai are replacing people, on "Talk with Roleshare" we cover the future of roles and augmenting people with people. We hope you’ll enjoy our first season!