Want to combine the professional satisfaction of a challenging full-time position with the flexibility and personal advantages of a part-time job? Try job sharing. But before jumping in, carefully consider your options and potential partners.

It’s hard to tell how many nurses share jobs, because employers categorize them in different ways. But the nursing profession is primed for job sharing. About one out of four RNs now works part-time, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Most nurses who share jobs are drawn by the flexibility. “Job sharing allows nurses to organize their schedules around their personal needs,” says Bette Case, RN, PhD, a consultant and a partner in Clinical Care Solutions, a Chicago company dedicated to improving medication safety. Many nurses who job share want more personal time to care for their children: “Taking care of my family is my first and most important job,” says Karen. But some nurses flex their schedules to continue their educations; others enjoy the greater variety of activities that job sharing allows.

Job sharing also offers professional rewards. “It’s an opportunity to do a more advanced role on a part-time basis,” says Kim. “Job sharing gives an experienced nurse a chance to grow.”

Employers Benefit, Too

Remember that job sharing also offers advantages to your patients, your manager, and your hospital. Two or more nurses who fill a position may have more to offer than does a single nurse. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” says Mary. Each member of the job-sharing team brings a different set of skills and experiences to help solve problems and provide service. “An important part of job sharing is bringing new ideas and fresh blood,” says Norma Mailand, RN, ND, an independent management consultant.

Case points out that flexible schedules help retain nurses, who are difficult and expensive to replace during a nursing shortage. Nurses who might have resigned to care for their children or continue their educations stay to apply their professional experiences to more complex responsibilities by job sharing.

Nurses who share jobs also offer greater productivity. They come to work physically and emotionally refreshed and ready to face new challenges. They also have a built-in support group to help each other cope with difficult situations and times of peak demands. Job sharing can boost emotional resilience by giving nurses a measure of personal distance from office politics and personnel squabbles that can quickly drain job satisfaction and productivity.

To look for opportunities to job share, think outside the box. “We all know that time can be shared,” says Mailand. “I cover four hours of an eight-hour shift, and you cover the other four hours. But maybe it’s a temporary project that needs to be completed at a specific time. Job sharing can combine the resources of several professionals working together at the same time to meet a tight deadline.”

Watch Out for the Risks

Choose your job-sharing partners carefully. “Whether it works,” says Lisa, “depends on who you share the job with.” Kim agrees, “Don’t share a job with someone who treats it as a hobby.” Job sharing works best when you trust your partners and can easily respect and support their decisions. Otherwise, you can spend too much time undermining each other’s actions or doing too much work while your partners watch from the sidelines.

Job sharing increases the need to communicate and fully understand your partners’ points of view. “Communication is the core of job sharing,” says Mary. The work is rarely completed. Instead, it rolls forward and must be handed off to another job-sharing partner. Technology — e-mail, pagers, voice mail, and cell phones — make communication easier, but you must still consider what your partners want to know and when they want to learn it. Keep them in the loop by finding the right balance. Make sure they’re adequately informed, but don’t bury them under an avalanche of time-consuming trivial information. Although remote-access technology allows you to check your e-mail at any time from home or work, learn to leave it alone. Try to work smart enough to enjoy your time away from work, yet remain available for emergencies.

Ask about work-related benefits. Are holidays, vacations, sick time, health insurance, and other benefits offered to everyone who shares the job in the same way or proportional to the amount of time worked? Or are you task sharing? Is your job share really a collection of part-time jobs that fall under the threshold for benefits?

Also consider whether job sharing contributes to your career aspirations and job satisfaction. “Because I’m not here every day, sometimes I feel left out,” says Louise. “Or because I can’t attend a meeting, I don’t get a chance to shape decisions in the ways I want, or others take credit for my ideas.”

Jeffrey Zurlinden, RN, MS, ACRN, is a frequent contributor to Nursing Spectrum.