Alternative Work Patterns in the Public Sector: Job Sharing as One Option Available to Purchase

A case study is presented of an organisation′s experiment with job sharing as an alternative work pattern. The arrangement was unusual in two respects. First, the job shared was at the management level;executive director of a not‐for‐profit, private volunteer agency. Second, the accountability was not divided along functional lines. Instead, the partners, as a unit, were held accountable for the operation of the entire organisation. The work arrangement proved to be successful, without many of the problems generally anticipated with partnership arrangements. It is argued that this arrangement is applicable to many organisations. Major ingredients for success are flexibility, commitment and compatibility.