Almost everyone has a standpoint on having children. By the time we’re out of primary education, some of us have even worked out how many children we’re having and what their names are going to be. Come to mention it, when I was in primary school I’d worked out a lot more than just my childrens’ names, I’d worked out my career path (stunt-man) where I was going to live (the Moon) and who I was going to marry (Jessica in the year above , sorry if you end up reading this!) Now, I shouldn’t really have to mention that it’s not exactly gone as I planned back then...
For many parents, it doesn’t always go to plan either. It’s hard to pursue that career following in the footsteps of Evel Knievel with hungry mouths to feed, even more so when you’re a single parent. It can be difficult to find time to juggle everything and sometimes the career can be the first thing to suffer. While over 63% of single parents are in some form of paid work, the average weekly income of a single parent is £337, less than half that of a family with two working parents. With much of this being part time work, not only does it affect income, it hurts long-term career prospects.
Now I don’t think I’m going to be the first person to suggest that missing out on job progression is unfair just because you’ve decided to have a child, but it shouldn’t come down to making a decision between family and career. We’ve all seen that movie cliché, the father who’s never home as he’s too busy at the office and misses out on his child growing up, but it’s just as easy to go the other way.
In our childrens’ formative years, not all of us have the luxury of family that can take care of them while we work and even less of us can afford private childcare. For those of us that find ourselves in this situation, it can be a little difficult to strike the perfect balance between work and home.
It’s not the easiest situation for any of us to strike a balance, making sure one element of our life is flourishing while still giving the other the attention it needs. It’s for reasons like this we are huge advocates of job sharing. It allows more senior positions to still be filled by brilliant people who can’t dedicate to a fulltime role. It’ll let you take back some of the control on your career that you might have otherwise felt you had to relinquish after having a child.
There’s a huge amount of benefit to employees and employers alike when it comes to job share, we just need to make the practice more widely spread and accepted. If you’re a single parent, planning a child or have any other out of work commitments, consider job sharing. It can be the perfect solution for you to continue on your career path while still looking after your children.
If this sounds appealing to you, sign up with us at ShareYourJob.com today and find your perfect job share partner.
