We caught up with Fi Hance, Green Party councillor for Bristol, to discuss her job share
As you may remember, a little while back we wrote about how Green party councillors Daniella Radice and Fi Hance had started to job share the cabinet post of Assistant Mayor at Bristol City Council, and how this may be leading the way for MPs to job share.
Recently we caught up with Fi Hance, Green Party councillor for Redland, to find out first-hand about her job share experience and what it means for her personal life.
Thanks for talking to us, Fi. How’s the new job share going?
I’ve been job-sharing the role of Bristol City Council’s Assistant Mayor with Daniella Radice, Green councillor for Bishopston ward, since the beginning of December 2015.
It’s early days yet, but I’m enjoying it. The job is a really interesting and challenging position. I think Daniella and I work well together.
How did you come to this job share arrangement?
I’d known Daniella for about 2 years when I bumped into her in October. She had been working as assistant mayor for around a year. She has two small children and was really working hard so it’s fair to say she was exhausted. I had a little think and asked if she would be interested in a job share as it seemed like a solution for both of us.
We had to put the idea to the Mayor, George Ferguson. He is more open than most to new ideas. He has always had 50% women in this cabinet and he saw job-sharing as a positive thing, a reflection of the need for more innovative ways of working.
It sounds like things have been going pretty well for the two of you?
Although it has only been a few weeks, so far it is going very well. As I mentioned we are lucky to have the support of the Mayor, who can really understand the benefits of job-sharing, from both a PR and a practical perspective. We have also been well received by the other councillors. Generally Councillors get on well with each other, whichever party we are from, and are keen to work together to find solutions to problems.
It’s been a bit of a cultural shock in some ways, but it’s working well for the two of us. This isn’t working part-time; it’s job-sharing.
With two of you working on the same job, how have you split the work?
We have decided to split the portfolio in half, although we can fill in for each other if necessary. I am responsible for neighbourhoods and communities and public health, Daniella has taken housing, waste and environment. We have also split the salary 50/50.
We have to co-ordinate our diaries so we physically meet up for 30 minutes every Friday and go through everything, other than that it’s the occasional email or telephone call, but our wards are next to each other so it’s easy to keep in touch.
We’re fortunate because we can consult each other on important issues. We both have someone else to talk to about confidential matters that we would normally have to deal with ourselves, which is really helpful.
As Assistant Mayor, you need to be available in the evenings. My children are 10 and 13 so they are at an age where they are a little more self-sufficient. Daniella’s are younger so it makes more sense for me to attend where I can. Even so, I make it a rule that I don’t spend more than two evenings a week at work. A lot of the engagements are really interesting, but something has to give.
There is no appraisal system as such, we have informal objectives but there is very little official guidance. For the most part we’re left to sort ourselves out.
It sounds like you’ve found a good balance; do you think job sharing is good for politicians in general?
As a politician, you are expected to be available 24/7. Being Assistant Mayor is very much a full-time job. A lot of previous post-holders have been people without childcare responsibilities, and others have given it up because of the need to work evenings and irregular hours. That’s why so many politicians are male, and those living in a bubble where they commit their entire lives to politics. It doesn’t make for a healthy life or a healthy outlook, it’s not really right for men or women. If we can get a better balance of real people into politics, then everyone will benefit. Just think how much richer and more representative our democracy will be if we enable all kinds of people to be involved in the running of our cities, towns and country.”
The Green party has lots of women councillors and more specifically, lots of younger women. The more we see job sharing come into practice the better the diversity we should see.
We also believe that the City will benefit from better decision making as a result of having our joint experience on the cabinet.
In general, MPs would be in an ideal position to job share, they could split the work easily between constituency and parliamentary work. Job-sharing is particularly relevant to women with childcare commitments, but it’s suitable for anyone who wants to have a better work-life balance outside of their job.
What advice do you have for anyone else looking to start a successful job share?
Communication is absolutely key. You have to be really clear about your responsibilities, which bits you are each doing. Some aspects of a job may be easy to divide; others are less so, but you need to be clear on this.
Although you are two people, you need to function as one so each of you have to be fully aware of what the other is doing.
It seems like the two of you have it pretty well worked out, what would you say makes a good job share partner?
Daniella is a very different personality from me. She can look at a 9,000-page document and be very methodical and analytical about it. Me – I’m outgoing and good at dealing with people; I can be very persuasive and chatty. I think different personalities work well together. We’re both conscientious and value co-operation. We are not territorial and neither of us is into political posturing. We are also very pragmatic - we both have similar issues and understand each other’s stresses and tensions.
Finding someone who shares similar values but has different strengths and weaknesses to yourself is ideal. Where one of you lacks the other will be there to prop you up and vice-versa
Thanks again, Fi and best of luck with the job share!
Not only is Bristol the country’s most politically diverse cabinet, it’s also the first to allow a job sharing arrangement of this nature, breaking new ground for the political sector! This goes hand-in-hand with Bristol Women’s Commission 50/50 campaign, which aims to increase the number of women councillors in Bristol from 34% to 50%.
Daniella Radice was quoted recently as saying “Many people are often put off by the full-time nature of politics and this move demonstrates that you don’t have to choose between a career and other commitments – it’s possible to job share, even at a senior level.”
Mayor Ferguson went on to say: “I hope that this will set an example to other employers, showing the ways we can embrace change and enable some of our best people to be included in executive roles at the top of our organisations. Politics has to adapt to modern life and this arrangement will help demonstrate that working mothers play an equal role in our workplace and that it should be flexible to meet their needs.”
Congratulations to both Fi and Daniella, we hope that you will set an example and we will see many more job shares in politics in the future!