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A full house of Coronavirus…
Last week we had a full house of Coronavirus. My two girls (1 and 3) had it, my husband had it (terribly so, in fact) and I had it. Even after a double vaccination, I felt horrendous for a few days, whilst my poor little ones were impacted through vomiting, and my husband was bedridden for over a week (and enjoyed a short stay in hospital too).
In the few days at my worst, reading a bedtime story really took it out of me, where I had to rest to catch my breath afterwards. The migraines I experienced meant that my children had to play in a darkened room. And I’m still waiting for my senses of smell and taste to return. (When they do, pass the wine!)
Those three days were truly some of the hardest few days I have ever had to get through…to function to make sure my children were cared for. Thankfully, those days were short-lived, for my daughters and I are fully recovered.
Business Continuity: What’s your People Plan?
Getting Coronavirus resulted in me needing to take emergency leave from work. I know that I am certainly not alone in needing to take emergency leave, and it really got me thinking about business continuity plans in organisations.
Prior to this pandemic, business continuity plans were set up to scenario plan an organisation’s ability to maintain essential functions during and after a disaster, such as earthquakes, fires or cyber attacks or civil unrest like wars, riots, or military occupation. The focus seemed to predominantly be systems, processes, technology…protecting the organisation’s operations, intellectual property, and profitability.
But what about people? What happens when an employee gets sick and needs to take emergency leave, without the ability of a handover? Normally, another employee is asked to cover their role, or a temporary worker is brought in quickly…usually someone who doesn’t know or understand that role fully, and is more focussed on their own tasks and responsibilities. Or the work doesn’t get done, it continues to build up while the employee is absent, and opportunities and productivity are lost. Job sharing solves all of this!
A mega week at The Job Share Pair…and we didn’t miss a beat.
Last week we had so many things on the agenda, including:
Coaching sessions with new clients
Meetings with prospective clients
Social media ‘lives’
Networking sessions
“With what looked like little room for manoeuvre, it was definitely not the week for something to go wrong.”
But ‘when one of us falls down, the other takes the lead’…
This is one of our 14 job sharing principles; working statements that define our ways of working within our partnership and practices that Rachel and I are committed to in our job share.
And Rachel certainly took the lead last week! With a little rescheduling, lots of explanation and true hard work and commitment she took on a mammoth week solo-handed, and nothing fell down.
In this type of scenario, organisations who offer job sharing benefit from:
Certainty of client coverage
A total commitment to get the job done, by two (or more) individuals who have ownership and accountability for the performance outputs of that role
Tasks performed at a high level, by individuals who are fully qualified for that role
Continuity in the role; a backup if one of the job share partners is absent for any reason
No loss of productivity or lost opportunities
“Job sharing means two (or more) individuals committed to the success of that role. So, when life throws a curveball there is a backup, meaning no loss of productivity.”
How I survived a truly horrendous week
Being in a job share partnership, I completely trusted that Rachel would have everything under control. I knew that emails and meetings would not be missed, and our business would continue to progress in the week that I had no other option but to take off. And knowing that allowed me to completely switch off from work and focus my energy on my family and getting well.
I am so grateful for this! It also meant that I am absolutely raring to get stuck back in and go the extra mile this week to make up for lost time. Thank you so much Rachel!
How is your organisation handling business continuity when employees get sick with Covid?
We'd love to hear from you
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Curious to learn more about how to implement job sharing at your organisation? Contact us at hello@thejobsharepair.com to book a free 20-minute exploratory call.