A resource for job sharing & flexible working
What is flexible working? How do I go about organising a job share? Do job share vacancies exist?
Hopefully the following information and signposting will help you find the answers. We are, as ever, in full support of the organisations listed below and if you engage with them and want to share your story about the outcome then please drop Raising Films an email.
We are delighted that Bectu Vision’s TakeTwo initiative was awarded the Raising Films ribbon in November 2019.
Bectu Vision
Bectu Vision: ‘TakeTwo’ launched at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2019. The initiative supports and promotes job-sharing across film and TV in order to help address skills gaps by retaining experienced and talented crew and also to offer a flexible working option to those who have commitments outside of the workplace or just want to have a better work/life balance.
Developed in partnership with job-sharing experts Further&More practitioners will be able to access free of charge:
- Job-sharing blueprint (finding a partner, applying for roles & setting up your job share)
- Help for potential sharers to identify what to look for in a partnership
- Job share coaching
- Information sessions and advice for Line Producers and HODs
- Impartial support to job sharers and their production
- Advocacy for job-sharing and flexible working
The initial focus of Bectu Vision: ‘TakeTwo’ will be on roles within scripted productions however Bectu Vision is keen to support job-sharing across all film and TV production.
If you would like to access some of the provision outlined above or would like to know more about the initiative please contact Amy Shaw at Bectu via email
To receive your downloadable Bectu TakeTwo Blueprint please submit your details below and you’ll receive an email with the download link.
Please note: this sign-up form, hosted by Bectu Vision, asks you to submit your details to gather interest about the TakeTwo initiative. Bectu Vision may contact you with further information about flexible working, if you do not wish to receive this please unsubscribe at any time. You can see the Bectu Vision privacy policy here. If you would like to find out about other Bectu Vision activity please sign up to the main mailing list here.
Share My Telly Job
Share My Telly Job is an online community built for freelancers in the television industry who are hoping to find more flexible working contracts.
Their mission is to create a practical solution, through job sharing, to help ALL freelancers achieve a better work life balance, hold on to their careers and continue to thrive in an industry they have dedicated most of their working lives to.
They champion job-sharing as the most practical solution to the fact there are no part-time jobs in telly. Perhaps most obviously, this will benefit people with caring commitments such as having kids or those looking after elderly parents. However, it is clear that getting TV companies on board with job-sharing will be beneficial to freelancers with mental health issues, disabilities and those just wanting time to pursue their own creative interests and get a life!
They are educating broadcasters and production companies about the merits of flexible work and the exceptional talent it brings to their programming. They are challenging the negative perceptions surrounding part-time work in the TV industry. We’ve heard so many times that people who want to work ‘part-time’ just aren’t committed to their jobs.
Enabling flexible working for freelancers provides a solution for retaining highly experienced talent. This film promoting the benefits of job sharing in the TV industry is courtesy of Share My Telly Job.
From our community…
“I had a job share for a year or two whilst lecturing camera and lighting at a University and it was brilliant. It was the University’s idea and they hired me and another Freelance Director of Photography/Lecturer to job share. We both bought different and similar skills to the table and really enjoyed working together to build the lectures, paperwork, admin and marking and it was great having each other to turn to when we found something challenging. As we were both working Directors of Photography at the time we often found that if one of us got an on-set job the other could cover their lecture. Being part of a job share was a great experience and definitely one that I would be interested in again after having experienced a range of types of jobs including full-time employment, freelance and job-sharing – they say ‘two heads are better than one’ and in my experience it was!” Anna Carrington
UK Film & TV Drama Job Share
This private/request to join Facebook group was set-up to help freelance film and TV drama crew who are parents or who just want a better work/life balance to find someone to job share with. Whether you come with a job you need someone for, or just to find someone to team up with and find a job together this group could be a useful resource for you.
The group recently pulled together a discussion paper on job sharing during production. The document includes some food for thought, suggestions and some first steps in finding your job share partner.
Raising Films is delighted to have permission to offer this paper (thank you Mariana!) and you can download it as a PDF file via the button below.
The group would also love any feedback and suggestions on expanding the paper into a more comprehensive ‘manual’ on job share, so if you have anything to add please drop Mariana an email.
Media Parents
Media Parents is a website and organisation that aims to pull all the short term, regular hours, job share and part time jobs in media into one place, to help freelance working parents or anyone who wants to work flexibly to balance the demands of media and other commitments, and to make it easier for employers to find this highly skilled and experienced part of the media workforce.
The Production Guild
The Guild is actively supporting its members who are interested in job sharing opportunities. To get in touch please head to the Guild’s website.
Mother Pukka
Mother Pukka is a portal for news, events, reviews and honest comment for people who happen to be parents. A journalist, editor and mother in search of pukka things for her kid, founder Anna Whitehouse previously worked as the Vice Editor at Time Out Amsterdam before writing about shoes and handbags for fashion labels SuperTrash and Tommy Hilfiger.
Click here to read Mother Pukka’s Flex Appeal articles on flexible working
Further & More
Further & More is a strategic job share consultancy dedicated to helping organisations and individuals – in every industry – realise the compelling benefits of job-sharing, disrupting the future of work. Further & More make job-sharing work for ambitious candidates and enlightened employers.
If you’re interested in finding a job share partner, a job share role or want to be inspired then click here.
Employers interested in attracting talented candidates should click here!
More job share stories from our community…
Flexible Working in TV: A way through COVID-19 and beyond
The wonderful Share My Telly Job and The Talent Manager recently ran a live webinar 'Flexible Working in TV: A way through COVID-19 and beyond' with over 500 attendees. In case you were unable [...]
Job sharing at the BBC
Patty (left) and Sarah “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman in possession of children must be in need of a job-wife.” Patty Papageorgiou and Sarah Beatrice shared a job role at [...]
Job-sharing in the Art Department
May Davies is an emerging Production Designer working on short films, live performance and art installation. She has recently completed her first two indie feature films as designer and when she's not designing she [...]
Background and data
Since June 2014, all UK employees have had the right, by law, to request flexible hours, although carers and parents have had the right to request flexibility to care for dependants since 1996.¹ Research has shown that flexible working can improve employee well-being, as well as personal and team productivity and efficiency.²
In a report* published in January 2019 the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) referenced some of the factors hindering the spread of flexible working, such as attitudes to the division of unpaid caring labour in the home, organisational culture, management capability and attitudes towards flexible working are also factors. Overall, the report suggests that while many people already benefit from flexible working, a significant proportion of the workforce are not being given the option to work flexibly.
1. Doug Pyper, ‘Briefing paper 01086, House of Commons Library, 3 October 2018, page 5’; The Flexible Working Regulations 2014
2. OECD, 2016, ‘Be Flexible! Background brief on how workplace flexibility can help European employees to balance work and family’; ‘Flexible working’; Sharon Clarke and Lynn Holdsworth, 2017, ‘Flexibility in the Workplace: implications of flexible work arrangements for individuals, teams and organisations’, ACAS research paper.