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Job Sharing - IELTS Reading with answers

 Job Sharing

 

You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on Questions 01 – 16 which are based on Reading Passage # 3.

Section A

 

Job sharing refers to a situation in which two people divide the responsibility of one full-time job. The two people willingly act as part-time workers, working enough hours between them to fulfill the duties of a full-time worker. If they each work half the hours of the job, for example, they each receive 50 percent of the job’s wages, its holidays and its other benefits. Of course, some job sharers take a smaller or larger share of the responsibilities of the position, receiving a lesser or greater share of the benefits.

 

Job sharing differs from conventional part-time work in that it is mainly, although not exclusively, occurring in the more highly skilled and professional areas, which entail higher levels of responsibility and employee commitment. Until recently, these characteristics were not generally seen as compatible with anything less than full-time employment. Thus, the demands of job sharing are reciprocated by better pay and conditions and, ideally, more satisfaction than conventional part-time work.

 

Section B

 

Job sharing should not be confused with the term work sharing, which pertains to increasing the number of jobs by reducing the number of hours of each existing job, thus offering more positions to the growing number of unemployed people. Job sharing, by contrast, is not designed to address unemployment problems; its focus, rather, is to provide well-paid work for skilled workers and professionals who want more free time for other pursuits.

 

Section C

As would be expected, women comprise the bulk of job sharers. A survey carried out in 1988 by Britain’s Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) revealed that 78 percent of sharers were female, the majority of whom were between the ages of 20 and 40 years of age. Subsequent studies have come up with similar results. Many of these women were re-entering the job market after having had children, but they chose not to seek part-time work because it would have meant reduced wages and lower status. Job sharing also offered an acceptable transition back into full-time work after a long absence. 

Section D

Although job sharing is still seen as too radical by many companies, those that have chosen to experiment with it include large business with conservative reputations. One of Britain’s major banks, the National Westminster Bank, for example, offers a limited number of shared positions intended to give long-serving employees a break from full-time work. British Telecom, meanwhile, maintains 25 shared posts because, according to its personnel department, ‘Some of the job sharers might otherwise have left the company and we are now able to retain them’. Two wide-ranging surveys carried out in the country in 1989 revealed the proportion of large and medium-sized private-sector businesses that allow job sharing to be between 16 and 25 percent. Some 78 percent of job sharers, however, work in public-sector jobs.

 

Section E

The types of jobs that are shared vary, but include positions that involve responsibility for many subordinates. Research into shared senior management positions suggests that even such high-pressure work can be shared between two people with little adjustment, provided the personalities and temperaments of the sharers are not vastly different from one another. A 1991 study of employees working under supervisory positions shared by two people showed that those who prefer such a situation do so for several reasons. Most prevalent were those who felt there was less bias in the evaluation of their work because having two assessments provided for a greater degree of fairness.

 

Section F

The necessity of close cooperation and collaboration when sharing a job with another person makes the actual work quite different from conventional one-position, one-person jobs. However, to ensure a greater chance that the partnership will succeed, each person needs to know the strengths, weaknesses and preferences of his or her partner before applying for a position. Moreover, there must be an equitable allocation of both routine tasks and interesting ones. In sum, for a position to be job-shared well, the two individuals must be well-matched and must treat each other as equals.


Questions 01 – 05

The Reading passage Job Sharing has 6 sections, A – F. Choose the most suitable heading for sections A, C, D, E and F from the list of headings given. Write the appropriate numbers (i – x) in boxes 01 – 05 on your answer sheet.

N.B. There are more headings than sections so you will not use all of them. You may use any of the headings more than once.

List of headings

 

i.            Characteristics of job sharers

ii.          Employer acceptance of job sharing

iii.        Sharing work v. sharing jobs

iv.        Rejection of job sharing by industry

v.          Definition of job sharing

vi.        Finding a job share partner

vii.      Ingredients of successful job sharing

viii.    Creating employment through job sharing

ix.        Women sharing work

x.          Job sharers as bosses

 

01. Section A

 

Example                   Section B                     Answer: iii

 

 

02. Section C

03. Section D

04. Section E

05. Section F

Questions # 06 – # 10

 

Complete the notes below for SECTION A. Choose ONE or TWO WORDS from the section for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 06 – 10 on your answer sheet.

JOB SHARING

 

Common job sharing areas:

  • Highly skilled (Example)
  • .... (06)....

Job sharing requires a greater degree of:

·                     ....(07).....   

  • ....(08)....         

Benefits of job sharing over part-time work:

  • .... (09) ....

      · better conditions

·    .... (10)....

 

Questions 11 – 15

 

Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage # 07? In boxes 11 – 15 write:

 

YES                     if the statement reflects the claims of the writer

NO                       if the statements contradicts the writer’s claims

NOT GIVEN      if there is no information about this in the passage

 

11.   The majority of male job sharers are between 20 and 40 years of age.

12.   Job sharers have no intention of later resuming full-time work.

13.   Employers may allow job sharing to keep or attract good workers.

14.   Fewer job sharers are employed in the private sector than in the public sector.

15.   Most employees prefer to work under a shared supervisory position.

 

Question # 16

 

Choose the appropriate letter A – D and write it in box 16 on your answer sheet.

 

16.    What is the main aim of the writer of ‘Job Sharing’?

         A    to encourage employers to allow more job sharing

         B    to introduce the reader to the concept of the job sharing

         C    to advise people who wish to try job sharing

            D         to discuss the implications of job sharing for industry

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