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