Pamela,

Job sharing is not always easy to work out, but it can be done. Most employers can imagine two people sharing a single job while each works part time. Like most new things, they tend to reject it immediately. That means the responsibility for coming up with a workable plan is entirely yours and the person with whom you are going to job share. Also, since you are a social worker and probably have specific clients, you have to figure out if you each keep your own clients or share them all. It's tricky, but it can be done.

Here are some basic guidelines:

• Find someone who does the same job you do who would also like to work part time.
• Make sure you and your prospective job sharer are compatible personally and professionally (if you don't get along, this will never work)
• Come up with a specific plan of who would work when, what parts of your job would be handled by either one, which would remain exclusively with each, etc.
• The plan has to include specific ways you would convey information to each other about what went on while the other person was off
• Figure out how it will affect your benefits - maybe those will have to be divided too. It's unrealistic to expect an employer to pay two full sets of benefits for two part time employees. Talk to your HR person, if he/she is approachable, about the best way to handle benefits, etc., and go over the plan with her.
• Then take your plan to your boss together, with a written version in hand, and present your case. Make sure the boss is having a good day before you do it - people often say no just because you ask at the wrong time. Sometimes waiting until the right moment, even though you are anxious to get it over with, is the best thing to do.
• Be sure to include some kind of provision for a paper trail -- a log book, notes, bi-weekly or monthly report -- that will let others know that you are keeping track of what is getting done.