Two for the Price of One

Gaylord Nelson was living in Carmel, Calif. in 1937 and cherished free time to spend on the beach. So he and a friend tried to get one job at a cannery and split the hours and pay; the employer would not hear of it. Early in April, however, Nelson, now a Democratic Senator from Wisconsin, presided over subcommittee hearings on "Changing Patterns of Work in America" and learned that the idea of job sharing is at last starting to catch on.

Typically, the practice involves two workers voluntarily dividing a full-time job--sometimes performing complementary tasks, sometimes merely each putting in half the hours. The sharers split both salary and fringe benefits. The arrangement is attracting several types of workers: older people who would like to ease into retirement, the handicapped who may not be able to stand the physical or emotional strain of a full-time job, and students, particularly those who have returned to school in midcareer. The most eager job sharers are mothers who need work income as well as time to care for their children.

"Twinning" (as the British call it) is still far from widespread. It has been practiced mostly in teaching, library and lab work, a few professions and in government. Massachusetts State Banking Commissioner Carol Greenwald, who in 1973 herself became the first part-time officer of the Federal Reserve Bank, has hired two research assistants with different skills to divide one salary. In Palo Alto, Calif., Ruth Freis and Miriam Miller share the post of program director for a network of day-care centers, and Engineer Chris Jako has arranged to split a job planning a science center with Biologist Pat Cross. A few liberal-arts colleges--including Iowa's Grinnell and Ohio's Oberlin--have hired husband-and-wife teams for single junior professorial slots.

Hiring two for the price of one has some advantages for employers. They can more easily meet affirmative action requirements and recruit from a broad, relatively untapped labor pool. Part-time workers are so zealous, according to some studies, that they are almost certain to put in more than half a day's work in half a day's time. "Two teachers working half of the time bring additional energy and enthusiasm to the classroom," says Nick Gervase, personnel chief for the Santa Clara Unified School District in California.

But job sharing can also double an employer's training and personnel costs. In certain jobs efficiency can suffer if a part-timer has to learn about a new policy or procedure that his "other half has already mastered. And when two people split a salary, each must reach the ceiling of $15,300 before the workers--and their boss--stop paying Social Security taxes.

Still, Wisconsin and Massachusetts encourage job sharing among state employees. The practice will grow if the Federal Government does the same. Last July the Senate approved a bill by California's John Tunney requiring that 10% of all federal job slots be sharable within five years. A twin proposal by California Representative Yvonne Burke languishes in a House subcommittee, but Nelson hopes that his hearings will spur the White House into activity. "I think the Government ought to be providing more creative leadership," he says. "With 2.8 million employees, we're in a position to do a lot."

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