Job Shares Can Pay Dividends ; the Firm Keeps Its Skilled Operators, the Employees Gain a Better Lifes Tyle. Two into One Does Go, Anna Foster Discovers `We Want a Portfolio of Staff, All First-Rate, but Not All Full-Time'

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Companies have come to realise that with a declining labour market they should nurture senior staff and hang on to their skills and experience - even if an employee no longer wishes to work full time. For a number of companies and their staff job sharingprovides the answer.

A job share differs from part-time work in that it is a full- time post that is filled by two people, rather than a part-time job done by one person. In theory, most management positions could be job-shared.

British Airways, which instituted job sharing last year, is pitching its policy at middle management, where "a high level of judgement, professional ability and advice, decision- making …