I gave up working full time a couple of months ago and am now on a zero hours contract, doing anywhere between 1 and 5 days a week, which suits me, no matter how much other people dislike them.
I’ve got used to having plenty of spare time and enough money for a simple lifestyle, but I’ve seen a 5 days a week job advertised I want.

If I get an interview, I’d like to suggest job sharing or two part time staff.
It’s a 7 day operation, so I don’t know how they intend to work it with only 5 day cover anyway.
I reckon they’d be better off with two staff doing 4 on, 4 off or some similar arrangement.

I’ve found some general information on the pros & cons of job sharing from an employers point of view; slightly more admin costs, slightly less sick pay, same holiday pay, double training costs etc. Nothing specific though.
I could do with some hard facts to try to convince them. Are there any standard calculations where you can input the pay and hours and get a comparison of the two options?

The job, since you ask, is a “train repairer” on the Severn Valley Railway. They need someone to walk through every carriage on every train before service every day to check it’s fit for service by checking doors, windows, seats etc and carrying out on the spot repairs, then to spend the rest of the day assisting with long term repairs on whatever’s in the workshop. It’s pretty much what I’m used to doing on trucks and buses and I already volunteer one day a week on the SVR anyway.

Oh, and I just had a look through “Posters on here you miss” and found my name mentioned three times. 8)

The hidden cost of training and managing 2 people will put most companies right off i would think.

Less NI is the only benefit as you get two folks allowance for the same pay. More training though and some cross over assuming you both attend the same team meeting etc
Probably easier to see what their arrangements are about going PT rather than suggest job share .

The other cost would be finding the other half of you… need to recruit 2 people who want to work part time on a similar deal.
As you volunteer why not go in and have a chat with them, it’s normally the easiest way before applying, if they are not going to be interested or it’s something they don’t see working then you save them and you some time.

Downsides
But as above the “cost” of employing somebody in terms of HR load and employee benifits
Duplication/Overlap of work 50%+50% actually being 60%+60%=100% Cover – things like handover half way through a job, if there is a workshop team then may be able to cover that.
Not so much costs and facts to convince them but things that they will be thinking of.

Thanks, I should have mentioned that I currently volunteer in a different department at a different station, so I don’t really know anyone in the carriage department.
A couple of things in favour of my job sharing idea are that if I was working five days a week, I’d be less inclined to volunteer one day every week as I do now, so by only paying me to work three or four days a week, they will still get me for one day for free.
The other is that a high proportion of railway volunteers are at the age where the kids have grown up and the mortgage is paid, so there’s a good chance of finding someone else in that pool who would want to work part time.

I was hoping there might be some sort of established figure like ‘For a 20k job it costs the employer an extra 1k per year to job share’ although I realise it would never be that simple with different training costs for different jobs.

The other issue is if one of a job share leaves/goes on maternity leave/etc.

The other person is on a permanent contract so it’s then a struggle to find someone wanting to do the job part time – it limits an employers choice of candidates.

Yes, there is that,unless I can convince them that due to the demographic of railway enthusiasts, they’d find it easier to recruit another part time worker.
On the other hand, with two part time staff, one could cover for the other for short term absence. I’d have no problem doing the occasional six day week when the other person was off.