The NASPP Blog

Last week, I blogged about succession planning for equity compensation. One aspect of succession planning is preparing someone else to step in and do your job when needed. A great way to do that a job share arrangement within your team or across department lines.

Job sharing is like advanced cross-training. It goes beyond just documenting your processes and training someone else to do a portion of your job by having that back-up person step in to actually do it regularly. In this scenario, you are also cross-trained on an equivalent piece of your partner’s job and you both exchange functions periodically so that you both stay current and fresh. Instead of scrambling at the last minute or coming back from vacation to a whole lot of overtime, if you were job sharing all along, one person can step away (e.g., go on vacation or take on another roll) and the other person can step in and do it.

Got a Team?

Job sharing is easiest to implement if you have a stock plan management team. For companies that have multiple people, you’ve got a built-in structure ready for job sharing. The first step is to get management involved. If you are management, get upper management on board. It’s important that everyone understand the value of job sharing for both the company and the employees who are participating. Next, identify standard job functions that require similar time commitments.

A great way to ease a team into job is to implement an audit process. Audits are an essential piece of risk management and provide team members with a basic familiarity with each other’s responsibilities. Then, step it up a notch and trade off basic, regular functions. For example, if you have a team member who is solely responsible for ESPP and one who processes large RSU vests, this would be a great fit for a work sharing exchange. You can even split portions of stock plan management and alternate between who completes a section and who audits it.

On Your Own?

Whether you are a team of one or there aren’t enough equivalent responsibilities among your team members to do a full trade, there are still ways to accommodate job sharing. When it comes to exchanging with members outside your team, you have the added bonus of getting the inside scoop on how data is transmitted and managed in that department; so does your counterpart. For example, exchanging with payroll gives you firsthand experience in how payroll processes equity compensation income and withholding and shows payroll how that data is collected and audited on your end. Finance, legal, compensation, and HR, and benefits are all top choices for job sharing opportunities.

It’s a win-win-win for everybody. You have a back-up plan for yourself; surely your potential partners need back-up for some of the stuff that they are doing as well. Your company benefits by having more flexibility to respond to unplanned workload increases (e.g., a new regulation or IRS audit) or decreases. It also means that you get to learn new skills, increase your value, and increase the visibility for all the hard work that you do.

Communication

When you do start the process of sharing your workload, it is important that communications don’t get lost in the shuffle. This means ensuring that emails routed directly or indirectly to you are accessible to your counterparts when they need them (and vice versa). In addition, make the job sharing schedule transparent to any other departments that interact with the equity compensation team.

The Long Haul

Job sharing is great for short leaves, but if you find that you or one of your partners require an extended absence, the additional workload without an exchange can be too much. Alternatively, there may be portions of your responsibilities that you can’t find someone internally to take over. For situations like this, it’s a good idea to establish a relationship with a service provider or independent consultant early on–before you need them. If you’re wondering who is available, check out our Online Vendor Exhibition Hall where we have service providers listed by the types of services they offer. Or, you can start a new thread in our Discussion Forum to get recommendations from your peers.

-Rachel