When an employee finds a potential partner, they can discuss and agree on how to divide the workload and hours, and then managers have to approve the job share, ensuring that the needs of the role are met. 

The system, rolled out in Europe in September after a successful trial in the US, applies to all jobs except for production roles paid hourly, as it would be very complicated to introduce it alongside shift patterns.

In the eight weeks since the launch, 87 workers signed up and made five connections.

Some of them decided to go part-time after their first child's birth or simply adjusted to accommodate childcare responsibilities, confirming that Job-sharing can help retain employees and find a new workforce who might only be available for part-time roles. 

As Ford reports in its communication, work quality and continuity improve, while job sharers report that stress levels are reduced. 

This new flexible arrangement also made all paid roles in Ford shareable as a standard.

Peter Godsell, Ford Motor Company Chief HR officer, said: “To stay relevant in the world and what our employees would demand required us to make moves in terms of providing additional flexibility, and then alongside that, we're going through this huge industry transition. It's the transformation of our business, including cultural transformation, the processes, the organisation structure, everything that allows us to transform into a future-focused business.”

Ford's initiative follows that of several other companies that have decided to offer more flexibility to their employees, as we have reported in our previous editions (here, you can find some of them).