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Junior management
Ms London (4 September 1995)
In 1992 Jackie Murnane and Vicky Longman started sharing the post of Account Manager at the Brentwood branch of the
Midland Bank. They were setting an important precedent. For their's was the first ever managerial job share in the
bank's retail sector. Since then, the success of their partnership has proved what can be achieved if you are committed
and have the support of a sympathetic employer.
"We share the same outlook," explains Jackie. "This is vital, for partners who are not compatible can't cooperate
successfully. We also work very hard. Reading up file notes, leaving messages, telephoning each other - all this
is time consuming, but essential for maintaining efficient communication. And if it allows us to spend time with
our children without jeopardising our career prospects, it's worth every minute."
Banking is not the only area where it is becoming easier for young mothers to reconcile the demands of home and
work. Opportunity 2000, whose aim is to foster a working environment which allows women to realise their potential,
was supported by 61 companies when it was launched three years ago. Today its membership is 250.
Flexible working hours, career breaks, workplace nurseries, part-time work with no loss of status - these are just
a few of the initiatives that member companies have introduced. Nor are their motives purely philanthropic. To invest
money in training staff only to let them go a few years later is extravagant and wasteful. Now, as a direct result of
imaginative policies and a flexible approach, many employers have seen a huge increase in the percentage of women
returning to work from maternity leave. And although top jobs are still dominated by men, the number of women in middle
management has risen dramatically.
In the same year that Vicky and Jackie were embarking on their job share, the Midland were joint winners with Barclays
Bank of the Working Mothers Association's Employer of the Year Award. The development of this organisation is another
indication that steady progress is being made. From humble beginnings as a small group of working mothers in Clapham
in 1980, it established itself nationwide five years later. Today - under its new name Parents at Work - it offers
support to an ever-increasing number of individuals and self-help groups. Even more significantly, its membership
now includes over two hundred employers ...
© Alison Thomas
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