Liz McManus
Ceist:115 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Health his views on job sharing in the health services; and the number of health service workers who are currently employed on a job-sharing basis.
Written Answers. - Job Sharing in the Health Services.
My Department's Health Services Personnel Census indicates that there were 3,248 persons employed at the end of December, 1991 in a job-sharing capacity in the health services. A measure of the success of the job-sharing scheme, which was introduced in 1985, is the fact that there were a thousand more persons employed in a job-sharing capacity at the end of 1991 than at the end of 1989.
Job sharing allows for flexibility in working arrangements for both employees and employers. The scheme, however, necessarily provides that the granting of job sharing arrangements is a matter for the employing health agency concerned and is subject to the exigencies of the service.
I am committed to encouraging health agencies to allow the scheme to be used to the fullest possible extent. In this regard, my Department is undertaking a review of the scheme with a view to seeing what further steps can be taken to expand it.