Investment managers Abigail Psyhogeos and Susan Dahl aren’t part-timers, strictly speaking – they “job share,” meaning the two team up to do one job. Each works three days a week at their company, Wellesley-based Bainco International Investors, and they say their combined efforts lead to better results for their clients, as well as happier work and home lives for themselves.
But job-sharing is rare, so the women want to preach its benefits in the hopes that the idea catches on. For professional women torn between career and family, generation X or Y-ers who want a good “work/life balance,” or retirees who want to stay involved at their companies, the two say a partnership of this nature – if arranged right – can save careers and lead to happier workers.
Abigail Psyhogeos and Susan Dahl
Titles: Managing director and senior vice president, portfolio management; portfolio manager/international strategist, Bainco International; Wellesley
Ages: Both 46 Experience: Both 24 years
Q: How did all this come about?
A: Psyhogeos: I’ve worked here for 23 years, so I’ve been here a long time. Susan came into to do a [consulting] project for us on international investing, and … while she was here working on this project she did educate me on job-sharing because she had done some [graduate work] on the topic. So she just happened to slip me a few articles on the subject. I was growing my client base, so I was pretty stressed out with the workload I had and I think Susan saw that and said, “This could be a good opportunity for us.”
Q: Did the management here take some convincing?
A: Psyhogeos: The way we went about making that proposal was showing [upper management] how this was going to be great for Bainco and, most importantly, for Bainco’s clients. And Bainco being very client-focused, it was all about, “How is this going to help the client?”
Dahl: And because you have two minds on every issue, question [or] problem that comes up in a client’s financial life, you’re looking at things through two different lenses. Our backgrounds are slightly different, so we have different perspectives. And I think most importantly, you come at the job completely energized because you’ve been able to step back, get perspective for a day, and then come back in.
Q: How do you manage to keep the work at a minimum? I’d think your time would quickly be overwhelmed with meetings to catch each other up on what you missed during your day off.
A: Psyhogeos: In terms of the communication, we overlap one day, so Tuesdays we overlap – we spend a good part of that day talking about changes that are going on in some of the portfolios … and some of the projects that we’re working on. We also send each other a nightly email, and it’s a good check on what we’ve done. What we had to work out for kinks in the first few months, somebody would say, “Well, that’s Abby’s account, I’ll wait until she comes in on Thursday.” So we had to say, “No, Susan’s here, and she’s been trained on all those accounts and she’s met the clients, so you don’t wait until Thursday.” … We share an office, we share all the same work, and so it’s one position, not two part-time positions.
Q: Are clients ever leery of this situation?
A: Dahl: I would say it’s almost been a draw for some of the recent accounts that we brought in. Our job-share is part of what was introduced to new clients, and they’re kind of excited to have the perspective of two minds thinking about all of their financial needs, especially where we have significant industry experience. And to know someone’s not going to be on vacation and not going to be available for a week – I think it gives a certain amount of comfort to have two lenses.
Q: I would think this idea wouldn’t even occur to most people in the U.S.
A: Psyhogeos: In the community where we live, in the western suburbs, there’s so many well-educated people that had terrific careers and then were faced with the decision of full-time or no time. And a lot of people have remarked, “Wow, how were you able to come up with the arrangement that you have?”
Psyhogeos’ & Dahl’s Top Five Personality Traits Required For Job-Sharing Partners:
- Take a systematic approach to one’s work.
- Have excellent communication skills.
- Be highly self-motivated.
- Be able to “leave your ego at the door,” Dahl said.
- Have an ability to accept challenges as part of a team.
