THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 25, 1995 TAG: 9501240087
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 170 lines
DEBBIE DUPREE USED to be one of those women who tried desperately to have it all.
After the birth of her son Cory in August 1984, Dupree immediately returned to teaching full time. But within weeks, exhausted, she knew something had to give.
``I was constantly moving - at lunch I breast-fed Cory, then it was back to the classroom,'' said Dupree. ``I was just ragged. My husband and I decided to put aside materialistic things and raise our children with the Lord.''
At the end of that semester, Dupree proposed a job-sharing arrangement to the school's personnel director. He gave it the thumbs up. The following semester Dupree shared her position with another teacher, taking a four-hour morning shift every day.
That decision a decade ago started an ever-growing trend. This year 42 school workers share 21 positions, most of them at elementary schools. All but one are women.
Happier and much more energetic, Dupree vowed to job share as long as ``God continues to provide.'' Since then, the Hickory resident has had three teaching partners and another child. Now Dupree shares a fourth-grade class with Claudia Blake at Tallwood Elementary. She instructs 25 students in math, science and social studies in the morning while Blake teaches them language arts in the afternoon.
Neither teacher receives life insurance nor retirement, but each can enroll in the health insurance plan.
``The children love it,'' said Dupree, laughing. ``They are ready for me to go and for her to come. For me, job sharing was a matter of getting my priorities right in life.''
It was only a matter of time - and necessity - for the idea to catch on in the professional world. Some fields, like teaching and clerical, are well-suited for this program. Others, such as law, find it unworkable because of the nature of their business.
Judith Rosenblatt, president-elect of the Virginia Beach Bar Association, said she knows of several female lawyers who work part time but none who job share.
``I don't know how it would work because lawyers can't share clients,'' she said. ``But there are over 500 lawyers in the city - some could be job sharing.''
Claudia Beam, personnel assistant for the staffing coordinator of the city's public schools, said teaching lends itself to job sharing, because of the structure of the job and the prevalence of mothers who want to cut back hours. It also offers some flexibility, from teachers working 2 1/2 full school days each week, to working a full week and switching off the following week, or by teaching a four-hour daily shift, like Blake and Dupree.
``If it were detrimental to the instruction of students, we would discontinue it,'' said Beam. ``I don't know of any drawbacks, except that you get a reduced salary and not full benefits. One of the benefits is that job sharing may reduce burnout.''
That's why Claudia Blake is job sharing. After the birth of her third child two years ago, Blake decided enough was enough. Her arrangement has turned out so well, in fact, that Blake would like to job share ``indefinitely.''
``The more you have, the more you spend,'' said Blake, shrugging her shoulders. ``I think it's much better to have more time with your family.''
Avoiding burnout is one of the primary benefits of job sharing.
Dr. Mary Graham used to relish her 12-hour work days until she became pregnant in March 1990. A few months later, her husband, Bill McDaniel, left for Saudi Arabia. Graham, then 36, started worrying about her 60-hour weeks, split between a private practice and her teaching at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
When daughter Allison McDaniel was born, Graham shared a private practice with another female physician, but it didn't last. She joined Sentara Health Plan in 1992, working just under 40 hours per week, but told the physician recruiting director that she would prefer to share a job. So, when Dr. Dorcas Zuniga joined the HMO a year later, Graham wasted no time contacting her.
``Dorcas and I had worked in medical school together and I heard she was coming back,'' recalled Graham, sitting in her office at the Military Circle Sentara Health Plan. ``I picked up the phone and said PLEASE!''
Luckily, Zuniga also was looking for a lighter load. Although childless, Zuniga had recently married and wanted to have two days a week to do chores, housework and to spend time with her extended family.
``I hope to have children someday and I knew I would want to cut back on hours then,'' said the soft-spoken Zuniga. ``I'm able to put more into my job this way. I think I'm healthier - this is satisfying.''
Graham works Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays while Zuniga sees patients Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Both doctors regularly work 10-hour days at the HMO and are on call when they get home. They share a patient caseload and consult each other constantly on diagnoses, prescriptions, conditions and problems.
Long days and being on call go with the territory, Graham said, adding that it is easier when you know you have the next day off. She said she has ``the best of all possible worlds'' with the job-share arrangement, because it keeps her fresh and her energy high. Other working women, Graham added, would benefit from having reduced hours.
``Being a working woman and mother gives me insight into what I see with my patients,'' she said. ``They'll come in with fatigue and overwork - even a minor illness can be catastrophic. They have no flex hours.
``I admire what they do, but I think there's too much rigidity in the workplace.''
Physician job sharing is a West Coast phenomenon that is just starting to hit Hampton Roads, says Dr. David Gundlach, medical director of Sentara Health Plan. Sentara's HMO is the only Southside provider to have a physician job-sharing arrangement. Graham and Zuniga are the second pair of Sentara physicians to job share. The first pairing, a male-female duo, started two years ago but folded a year later when the male physician left for a research position at Eastern Virginia Medical Center.
``I think the medical field needs to offer a range of practice opportunities for physicians - that's the trend,'' said Gundlach. ``The male physician who shared a job had a computer business on the side. Others may be in a crisis and need to do something different. Or a senior physician still wants to practice but wants more time off.
``How can we accommodate the needs? Maybe job share is a way.''
Finding physicians with complementary personalities is the key to making it work. Gundlach said that they look at the doctors' bedside manners and the way they treat illnesses, because if the doctors have ``radically different'' approaches it won't work.
``You even see it with prescribing pills,'' he said. ``Does one always treat sinusitis with ampicillin and the other always uses tetracycline? You need a common mindset.''
Military Circle Center manager Margie Smith oversees Graham and Zuniga and said she has yet to hear a patient complain. Smith also said she gets 1.2 physicians with this job-share arrangement, calling it a ``win-win situation for us.''
``The physicians have to know how to openly communicate and be proactive,'' she said. ``There must be a willingness to be flexible and there can't be any turf issues.
``I think this is a wonderful way to enhance a physician's lifestyle,'' she added. ``It meets their needs and our needs.''
A physician who wanted to share a job 20 years ago probably would have been laughed out of his or her examining room. But with society's focus on wellness and having a balanced lifestyle, Gundlach thinks that job sharing is a program whose time has come.
``I think it's cost-effective and beneficial to patients to have two physicians,'' he said. ``I don't look at it as a step down. It's just scaled back.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
2 PEOPLE 1 JOB
Workers who share a full-time job often enjoy greater benefits
Staff photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Claudia Blake, left, and Debbie Dupree go over notes before Blake
takes over the fourth-grade class they share at Tallwood
Elementary.
Debbie Dupree leaves after teaching the morning's math, science and
social studies. Claudia Blake teaches language arts in the
afternoon.
Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
At Sentara Health Plan center, Dr. Mary Graham takes some time with
daughter Allison McDaniel. Graham shares a job with Dr. Dorcas
Zuniga.
Dr. Dorcas Zuniga, recently married, wanted to have an extra two
days a week to do chores, housework and to spend time with her
extended family.
``I think the medical field needs to offer a range of practice
opportunities for physicians - that's the trend.'' - Dr. David
Gundlach, Sentara Health Plan
Margie Smith, office manager of Military Circle Sentara Health Plan,
said she has yet to hear a patient complain. ``It meets their needs
and our needs,'' she said.
KEYWORDS: PHYSICIANS TEACHERS JOB SHARING FLEX TIME by CNB