Skip to main content
  • Personal
  • Business
  • Foundation
    Close
    • Global
    • India
    • MENA
  • mySHRM Login
  • MySHRM
    • Dashboard
    • Account
    • Logout
SHRM
  • Membership
    • Membership

      As a SHRM Member®, you’ll pave the path of your success with invaluable resources, world-class educational opportunities and premier events.

      Membership Tiers
      • Professional
      • Student
      • Global
      • Executive
      • Enterprise
      Membership Benefits
  • Certification
    • SHRM Certification

      Demonstrate your ability to apply HR principles to real-life situations.

      • How to Get Certified
      • Eligibility Criteria
      • Exam Fees & Options
      • SHRM-CP
      • SHRM-SCP
      • Which Certification is Best for Me?
      • Recertification
      Prepare for the Exam
      • Exam Preparation
      • SHRM BASK
      • SHRM Learning System
      • Instructor-Led Learning
      • Self-Study
      Specialty Credentials

      Demonstrate targeted competence and enhance your HR credibility.

      Qualifications

      Gain a deeper understanding and develop critical skills.

      Seminars

      Stand out from among your HR peers with the skills obtained from a SHRM Seminar.

  • Events & Education
    • Events

      Demonstrate your ability to apply HR principles to real-life situations.

      • SHRM26 Annual Conference
      • BLUEPRINT 2025
      • Talent Conference & Expo
      • Linkage Institute
      • The AI+HI Project 2026
      State Conferences

      Attend a SHRM state event to network with other HR professionals and learn more about the future of work.

      Seminars

      Stand out from among your HR peers with the skills obtained from a SHRM Seminar.

      Webinars
  • Resources
    • Resources

      Stay up to date with news and leverage our vast library of resources.

      • Flagships
      • HR Research
      • Legal & Compliance
      • Latest News & Trends
      • Tools & Guides
      • Webinars
      HR Topics
      • AI in the Workplace
      • Civility at Work
      • Compensation & Benefits
      • Inclusion & Diversity
      • Talent Acquisition
      • Workplace Technology
      • Workplace Violence Prevention
      Educational Programs

      Designed and delivered by HR experts to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need to drive lasting change in the workplace.

  • Community
    • Find a SHRM Chapter

      Easily find a local professional or student chapter in your area.

      • SHRM Northern California
      SHRM Connect

      Post polls, get crowdsourced answers to your questions and network with other HR professionals online.

      Membership Councils

      Learn about SHRM's five regional councils and the Membership Advisory Council (MAC).

      Volunteers

      Learn about volunteer opportunities with SHRM.

  • Shop
    • SHRM Store

      Shop for HR certifications, credentials, learning, events, merchandise and more.

      Workplace Essentials
      • SHRM Memberships
      • SHRM Certification
      • Specialty Credentials
      • HR Tools & Tech
      Education
      • Seminars
      • eLearning
      • Books
      Merchandise
      • Accessories
      • Apparel
      • Office & Home
Become a Member
Renew
Rejoin Now
Renew
Close
  • Personal
  • Business
  • Foundation
  • Membership
    back
    Membership
    • Membership

      As a SHRM Member®, you’ll pave the path of your success with invaluable resources, world-class educational opportunities and premier events.

      Membership Tiers
      • Professional
      • Student
      • Global
      • Executive
      • Enterprise
      Membership Benefits
  • Certification
    back
    Certification
    • SHRM Certification

      Demonstrate your ability to apply HR principles to real-life situations.

      • How to Get Certified
      • Eligibility Criteria
      • Exam Fees & Options
      • SHRM-CP
      • SHRM-SCP
      • Which Certification is Best for Me?
      • Recertification
      Prepare for the Exam
      • Exam Preparation
      • SHRM BASK
      • SHRM Learning System
      • Instructor-Led Learning
      • Self-Study
      Specialty Credentials

      Demonstrate targeted competence and enhance your HR credibility.

      Qualifications

      Gain a deeper understanding and develop critical skills.

      Seminars

      Stand out from among your HR peers with the skills obtained from a SHRM Seminar.

  • Events & Education
    back
    Events & Education
    • Events

      Demonstrate your ability to apply HR principles to real-life situations.

      • SHRM26 Annual Conference
      • BLUEPRINT 2025
      • Talent Conference & Expo
      • Linkage Institute
      • The AI+HI Project 2026
      State Conferences

      Attend a SHRM state event to network with other HR professionals and learn more about the future of work.

      Seminars

      Stand out from among your HR peers with the skills obtained from a SHRM Seminar.

      Webinars
  • Resources
    back
    Resources
    • Resources

      Stay up to date with news and leverage our vast library of resources.

      • Flagships
      • HR Research
      • Legal & Compliance
      • Latest News & Trends
      • Tools & Guides
      • Webinars
      HR Topics
      • AI in the Workplace
      • Civility at Work
      • Compensation & Benefits
      • Inclusion & Diversity
      • Talent Acquisition
      • Workplace Technology
      • Workplace Violence Prevention
      Educational Programs

      Designed and delivered by HR experts to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need to drive lasting change in the workplace.

  • Community
    back
    Community
    • Find a SHRM Chapter

      Easily find a local professional or student chapter in your area.

      • SHRM Northern California
      SHRM Connect

      Post polls, get crowdsourced answers to your questions and network with other HR professionals online.

      Membership Councils

      Learn about SHRM's five regional councils and the Membership Advisory Council (MAC).

      Volunteers

      Learn about volunteer opportunities with SHRM.

  • Shop
    back
    Shop
    • SHRM Store

      Shop for HR certifications, credentials, learning, events, merchandise and more.

      Workplace Essentials
      • SHRM Memberships
      • SHRM Certification
      • Specialty Credentials
      • HR Tools & Tech
      Education
      • Seminars
      • eLearning
      • Books
      Merchandise
      • Accessories
      • Apparel
      • Office & Home
Become a Member
Renew
Rejoin Now
Renew
    • Global
    • India
    • MENA
SHRM
mySHRM Login
  • MySHRM
    • Dashboard
    • Account
    • Logout
Close

  1. Topics & Tools
  2. Workplace News & Trends
  3. Managing Smart
  4. Sharing a Staffer with Another Boss? Here's Some Advice
Share
  • Linked In
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus convallis sem tellus, vitae egestas felis vestibule ut.


Error message details.

Copy button
Reuse Permissions

Request permission to republish or redistribute SHRM content and materials.


Learn More
News

Sharing a Staffer with Another Boss? Here's Some Advice

September 29, 2020 | Brian O'Connell

A group of businessmen are holding each other's hands.


​Companies are increasingly asking employees to play several roles by working for multiple bosses; 44 percent of U.S. employees do so, according to Gallup.

What does working for multiple bosses mean for employees and managers?

Not all of the outcomes are favorable.

"Having a worker answer to multiple bosses can be a messy experience," said Ben Walker, CEO of Transcription Outsourcing, a professional transcription services firm based in Denver. "That's especially the case if the bosses aren't on the same page project-management-wise. For example, one manager will give an order that's different from the other manager, and that could easily confuse the employee who's trying to accommodate two bosses simultaneously."

While having an employee who answers to two bosses may be inevitable, especially during a pandemic when layoffs and furloughs are common, that doesn't mean everyone likes this arrangement.

"At our firm, staff members are asked to juggle two or more responsibilities at the same time," said Willie Greer, founder of The Product Analyst, a home-theater analysis company in Memphis, Tenn. "In our case, it's been a difficult experience for both the manager and the staffer, as it's a lot to handle. Right from the get-go, having a staffer who answers to two bosses can make a manager feel less important, while on the other end, it can confuse the staffer on who to follow and when to act for a particular boss."

Real-World Problems

Managers who have had staffers work for two supervisors at once say the experience can be a grind.

"As a manager, I have had employees who had dual reporting to me and another manager," said Terry B. McDougall, founder of Terry B. McDougall Coaching in Chicago. "Basically, it meant that I had to spend more time ensuring that the employee knew what was expected so that the staffer's time could be used for maximum efficiency."

Excessive paperwork added to the headaches.

"Since I was the lead manager of the employee, I took responsibility for performance review time, when I had to gather the feedback from my partner," he said. "That definitely took more time because I had to spend more time coordinating with the other manager, as well as making sure that the employee was feeling confident and clear on project tasks."

In some cases, though, two managers' sharing a team or an employee may make sense.

Walker pointed to a media company where reporters routinely answer to multiple editors.

"Media platforms can work with this setup," Walker said. "On any given assignment, a staff writer may be working with several editors who have the authority of critiquing their work."

Marketing and communications is another area where answering to multiple bosses may be effective.

"I worked in marketing and had dual reporting to the chief of marketing [CMO] and the head of my company line of business," McDougall said. "Eventually, I found this did make sense because each leader had a different perspective that needed to be taken into account [for me] to be effective in my role.

"For instance, the CMO provided guidance on branding, allocated budget, provided access to shared resources and more," he added. "The head of our business development was the person that I worked with on developing a marketing strategy that supported the achievement of his business objectives.

"The direct-reporting relationship helped me to have closer and more-productive relationships with the sales organization, which provided me fast and relevant feedback on what was going on in the marketplace."

5 Tips on Maximizing the Dual-Boss Experience

Managers who share a company team or staffer on projects need to work together to ensure the process goes smoothly. Here are tips from management experts:

1. Establish ground rules. Managers who share an employee must mutually develop ground rules for their expectations and how they'll manage the employee.

"It's not fair to expect the employee to be the go-between and constantly try to meet the expectations of two managers, especially when there might be contradictions in direction or competing priorities," McDougall said. "When there isn't clarity on ground rules, the employee's role can be more stressful than it needs to be and may cause the employee to be less productive. Even worse, it could cause that employee's tenure at the company to be shorter. That wouldn't be the case if the managers were more proactive about creating a collaborative environment that supports the employee's success."

2. Take a multi-team—not multi-manager—approach. Rather than have two or more bosses share a support person, have a workplace team share the support person.

"For example, have the finance director and her team share a staffer instead of having the finance director and the human resources director share an admin," said Elizabeth Brady, president of Supply Chain Strategists Inc., a supply chain consultancy based in San Diego. "By focusing on a team versus a level of management, it is clear who ultimately takes priority. Also, by working with a singular function, the goals and deadlines are less likely to conflict."

3. Don't pull staffers back and forth between projects. Managers who pull a team member away from a project to spend an hour or so on a separate project are doing a disservice to the team member and the project.

"I see this all the time when managers share an employee," said Carla Diaz, co-founder of BroadbandSearch, a telecom information provider in Detroit. "Taking a staffer away from another manager for short stints can become a big problem if some tasks take longer than expected. In doing so, the manager is throwing an employee's day out of balance and is damaging productivity."

That isn't fair to the employee, and it rarely ends well.

"Making an employee work for your project takes them out of the mindset for the other project," Diaz said. "Doing so means they'll basically have to start all over again to get into the flow of things for the day."

Diaz advised managers to hold off on the short-term stints and plan a schedule with the other manager that allocates specific days to each project. "If you desperately need an employee to do something for you on the other boss's time, speak to that boss in advance and trade a day out rather than taking away from their time and damaging employee productivity," she added. "This will be fairer for the employee, and it's better for business."

4. Use a calendar. For managing time and scheduling, have managers and workers plan their week through a shared written or digital calendar.

"Have a notebook or digital space where you can jot down notes every single time, so you can plot your schedule," said Greer at The Product Analyst. "That way, it will be easier on your end, since you know what to do and when to accomplish anything."

5. Have patience. Greer said that in his experience, co-managers have overly aggressive expectations when managing a single team or staffer. That's because managers are used to getting the results they want, but that might not be realistic when multiple bosses are involved.

"The biggest mistake I see is when co-managers think because an employee has accepted the challenge, they can split themselves into half and do two work-related tasks at the same time," he said. "Understand the fact that accomplishing a single task is much more difficult if you have two tasks on your plate. Consequently, co-managers need to show leniency and be compassionate to employees who are struggling, because surely they are trying their best to please you and give their best to the company."

Brian O'Connell is a freelance writer based in Bucks County, Pa. A former Wall Street trader, he is the author of the books CNBC Creating Wealth and The Career Survival Guide. 

Labor & Employee Relations
Management Skills
Risk Management
Skills Training


Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace

​An organization run by AI is not a futuristic concept. Such technology is already a part of many workplaces and will continue to shape the labor market and HR. Here's how employers and employees can successfully manage generative AI and other AI-powered systems.



Related Content

Kelly Dobbs Bunting speaks onstage at SHRM24
(opens in a new tab)
News
Why AI+HI Is Essential to Compliance

HR must always include human intelligence and oversight of AI in decision-making in hiring and firing, a legal expert said at SHRM24. She added that HR can ensure compliance by meeting the strictest AI standards, which will be in Colorado’s upcoming AI law.

(opens in a new tab)
News
A 4-Day Workweek? AI-Fueled Efficiencies Could Make It Happen

The proliferation of artificial intelligence in the workplace, and the ensuing expected increase in productivity and efficiency, could help usher in the four-day workweek, some experts predict.

(opens in a new tab)
News
How One Company Uses Digital Tools to Boost Employee Well-Being

Learn how Marsh McLennan successfully boosts staff well-being with digital tools, improving productivity and work satisfaction for more than 20,000 employees.

HR Daily Newsletter

Stay up to date with the latest HR news, trends, and expert advice each business day.

Success title

Success caption

Manage Subscriptions
  • About SHRM
  • Careers at SHRM
  • Press Room
  • Contact SHRM MENA
  • Copyright & Permissions

Email: SHRM.MEA@shrm.org
Landline: +971 43649464

SHRM KSA Office (Riyadh)
+966507266968

SHRM UAE Office (Dubai)
+971581101786

Follow Us
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • SHRM Newsletters
  • Ask An Advisor

© 2025 SHRM. All Rights Reserved

SHRM provides content as a service to its readers and members. It does not offer legal advice, and cannot guarantee the accuracy or suitability of its content for a particular purpose. Disclaimer


  1. Privacy Policy

  2. Terms of Use

  3. Accessibility

Join SHRM for Exclusive Access to Member Content

SHRM Members enjoy unlimited access to articles and exclusive member resources.

Already a member?
Free Article
Limit Reached

Get unlimited access to articles and member-exclusive resources.

You've reached the limit of 1 free article this month. Join to access unlimited articles and member-only resources.

Already a member?
Free Article
Exclusive Executive-Level Content

This content is for the SHRM Executive Network and Executive Content Subscription members only.

You've reached the limit of 1 free article this month. Join the Executive Network and enjoy unlimited content.

Already a member?
Free Article
Exclusive Executive-Level Content

This content is for the SHRM Executive Network and Executive Content Subscription members only.

You've reached the limit of 1 free article this month. Join and enjoy unlimited access to SHRM Executive Network Content.

Already a member?
Unlock Your Career with SHRM Membership

Please enjoy this free resource! Join SHRM for unlimited access to exclusive articles and tools.

Already a member?

Your membership is almost expired! Renew today for unlimited access to member content.

Renew now

Your membership has expired. Renew today for unlimited access to member content.

Renew Now

Your Executive Network membership is nearing its expiration. Renew now to maintain access.

Renew Now

Your membership has expired. Renew your Executive Network benefits today.

Renew Now