I have previously wrtten about my belief that in the future there will be more and more contractor availability as the population decides to work when it chooses.
Here at Project Resource we have several of our team that work part-time, or reduced hours, because this fits in with their wishes and suits our business. Employers need to be flexible if they are to attract and retain the people it wants and needs.
Interestingly, this week I read a quote by Mark Kobayashi-Hillary (the author of Who Moved my Job? ), who lectures at the London South Bank University. Mark stated “The internet has created a delivery mechanism allowing companies to find skilled workers wherever they are in the world…We are all truly competing with the world for a job today and there is little sympathy from employers”. He goes onto to state that he thinks there will come a time when there will be wage parity, when a worker in England will be paid the same as their counterpart in India. What do you think?
Imagine, if you will, organisations in which most workers aren’t employees at all, but electronically connected freelancers living wherever they want. This freedom in business lets people get more of whatever they really want in life – money, interesting work, the chance to help others, or time with family and loved ones. Makes you think hey!
My game, copywriting, is a prime example of how you don’t need to be on-site in order to do the job. Indeed, some of my clients I have never actually met! They send me a brief via email, I write the words and send it back, everyone’s happy! I can do this for anyone, anywhere in the world (so long as they pay!).
I remember, about 25 years ago, scoffing at someone who forecast that the future of employment would be people working from home, working part time, and perhaps working for two or three employers which gave security, variety, interest, challenge, amongst various other things (& now might reduce carbon footprint). What was said though was that people would not be able to work in total physical isolation.
More and more people want a work life balance. I met an employer today that works for a £1 billion turnover company, who expressed the reason they work as a consultant is to get that work life balance right, which they happily do.
More information on working as a contractor can be found on our blog: http://www.project-resourceblog.co.uk; and our website: http://www.project-resource.co.uk/contractors.aspx
Hello Bill. I’m interested in what inspired you to come up with the idea of fractional work. I’ve been writing about it for some time. Since 2004 in fact. I’ve written several blog posts on this subject dating back to 2006 with the an (almost) identical title as this post.
The first is here and is an extract from my book written in 2004.
http://winningbysharing.typepad.com/oaxaca/2006/03/fractional_work.html
Here you can find a post called Fractional Work. The Next Small Thing?
http://winningbysharing.typepad.com/oaxaca/2007/02/fractional_cons.html
The image embedded in your post is identical to the image from my Slidehare deck here;
http://www.slideshare.net/ixtlan/fractional-work and is derived from the Big Picture that accompanies my book here;
http://www.winningbysharing.net/bp.asp
The last paragraph that starts “Imagine, if you will….” is remarkably similar to Thomas Malone’s writings on the future of work;
http://cci.mit.edu/malone/index.html
His original words were;
“Imagine organizations in which most workers aren’t employees at all, but electronically connected freelancers living wherever they want to. And imagine that all this freedom in business lets people get more of whatever they really want in life – money, interesting work, the chance to help others, or time with their families.” Thomas Malone, The future of work
I’m sure you don’t set out to plagiarise but as a professional you should give your readers a clear idea in your posts, of what’s original content and what’s the work of other people.
Leon,
I read your email with concern. I personally work very hard to ensure I do not plagiarise. There may be instances were I refer to other blogs, and I normally do this if I have used content from another post or website. If you feel I have not done this in this instance I apologise.
I wish you every success in the future.
Bill