'Elephant and its fleas' major shift in workplace

By VICKI JAYNE

Imagine a work world in which your primary employer is not a specific company but an employment agency, and instead of a career ladder to climb, you have a portfolio of skills to peddle.

The signs are already there. The growth of executive leasing, project-based work teams, and the rise of the independent contractor are all pointers to a major shift in workplace practice.

Where it's all headed is a subject explored by management guru Charles Handy in his latest book, The Elephant and The Flea (Management, last Wednesday).

The world he describes is one inhabited by fewer but bigger organisational elephants surrounded (and infested) by a growing band of independent fleas - contractors, consultants, roving talent, small and start-up businesses.

In Auckland this week, Handy expanded on some of the implications of the new work world - one in which fleas have more autonomy but less security, and companies have to manage mercenaries rather than direct loyal troops.

He likens it to the world of theatre, where an administrative core manages the business, handles its maintenance and marketing needs, plans performances - then hires the necessary talent for each specific project.

"You can get a group of people together for six months or a year who are totally committed to that project - but it is hard and expensive to hold them for longer," he says.

These workers identify with their profession first and company next. Their loyalty is primarily to self and secondly to a specific project or team; the company may be no more than a sentimental favourite.

Actors are also good examples of "portfolio" workers - a term coined by Handy more than a decade ago to describe people who, like himself, must create a cohesive whole out of various aspects of their life skills, needs and desires.

The principles of a portfolio life are, he maintains, clear and commonsensical - "not all of what you want to do and be in your life comes in the one neat employment package".

Its practice, however, is "tough" and individualistic. His own portfolio is divided into time blocks devoted to work done for money, work that feeds his particular passion (writing), study work, homework, and community work.

"The point is, you can have a really balanced life and can choose how you want to chunk it."

He didn't get there, however, until his late 40s, and with a lot of organisational acumen behind him.

"It's helpful to have experience in an organisation first, and I wouldn't discourage people from doing that. Just don't expect that it will last you for life."

Those leaping straight into "fleadom" preferably should have a professional qualification in their portfolios. Membership of professional organisations is also useful, particularly if it helps in the marketing process by setting standards for work fees and conditions.

Fleas, notes Handy, don't flock. There's no community of work, no support structures and no flea unions.

"That is a big gap in this new society," he says.

"I think there's potential for employment and recruitment agencies to be employers of first resort.

"They could guarantee you some retainer for sitting on the bench, as it were, then sell you on.

"And it's in their interests to train you up and sell you on as expensively as possible. But they're reluctant to take on that role."

The workplace future could include dedicated flea agencies that provide marketing and support services to independents, and clubhouse offices providing as-needed workplace infrastructures, either outside or within existing companies.

Companies will have to tolerate internal fleas because they provide the inspiration, innovation and fast, flexible responses that give elephants a jump on competition.

But he concedes that not everyone will thrive in a portfolio world.

"A lot of people will fall through the gaps. In the short term, there are some who will find it hard to adjust," he says.

"I think women will adapt to this life better than men - they're used to multi-tasking."