Jigsawise welcomes you to the New World of Work

Jigsawise welcomes you to the New World of Work

How will you build a career now that the full time, job-for-life corporate economy is over?

The answer, according to a compelling new book by management thinker Des McCabe, is that you won’t, or not in the way you used to. Rather you’ll put together a tapestry of "workpieces", some paid, some not, and all changing over time, like a work jigsaw, and enjoy a far happier work-life-family balance in the process.

That is the basic pretext of Jigsawise: Solving the Job Puzzle.

Rather than devoting all your time to one job – often to the exclusion of other interests – Jigsawise shows you how to find and create individual pieces of work and use these workpieces to build a career.

"But Jigsawise is about far more than the process of working to earn money," McCabe says.

“It provides a template for making work fit into our lives, providing an income and financial security, but also accommodating the needs of our families and relationships, and satisfying our personal ambitions.

"Employment is changing: fewer of us have full time jobs with final salary pensions. Jigsawise will help you gain the skills, aptitude and confidence to adapt and prosper in this New World of Work."

Along with changing our views of how work should be structured, Jigsawise also changes our mindset on how we expect to be compensated. Of course, we still need income, but the network of fellow Jigsawise workers makes it possible to barter skills and time, to volunteer, and to do work at cost as an investment in a joint piece of work.

Such workpieces may involve freelancing, part-time work, looking after children, selling on-line, temporary assignments, caring for a sick relative, learning a new skill, providing a service, doing voluntary work, projects, or testing a business idea.

In Jigsawise, Des McCabe shows us how to create our own portfolio of workpieces and to change and adapt these over time; how to harness the Internet and social networking sites to make connections, scope projects, find clients, and deliver the goods.

He also discusses the implications of this new world of work for Government policy makers, employers, educators and trainers, and human resources professionals.

"Jigsawise is an essentially positive message about the future of work in very challenging, fast changing circumstances. And it is already a reality. Given round-the-clock Internet access, from mobiles and computers, it is now possible to manage all our different activities seamlessly, from home, on the train, or in an office. The Internet provides the platform and resources to plan, develop and execute workpieces, and to become self-sufficient," McCabe argues.

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer agrees:

"The Jigsawise process represents a new approach to work and jobs which reflects the nature of the modem economy. Jobs-for-life - secure, long term, full-time, employment - is a thing of the past for most people, especially the young. Jigsawise makes a virtue of necessity. Part time work, volunteering, internships and short term contracts can all be used positively and creatively rather than treated as second best to a 'real' job."

"For women, used to juggling paid employment and family, this is not such a novel idea, but for most men it is. Successful, semi-retired, business and professional people have already discovered 'portfolio' lifestyles."

"It is now time for government to demonstrate, through the benefit and tax credit system and job centres, that it can support and encourage flexible patterns of work."

Jigsawise is published on 17 May 2010 by New Activity Publications. Tel 028 4175 4777 (£8.99 with free postage). McCabe will take the Jigsawise message to the world of work in the UK and Ireland in a series of workshops in 2010 - London (18 May), Birmingham (19 May), Sheffield (25 May), Edinburgh (26 May), Belfast (28 May), Dublin (1 June) and Cardiff (2 June).

About the Author

Des McCabe is one of the UK’s leading experts on human resource management and workplace training. He founded The Training Business, which in the 1980s and early 1990s grew to become the largest independent training organisation in the UK. By the time the company was sold in 1995 it was finding jobs for 5,000 long-term unemployed and helping 4,000 people to get qualifications every year.

Des’s expertise in the field of job creation led to him becoming an advisor to the British, Irish, US, Argentinian, Romanian and Albanian governments on employment, social inclusion and training-related policy. He received formal recognition of his standing as one of the leading job creation entrepreneurs from 'Europe’s 500', one of Europe’s most prominent bodies of entrepreneurs.

Des served as Chair of the European Union’s cross-border Interreg training group in Northern Ireland, and as Chair of the EU Border Training Bureau. He was an advisor to the Irish and US Governments in the early stages of the Northern Ireland Peace Process and went on to design the 'PeaceBuilder' training programme with US Special Envoy Senator George Mitchell’s Northern Ireland Fund for Reconciliation. This sought to encourage schoolchildren from different backgrounds to work together with their counterparts in Namibia.

In 2002, Des received the Diversity 21 Award for the development of an innovative diversity programme on religion and belief.

He himself is a Jigsawise worker, and with his colleagues he provides advice and support to individuals, organisations and governments on Jigsawise.

For more information or to receive a review copy of the book please contact Des McCabe: Email:des.mccabe@jigsawise.com Telephone: 0044 (0) 2841 754777