BUSINESS POST: dylan JONES-EVANS.

Byline: dylan JONES-EVANS 

THE concept of independent portfolio working was Professor Charles Handy's big idea back in the 1980s in his book The Age of Unreason. According to Handy, this new approach to working meant that an individual, rather than having a linear career, has a collection of careers or occupations, linked by a "golden thread of transferable competence".

There are various advantages to portfolio working. For example, employers are able to reduce their overhead costs for full-time employees and still retain a flexible resource pool of talent, while individuals are able to seek employment from more than one source, develop a wide range of transferable skills, and gain greater responsibility for managing their work-life balance.

Unfortunately, Handy's predictions have not turned out as he had expected but he still believes they will appeal to large numbers of 21st century workers, with jobs becoming "shorter in years and smaller in hours". As a result, more people will be self-employed or will be offered bits of jobs rather than full-time, lifetime jobs. Indeed, he suggests that, rather than think of life as work and leisure, we should think of it as a portfolio of activities - some of which we do for money, some for interest, some for pleasure, and some for a cause, such as a charity. In that way, we do not have to look for the occupation that "combines job satisfaction, financial reward and pleasant friends all in one package".

Having moved from having a full-time tenured post myself to something that probably better reflects my range of different interests in the worlds of academia and entrepreneurship, I can empathise with Professor Handy's own move into this lifestyle. He resigned his full-time, tenured professorship to create "a portfolio life", setting aside 100 days a year for making money, 100 days for writing, 50 days for what he considered good works, and 100 days for spending time with his wife.

Similarly, I have a permanent adjunct professorship at the Turku School of Economic and Business Administration in Finland, which enables me to participate in international research projects, teach and be a member of the International Advisory Board of Turku Science Park.

I also have an academic contract with the highly rated School of City and Regional Planning for part of my time, during which I work exclusively on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for Wales at the Centre for Advanced Studies. The days I then have "free" every week release me to pursue other projects in Cardiff, as well as undertaking a more active role as chairman of a small spin-off company in North Wales, doing various pieces of consultancy work and, of course, enjoying writing.

It can be hard to manage but, in the end, it is exceptionally rewarding due to the diversity of the work and contacts.

Professor Dylan Jones-Evans is Director of the National Entrepreneurship Observatory for Wales and Conservative Assembly candidate for Aberconwy