You can call the shots

Andy Williamson, from Wairua Consulting, is keen on portfolio work despite a few downsides. Picture / Fotopress

Portfolio careers apply a variety of skills to a variety of employers in a number of agreements, explains Mary Mallon, Professor in Human Resource Management at Massey University, who has a PhD on the transition from managerial to portfolio careers.

"You could be working for a number of organisations or be a sole trader who, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, has a fixed-term contract for an organisation."

A portfolio career is difficult to label - no title but many skills is how portfolio worker Sue Elliott describes it. Her business card simply has her name and contact details.

It is all about the reality that you don't have to be under the same roof as the boss doing one specific task to be "working", says Tom Law of Nework Centre, a trust that provides networks, support and office space in Wellington for portfolio workers, or "neworkers". It can also encompass study, parenting and voluntary work.

Andy Williamson describes his career as a portfolio of half-time jobs - running a business, directing a research centre and studying for his PhD. It is about your core skills rather than a label, Williamson says. "A portfolio worker is like an octopus, with a core and arms going off in many directions."

His core is communication technology, research, writing, and creative thinking. He set up his portfolio after losing interest in his job because he was in management. "I enjoyed problem-solving and communication about problems, but not managing people."

Williamson's working week isn't easily quantified. He may work through a weekend, then take a couple of days off midweek, or spend the morning in the garden and then work in the evening. One downside is lack of a regular salary. "The nature of portfolio work is that I get paid on results, where as if I was working in an office and having an off-day I'd still get paid."

He says it is necessary to consciously work on training and development. "You're not going to send yourself off to a $2000 course without serious thought."

Courses aren't the only way to learn either, he says. Meeting a colleague for coffee and discussing problems and solutions helps maintain your skills. The challenge is in building up a group of people you like and respect and who work in similar areas.

Williamson has been a portfolio worker for eight years and wouldn't have it any other way. However, his wife, Ruth DeSouza, has returned to working for a single organisation after spending a year as a portfolio worker. Her job as co-ordinator and senior research fellow for the AUT Centre for Asian and Migrant Health Research aligns everything she wants, including PhD study, she says.

But there are disadvantages. "One is being absorbed into a system and bureaucracy and having to go through layers of management to do things I would usually do autonomously."

For Elliott, a portfolio career enables her to commit to issues of interest while earning a living here and overseas.

Those interests are a combination of refugee, civil society and human rights issues, including advocacy.

It is very important to her to have space for social activism of some sort, something she says would be hard to do if she was on the permanent staff of a government department.

Elliott's portfolio includes work with a range of organisations, including the J.R. McKenzie Trust and the New Zealand International Aid and Development Agency. Her roles vary from training on human rights and development to reviewing organisations. She also does a little lecturing on Unitech's not-for-profit management graduate diploma programme and works as an advocate.

Lisa Cruickshank's career includes four portfolios. She is a Deloitte risk and assurance audit partner, a director of Telarc and chairwoman of the Breast Cancer Foundation. Cruickshank's motivation was to find time to spend with her son, Ryan, and develop new skills and relationships through other roles while remaining at Deloittes.

She says it is not uncommon in her environment for managers and staff to combine parenting and careers. Several managers are also employed as tutors for the organisation, administering the Institute of Chartered Accountants professional training programme and qualifying exams.

Another senior manager with Deloitte works part-time as a transfer pricing specialist while completing her PhD. Several partners have directorships and trustee roles on professional boards such as the Financial Reporting Standards Board. There are also managers who own their own farms or businesses but still work fulltime.

However, says Cruickshank, administration, marketing and social activities increase with a portfolio approach.

"While important to maintain for long-term and broader goals, they tend to be the first to be compromised when there's not enough time to go around," Cruickshank says.

Mallon's research found that people choose to take on portfolio careers at various stages of their life.

"The power is that it offers opportunities to come and go from it, but I see it as a place to go forth from rather than start from."

And there are downsides. "People say they have more variety of work but often less opportunity to go in-depth. They are pleased to get out of the grind of the office politics but they miss the social networking.

"They have freedom with their time but don't get annual leave or sick leave."

Management

So what is it like to manage people who are not obliged to clock in at 8.30am, take a half-hour lunch and be at their desk throughout the day?

Managers who make the most of portfolio workers are those who recognise there is a different power differential and roles can't be assumed, Mallon says. "Ask yourself if you can deal with someone with whom you have to have a slightly different relationship."

Her research found that the biggest issue was training and development. Organisations want up-to-date skills but can't assume a contractor is staying up to date if the organisation is not involved.

Elliott says management needs to be clear about what it wants from a portfolio worker and committed to what the organisation requires. "You can't work with an organisation with managers who don't want a portfolio worker."

Cruickshank says that being receptive to portfolio workers can be a strong talent-retention tool. Managing it simply requires forethought, such as delegating a task or setting deadlines at an early stage rather than close to deadline.

"This is always going to be more effective in getting any person's buy-in and a better product, but will enable a portfolio worker greater opportunity to flex their other commitments around the new work."

Changes in mindset are also needed for meetings to ensure portfolio workers are included and used properly, Law says.

"Don't forget they could benefit from being involved in staff meetings as they can be easily overlooked."