The New Rules of Engagement-Life-Work Balance and Employee Commitment

Mike Johnson

First published 2004

Mike Johnson, 2004

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A catalogue of this publication is available from the British Library

ISBN 1 84398 072 X

The views expressed in this publication are the author's own and may not necessarily reflect those of the CIPD.

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Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, CIPD House, Camp Road, London, SW19 4UXTel: 020 8971 9000 Fax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Website: www.cipd.co.uk Incorporated by Royal Charter. Registered Charity No. 1079797 The catalogue of all CIPD titles can be viewed on all the CIPD website: www.cipd.co.uk/bookstore

Mike Johnson is a consultant, author and Managing Partner of Johnson & Associates Limited, a corporate communications consultancy. The firm's main activities are internal communications strategy, researching and writing on world-of-work issues and management education strategy for major corporations and institutions. He is the author of six previous books including (2000) Winning the People Wars and (2002) Talent Magnet . He can be contacted through his website, www.mikeajohnson.com or by e-mail on mikeajohnson@ compuserve .com.

Dedication

To my son Cameron who resisted visits to ˜Daddy's Office', except for bringing the six o'clock verre du vin.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to those who really gave me a great deal of support and encouragement.

Shay McConnon of People First, for helping me clarify my thoughts and letting me ˜steal' some of his great ideas. Richard Savage in Brussels for sound advice and counsel based on his own lengthy and successful career ˜doing the people thing.' Hanneke Frese at Zurich Financial Services for some great ideas and insights into the minds of today's employee. Vanessa Stebbings of HRGateway.com for constant encouragement and allowing me to use their portal for market research. Nick Winkfield of Stakeholder Studies for letting me use his ideas on internal communications. Stephen Partridge, commissioning editor of CIPD for asking me to do the project in the first place.

I would also like to thank all those who agreed to be interviewed or pass on their ideas, opinions and knowledge. Also to all those people who asked the difficult questions at seminars and conferences that led to yet another line of thought: I don't know who you are, but you helped.

Finally, to my wife Julie for support, encouragement and not asking ˜how did it go today?'

Author's note

This is a serious subject. However, I have tackled it in what, I hope, is a fast-paced, narrative style that will carry you along and make learning fun. While it has been necessary to set the scene of how we got into the mess of employee disengagement, I have tried to make this a book that exudes hope and sensible solutions. This is a new style of book from CIPD and I am delighted to be associated with the series and I trust that you, the reader, will be delighted with the result.