Personalization at Work - by Rob Baker (Hardcover)

About the Book

Embed a personalized approach to HR to improve employee engagement, motivation, productivity and performance with this practical guide.

Book Synopsis

SHORTLISTED: Business Book Awards 2021 - HR & Management Category

The potential benefits of personalization on a workforce are huge. We curate music and online streaming content to suit our own tastes and we place more value on lottery numbers we have chosen ourselves, rather than a random selection from a lucky dip. When job roles are also personalized, employees are more interested, engaged and motivated at work.

The responsibility for enabling this personalization lies with HR and people professionals and a key approach to doing this is via job crafting. Personalization at Work is a practical guide explaining what job crafting is, why it's important, what the benefits are and more broadly how a personalized approach can be brought to all aspects of HR including recruitment, learning and development, performance management, diversity and inclusion and reward.

Full of practical advice and case studies from companies who have already seen the benefits of a personalized approach including Virgin Money, Widerøe airlines, Logitech, Google and Connect Health, Personalization at Work is essential reading for all HR professionals wanting to improve staff engagement, retention, productivity and the overall people experience. With expert guidance on how to encourage job crafting and a personalized approach to work for employees through everything from job titles, role descriptions and benefits packages through to working patterns, flexibility and work environment, this is a book that HR and people professionals can't afford to be without.

Review Quotes

"Personalization at Work is a valuable asset to Human Resource Managers, workplace leaders, organisational scholars, and, most importantly, to anyone who wants to have a thriving career. Rob Baker provides us with a compelling reason to personalise our work and helps us to more clearly understand the factors that prevent us from doing so."-- "Professor Lea Waters (PhD), Organisational Psychologist, Positive Psychology Expert and author of 'The Strength Switch'"

"Personalization at Work through job crafting is a unique and innovative book. For too long we have heard HR professionals say 'our most valuable resource is our human resource', but that should translate into helping employees personalize their work to enable them to get good balance in their lives-but hasn't in the past. This is a must read for those concerned about enabling their people to thrive"-- "Professor Sir Cary Cooper, ALLIANCE Manchester Business School, University of Manchester"

"In Personalization at Work, Rob Baker has created a handbook for success and wellbeing in the modern workplace. The message is clear: the future of work is personal. This is THE definitive guide to job crafting and the many benefits it can bring to you and your business."-- "Mark Gilroy, Managing Director, TMS Development International Ltd"

"It's unusual to land a job that was designed for you, but it's possible to tailor that job into one that suits you. Job crafting is a skill that every employee needs and every manager should value, and this is the first book to bring the research and practice together in an engaging and accessible way for HR professionals."-- "Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of 'Originals' and 'Give and Take', and host of the chart-topping TED podcast WorkLife"

"Job crafting is a validated process for enhancing the meaningfulness of work, and evidence is strong that performance increases markedly when job crafting is implemented. Rob Baker has written the best book yet on what job crafting entails, how to implement it, and what results can be expected. This is a must-read book for anyone interested in helping employees and organizations flourish."-- "Professor Kim Cameron, William Russell Professor of Management & Organizations, Ross School of Business"

"Our work has never defined us more than it does today and the future of work has never been more uncertain. Rather than striving to work for the best companies, maybe it's time we strived to be the best employees. This book will help you do just that. Job and skills crafting is part of our future that many of us have yet to concentrate on."-- "Gethin Nadin, Director of Wellbeing, Benefex, Author of 'A World of Good: Lessons from Around the World in Improving the Employee Experience'"

"Rob Baker has given me, and the profession I've come to love working in (HR), a huge step into the true future of work. Not the hype we get presented via media soundbites, but in the personalization of work and need to bring job crafting into people's working lives [...] It's not that the future of work is human - it already is that. The future of work is personalization."-- "Perry Timms, Founder and Chief Energy Officer, People and Transformational HR Ltd, Author of 'Transformational HR'"

"Rob Baker has put forth something that all organizations have been longing for - a way to stay relevant, viable and attractive to both employees and the marketplace. I agree with him that job crafting and personalization is needed in today's workplace and the workplace of the future. I will be using the concepts from this book as an essential part of my on-going HR/Business library."-- "Steve Browne, SHRM-SCP, VP of Human Resources LaRosa's, Inc., Author of 'HR on Purpose'"

"Rob Baker has written an important, progressive and practical book. I recommend it to anyone aspiring to working lives that are both more productive and more fulfilling."-- "Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA"

"The world of work is in a more dissatisfied place than in any previous generation. Job crafting represents a massive opportunity for any of us to achieve a personalization revolution in our work. Finally, this could be the way to make our jobs more rewarding and joyful than ever before."-- "Bruce Daisley, author of The Joy of Work and VP - Europe, Twitter."

"This book is compellling, informative and thought provoking. It is very timely as the next generation of employees are more demanding of meaning and purpose and job crafting is a key part of the solution to providing a more rewarding experience for all of us. Many of us will be working later in life than our predecessors so this book is a must read to ensure we do that in as enjoyable and productive a way as possible. As a concept it is a win-win all round."-- "Roisin Currie, People and Retail Director, Greggs plc."

"This book makes a compelling case for the need to personalize HR and management practices to enhance employee wellbeing and performance. It is a much needed antidote to the naive assumption that universal solutions can be found in the world of work or beyond. People are unique, so it's our task to find the right unique approach for dealing with them and unlocking their potential."-- "Professor Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Professor of Business Psychology, UCL and Columbia and Chief Talent Scientist, manpowergroup"

"This is an important and fascinating account of a key issue in contemporary workplaces - how to customise our jobs so that they meet our changing needs. Drawing on dated principles of scientific management, many jobs are inflexible and adopt a 'one size fits all' approach. Baker presents a compelling argument as to why this is no longer fit for purpose and takes us through how to explore, experiment with, encourage and embed job crafting in ways that meet individual and organisational needs. Resulting in improved engagement, well-being and performance, job crafting is widely relevant and explored in depth in this book."-- "Professor Carol Atkinson, Professor of HRM, Centre for Decent Work and Productivity, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School"

About the Author

Rob Baker is the Founder and Director of Tailored Thinking, an evidence-based positive psychology wellbeing and HR consultancy. Prior to this, he has held a number of senior HR leadership roles at the University of Melbourne and University of Sheffield as well as consultancy positions at RBT Connect and PwC. His work, ideas and research on how people can personalize work and bring their whole and best selves to the workplace has been presented at academic and professional conferences around the world.