This newsletter is distributed to anyone selling in a Slivers-Of-Time marketplace. Also, to those waiting for a market to start in their area who have registered at www.sliversoftime.com
It will keep you posted on developments in this exciting new way of working. |
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IN THIS ISSUE |
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- WAITING FOR SLIVERS: IRREGULAR WORKERS
- SLIVERS FUTURES: WORKING AROUND ILLNESS
- TIP: LIMIT YOUR HOURS
- CASE STUDY: BEHIND THE SCREENS AT THE MUSEUM
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First an apology. If you have registered interest at www.sliversoftime.com you may have received emails from us suggesting you get everything ready to register in a marketplace.
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These were sent in error by an overly keen junior member of the team. Slivers-of-Time markets are spreading steadily through the UK. You may be approached by an agency launching the service in your area. |
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 Until then, unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to speed up your access to this way of working. We are making sure this kind of unnecessary contact doesn't happen again.
Wingham Rowan, Project Director.
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WAITING FOR SLIVERS: |
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Irregular workers |
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Hilary: Will work to sing.
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Hilary Spencer became a professional singer in 1980. Now aged 58, she's still at it. Living in Sheffield she's in three bands and performs from the Scottish Highlands to the South coast. It's an irregular life. “On a good week I can be performing every night with frantic travelling during the day. On a bad week it's scary, you can be constantly calling the clubs but getting nowhere” she explains.
Hilary has a job she loves but she needs other bits of work on top. Many people like her are registering at www.sliversoftime.com. Their issue is not getting into the labour market, it's finding top-up work around a career that is constantly uncertain. We have scaffolders who only get hired when it's sunny, a wedding organiser (apparently they don't just work on the day, there's all sorts of unpredictable tasks to be done in the preceeding weeks). A freelance coach driver who periodically has to drop everything and drive round the continent worries about how to support himself when journeys are thin.
How do people in this situation survive at the moment? Hilary turns to her husband, a professional driver. “He's very understanding, but I don't like relying on him” she says. For her, “bits of work” around the unpredictable singing commitments would be a godsend. “I'd enjoy office work, retail, customer service and I'd be happy to travel to bookings”. And what about the view that if she can't earn a full time living from singing she should give up and get a normal job? “You only get one shot at this life, singing is what I am”.
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SLIVERS FUTURES: |
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Working around illness |
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Jobcentre: route to Slivers
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A few years ago, Mike of Huddersfield found his sales job getting more and more stressful. Then he started getting epileptic fits and knew he had to stop. His Doctor signed him off work. Now in his mid-30's, Mike is one of the estimated 1 million claimants of Incapacity Benefit who want to go back into the workforce. He's studying physiotherapy with a view to the long term, but right now he wants to see if he can cope with employment once again.
Mike's lucky. Huddersfield JobcentrePlus is encouraging Incapacity Benefit claimants to try Slivers. The rules of I.B. allow “Permitted Earnings”, that means claimants can work up to 16 hours a week for 52 weeks while retaining their benefits. It's a way of easing back into work. In Huddersfield, you can do it the Slivers way.
For Mike that's going to allow him to manage the stress in his life. If things get tough he can immediately cut back on the hours. But, if it's going well and his confidence is returning he'll be gaining from wide ranging types of work, multiple employment environments and varied skills. As Mike told an advisor after he heard about Slivers “I think I can do this”.
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TIP: |
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Limit your hours |
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In a Slivers market and suddenly swamped by other things you need to do? Limit the number of your available hours you sell each week. Go to “My Terms”, open Advanced Settings and go to the bottom of the page.
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Cartoon by Shamima Aktar Koli, Slivers-
of-Time seller [Bookings: 49, Hours Sold:
136, Buyers: 4]
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CASE STUDY: |
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Behind the screens at the museum |
 Sometimes Slivers sellers have to roll up their sleeves. When London's Fashion & Textile Museum held Fashion Forums for international trendsetters, they booked 28 hours from 7 sellers to help the caterers. The job was intended to be offering trays of food to 50 people. But on one night the dishwasher broke down.
| “The two Sellers were fantastic” says Brenda Smallhorne who made the booking. “They willingly got on with the dishes”. And none of the guests noticed their waiting staff were periodically rushing off to don the rubber gloves and start scrubbing out of sight. |
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Museum:
dishwasher
disaster |
| Here at Slivers HQ, we constantly tell buyers that people who want to sell Slivers may not have formal skills but they tend to be resourceful and flexible. The museum now know what we mean. “One girl was on her first assignment” says Brenda, “but she was professional, motivated and showed initiative”. Like we say, that's probably why she wanted to sell Slivers. |
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APRIL 2007
Published on the last Friday of the month |
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Slivers-of-Time: the basics
Marketplaces for Slivers-of-Time are for:
who wants to work around other things in their life, such as:
-childcare
-studying
-part-time work
-caring for adult
-medical commitments
- Organisations who need top-up workers at short notice, for short periods:
-councils
-caterers
-retailers
-logistics suppliers
Benefits:
- Sellers: do whatever odd hours of work they want and quickly build skills, experience and a track record they can print at any time.
- Buyers: access a self-selecting pool of local people who choose to work in a way that demands flexibility and rewards reliability.
Signing up:
Anyone who wants to know when a market-place is starting in their area should enter their details at:
www.sliversoftime.com
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