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Workstyle
Book

Workstyle

A Revolution for Wellbeing, Productivity and Society

Lizzie Penny and Alex Hirst
John Murray Learning, 2022
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Visionary
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Imagine that you control how, when and where you work. Now imagine that the sole measure of your performance is the quality of your output. “Workstyle” – the brainchild of Lizzie Penny and Alex Hirst, co-founders of social enterprise Hoxby – is an autonomous and individualized approach to work that promotes well-being, boosts productivity and empowers people to work in accordance with their personal circumstances. The time is ripe to abandon the obsolete nine-to-five world, join the workstyle revolution, and foment a better way of working that corresponds to progress in technology and society.

Summary

A workstyle that aligns with your personal circumstances, priorities and passions enhances your well-being and increases your productivity.

Deciding how, when and where you want to work is extremely liberating. For people juggling caregiving and career, dealing with mental or physical challenges, or simply needing more time to do the activities they love, customizing a work system is transformational.

In 2014, authors Lizzie Penny and Alex Hirst each underwent life-altering experiences, which brought them to the same conclusion: The traditional way of work is obsolete. Motherhood led Penny to recognize how the inflexible nine-to-five work culture denied a fulfilling career to people who aren’t in a position to conform to work norms. A complicated pregnancy in 2017 confirmed the appeal of “workstyle,” a term the duo coined to describe a new individualized way of working. Penny and Hirst launched Hoxby, a social enterprise, to verify the feasibility of the new paradigm. When doctors diagnosed Penny with breast cancer in 2020, and she underwent chemotherapy...

About the Authors

Lizzie Penny and Alex Hirst are friends, entrepreneurs, changemakers and authors. They have led the workstyle revolution for a decade. They co-founded Hoxby in 2014 to prove the concept and now consult to others wishing to work this way. They have helped thousands of workstylers to set, project and respect their own workstyles, and they are researching the link between autonomy, productivity and well-being. 

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