[2] Handy's recognition of the portfolio career-path came about when he realised that individuals would be required to develop portable skillsets to meet the needs of a fast-moving future workplace.
[7][need quotation to verify] Advantages of a portfolio career include work–life balance, job security, flexibility, variety, multiple income streams and the ability to pursue individual interest areas.
Mike Bank, Director of FlexRoles.com, said: "Flex or Fractional roles offer numerous advantages for businesses operating in today's fast-paced, competitive environment...
[11] Herminia Ibarra, the Charles Handy Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, argues that the portfolio careerist is faced with the problem of identity.
Inevitably, one resorts to explaining oneself with a laundry list, when the culturally appropriate answer is what the psychologist Kenneth Gergen called the progressive narrative: a story of hard work and linear ascent culminating in a recognisably top role.
"[12] The Centre for Research on Self Employment,[13] a London-based think tank, estimates that 250,000 UK workers define their work as a portfolio career.