Acknowledgements

I argued at the outset that ‘caring for working carers is like the missing jigsaw piece for several critical organisational strategies’. Writing a book often feels to me like completing a jigsaw puzzle too.

Numerous friends and colleagues have helped me to put the jigsaw pieces of Take Care together. They include: Helena Herklots, Emily Holzhausen, Katherine Wilson, Madeleine Starr, Sue McLintock at Carers UK who have responded positively and creatively to my myriad queries and requests for information; and patiently explained why parts of the jigsaw puzzle are shaped as they are. Katherine in particular has been indefatigable in tracking down contacts and data. Ian Peters, honorary treasurer of Carers UK and chairman of Employers for Carers has challenged me to go deeper into the practicalities of caring for working carers and patiently responded to my suggestions about EfC. My Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility colleague Melody McLaren with whom I have periodically researched and written collaboratively for more than a quarter century, brought her own experience as a free-lance worker juggling work and caring for her husband, adding crucial extra pieces to the jigsaw – especially ideas about how freelancers can juggle working and caring. Thanks too to Lynne Lewis who meticulously typed up sections of the manuscript.

I am enormously grateful to everyone who agreed to be interviewed for Take Care; often subsequently searching out additional information and materials for me; and then securing organisational clearance for how I wrote up their stories and insights – often at extremely short notice. In particular, Caroline Waters who helped me find some of my first jigsaw pieces. My cousin Sue Briggs and my good friend Lainy Rodger helped me to see where some bits of the jigsaw puzzle fitted in better elsewhere than where I had put them initially. My partner in several books and many adventures, Adrian Hodges showed me clever ways of finding missing jigsaw pieces and how they might fit together. Colleagues in several of our Carers UK international sister organisations including Ara Cresswell (Carers Australia), Rachel Ledany (Caregivers Israel) and Rick Greene (National Alliance of Caregivers-USA) provided valuable insights and helpfully clarified that I was actually building a bigger, international jigsaw than the UK one I had actually started. Amanda Feldman and Amy Fetzer (Volans) introduced me to doctoral student Kaz Kobayashi who is researching Sustainable Human Capital and helped me to understand the work and care context in Japan. Michael Solomon of Responsible 100 helped me find more examples of how small businesses address the issue of work and care. It is always good to get an entirely fresh pair of eyes on any project and shortly before I handed over the manuscript, my friend Richard Hamilton generously ‘volunteered’ to read the almost completed text and made important suggestions for additional text.

Particular thanks to John Stuart and subsequently Pete Baker and Kerry Laundon and their Production team colleagues at Emerald Publishing who made sure that the jigsaw puzzle more or less matches the picture on the box; and all the packaging etc., is safe and sound and arrived safely.

A lifetime of thanks and love to my mum Patricia Grayson (1922–2015) who inspired me to go and find jigsaws and who right up until the end of her life, was encouraging me to lead the life I wanted to live and not the one that others wanted me to do.

A final thanks to my ‘bro’ Pawel Zabielski, who was there for me – especially during my mum’s final months – and who can generally be relied upon to tell me when it is time to take a break from puzzles – jigsaws or otherwise. Thanks one and all.