Telework media 4

If you work at home, should you be worried about Y2K? Well, yes. And given the importance and North America-wide relevance, John Edwards, Virginia-based CEO of Telework Analytics International joins in the discussion. Edwards also sits on the board of the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC).

Recent headlines describe Canadian and American military measures to prepare for Y2K that demonstrate anything but complacency.

"Martial Law Rushed for Y2K Chaos" shouted a recent Ottawa Citizen front-page headline. It detailed the possible application of Martial Law, with some 32,000 Canadian military troops on standby to calm any major Y2K disturbances, and RCMP recommendations that prudent Canadians stash two weeks of food, some cash. Last week, The Wall Street Journal outlined how all 460,000 National Guard members will participate in a Y2K communications drill this May to simulate a country-wide loss of telephone services.

Expect to see many more such headlines as we approach the year 2000.

Because most workplace computers are interconnected via networks, Intranets or the Internet to mainframes and servers etc., they are more susceptible to the Y2K bug. Being interconnected, if one goes down, whole systems may be affected. And that's where telework comes in

But remember, home offices and PCs are not immune. Many home-office PCs, especially pre-1996 ones, may not be Y2K compliant and could malfunction. Newer models, even Macs that claim to be less susceptible, should be checked. Furthermore, phone and cable service as well as the Internet and Intranets could get buggy, cutting off remote access and data collaboration with the office 'office', making 'normal' telework impractical.

Many organizations experienced first hand how telework can alleviate business disruption and confusion during snow and ice storms, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, strikes, bomb threats, explosions, fires, power outages, bus strikes and other labour disputes. Consequently, more and more organizations and governments are incorporating telework into their emergency preparedness strategies and business-continuity plans.

For example, during the 1994 California earthquake and the 1998 Ice Storm in eastern Canada, telework permitted thousands to continue their work from home, minimizing business disruption, and in many cases, helping businesses survive. The California experience was so effective that a government / business partnership was formed to promote telework for future emergency preparedness.

One of Canada's leading risk management experts. James Wright, Chairman of the Canadian Standards Association's Risk Management Technical Committee says: "An effective control measure to reduce Y2K risk is to duplicate your means of production. Telework can provide this protection by helping organizations to continue operations even in the event of widespread disruption of work-place systems."

Are you ready? Here's a Y2K / telework checklist

Whether you are an individual or an employer, integrate telework into your emergency preparedness and business continuity strategies. Approach Y2K as a business-management issue.
If you are an individual, check all your software and hardware for compliance. Don't assume anything.
Check out software that can identify Y2K computer and software issues and suggest necessary changes. Examples include Symantec's Norton 2000, and Greenwich Mean Time UTA's Check 2000 PC Deluxe.
Canadians who replace non-compliant computers or software before June 30 might qualify for a tax break permitting a 100% expense deduction.
If you are worried about power, consider a generator, but get it soon because they are selling like Furbies.
No matter who you are, back up all your systems on something that is Y2K complaint.
If you are an employer, expand your existing program, or consider starting a telework program. Appoint a person to coordinate the program.
Invest in extra Y2K-ready laptops with extra batteries and help your workers Y2K-proof their digital tools.
On the Millennium, many employees will simply not come to work, moving some employers to grant extended holiday or special leave.
Consider alternatives to computers. Even pens and paper can let the work go on.

If you have any thoughts about how telework can help with Y2K issues that you are willing to share, please let me know at or visit our website.

Bob Fortier is president of InnoVisions Canada -- a telework consulting firm -- and the Canadian Telework Association, while also sitting on the board of the International Telework Association. He can be reached at bobf@ivc.ca or www.ivc.ca.

Exec surfs to work from Greek island
Julie Bradshaw uses E-mail to connect to her Vancouver firm from sunny Santorini
KEVIN MARRON - Jan 14 Globe & Mail

Toronto -- Who says you can't have the best of both worlds? Julie Bradshaw knows better. The 35-year-old managing director of the Vancouver-based Internet company Suite101.com Inc. does most of her work in her home office on an idyllic island in the Aegean Sea.

Ms. Bradshaw fell in love with the Greek island of Santorini years ago and has long wanted to make her home there. The problem was that there were few job openings in paradise. She didn't want to get into the tourist industry and she wasn't very good at farming, fishing or goat herding.

Now, thanks to the Internet, E-mail and a company dedicated to a new way of working, she can be part of a management team in Vancouver while living half a world away. Hers is an extreme example of a trend that is freeing a growing number of workers in information technology and other fields from the confines of their workplace and the frustrations of a daily commute. Ms. Bradshaw spends about nine months a year on the Greek island, using a laptop computer to connect to the Internet and communicate by E-mail. She talks on the phone only once a week to people at the company that she helped found three years ago.

Her company is developing a community of Internet users who provide one another and visitors to the site -- http://www.suite101.com -- with reviews and guides to the World Wide Web. Much of Ms. Bradshaw's current work involves marketing and communications, which lend themselves to E-mail. "Where I live in Greece, if I wanted to communicate by phone every time I wanted to talk to someone, it would cost a fortune. Also, there's a 10-hour time difference between Vancouver and Greece," she says. "On E-mail you can write a spur-of-the-moment thought and in that sense communicate better and express things that you might not otherwise have communicated. If I have what I think is a great idea, I can whip it off and send it to [colleagues in Vancouver] and they can respond in their own time. "I wouldn't be able to do this if it wasn't for the Internet."

Though few people have the opportunity to do all their work from a spot in the sun, about one million Canadian employees now work from home at least a few days a month, according to Bob Fortier, president of InnoVisions Canada, an Ottawa-based consulting firm specializing in telecommuting -- or telework, as it is now often called. Mr. Fortier, who is also president of the non-profit Canadian Telework Association, says the number of teleworkers in Canada has increased by about 40 per cent, to one million, over the past five years and is expected to grow by another 50 per cent to 1.5 million in 2001.

About 29 per cent of Canadian employees questioned in a recent survey by Ottawa-based Ekos Research Associates Inc. said they expect to work at home at least some of the time next year, while just over half said they believe some of their work could be done at home. These results correspond with studies in the United States that place the number of teleworkers at 9 million to 15 million, depending on how the term is defined and whether it includes contract workers and freelancers. What is behind this trend is that more people like Ms. Bradshaw are wanting to strike a balance between their work and the quality of their personal lives. An international survey conducted by Gemini Consulting LLC showed that balancing work and personal needs was a top priority, one that ranked more important than salary by respondents in almost every country.

Now the speed of Internet connections, the power of portable computers and the widespread use of E-mail for business communications is making that balance possible. But what is often missing, according to Mr. Fortier, is a conscious effort on the part of employers to integrate teleworking into their strategies.

Brampton, Ont.-based Northern Telecom Ltd. is one example of a company that helps and encourages employees to work at home. It actively seeks out people that would like to telecommute, and where feasible, makes furniture and equipment available to them. Another such company is Toronto-based Cisco Systems Canada Ltd., which designed its new office building around the concept of hotelling., the idea of making temporary workstations available to employees who spend most of their time away from the office.

Mr. Fortier believes, however, that about 90 per cent of the existing teleworking is done on an informal basis, without the support of corporate plans and policies. This means that teleworkers often do not get adequate support from overworked information systems staff. Meantime, their employers don't realize the cost savings that teleworking could generate. A survey conducted earlier this year by Kensington Technology Group of San Mateo, Calif., showed that most teleworkers are not paid for the equipment they use to work at home. Furthermore, they do not receive any special training or support to help them work more productively and safely at home.

Ms. Bradshaw says she is fortunate to be part of a company designed to operate over the Internet. Suite101.com's on-line community includes contributors from all over the world and the company has designed software to make it easy for individuals to manage Web pages remotely. The software also helps people in different locations collaborate on the same project through the World Wide Web. The nature of the company means that it even derives some benefit from the fact that Ms. Bradshaw's Internet access from Santorini is by no means the fastest or the most reliable.

"We've learned a lot from my being there, because in our office in Vancouver we had high-speed connections and have a hard time relating to what our members and editors are dealing with. Me being on a slower connection actually gives us a lot of insight," she explains. Ms. Bradshaw and Mr. Fortier agree that companies and individuals are only beginning to realize the full potential of telework. It may not be viable for everyone and it may take a long time before many employers are geared to take advantage of it. But, as Ms. Bradshaw puts it, "We are just beginning to see the full potential that the Internet and E-mail offer to businesses and people. And it's mind-boggling."