Telework media 7

You're not supposed to be at the office today. Well, that's the theory anyway, since today is Canadian Telework Day and all. Judging by the traffic jamming the roads, it's a plan we should consider more often. While working from home was once predicted to be the panacea to cure pollution and overcrowded cities, it just hasn't worked out that way. In part, that's because there's something special about the dynamic attained by a group of people working in proximity.

But things are changing. Some two million Canadians are working from home -- aided to a great extent by technology -- and that number is subtly growing. "I think that's the word, subtle growth," says Bob Fortier (bobf@ivc.ca), Connect Monthly's Work@Home columnist and guru of all things involving working at home. "It really is growing, though." And that's the point of today, he says: To recognize that there has been a quiet revolution of a different kind in Canada.

The day's events include a conference that organizers are suggesting no one attend -- not physically anyway. "To save fuel, time and our air, the only way to get to this event is to drive the information highway to the Canadian Telework Day Web Site at www.ivc.ca," says Fortier, who is also a spokesman for the Canadian Telework Association, a group dedicated to the concept of working from home.

Delegates to this virtual conference might be surprised to learn how pervasive teleworking is. The description includes many different types of jobs, from the obvious, such as freelance writers and consultants, to the not-so-obvious, such as travel agents, help-desk representatives and others.

"It's not for everyone or every job," says Beth Patterson, a veteran teleworker with Bell Canada's Emergis group. Just under 10% of Bell's workforce of 37,000 in Ontario and Quebec telework, she says, noting the word has nothing to do with telephones and everything to with the Greek, "tele" for "at a distance" and, obviously, "work." She warns that those who think working at home is the answer to daycare problems are sadly mistaken. "Work and childcare or eldercare don't mix," she said. "You have to develop a routine free of distractions and stay focussed."

That's not to say you can't slip out at lunchtime to meet the kids for a hamburger or schedule a squash game -- just that you treat personal appointments the same as if you were at the office.

While the self-employed know that a drop in productivity translates as a thinner paycheck, those in corporate harness often find the new-found freedom a heady experience.

Aside from the lack of immediate supervision -- allowing the teleworker to work naked or at least in a tatty bathrobe and slippers -- there's the temptation of the endless river of coffee, the caloric inducement of the fridge and, perhaps, the stress-relieving lubricants offered by the liquor cabinet.

There are also issues of isolation and loneliness. "I suggest people get to the office at least a day a week," says Patterson. "It's important to see people's faces and for them to see yours." From top to bottom, more corporations and workers are seeing the benefits of working at home.

Corel boss Michael Cowpland works from home, according to Fortier, and apparently often toils at home well into the wee hours. "He's also a member of our organization and I got an e-mail from him from home at 2:30 a.m.," says Fortier. And that's one of the pitfalls, counters Patterson. While you're never likely to be late either getting to or from work, you have to know when to quit, she says. "You have to close the door and walk out at some point," she says. "You can't keep going back to your home office and checking e-mail at all hours."

And lastly, she says, choosing to work at home might save the worker some stress, but it isn't a huge saving for the company and may require some personal investment. "A teleworker still probably needs a desk and some real estate," she says. "And setting up at home does require some investment in a good chair, properly set up computers, safety issues and security for corporate files.

The Sun Media
Oct 21 Launch of Working@Home
Home is where the work is by Bob Fortier

Welcome to Working@Home, Connect Monthly's look at the needs and interests of Canadians wanting to know about � you guessed it � working at home.

Thanks largely to information technology, the past few years have seen exponential, even explosive, growth in the number of Canadians working at home. More than 2 million Canadians, about 15% of our workforce, currently work at home a significant portion of the time. One million are self-employed and operate home-based businesses. The other million are paid employees, also known as teleworkers or telecommuters. There is every reason to believe that the growth will continue. For example, the number of teleworkers is expected to grow by 50% by the year 2001.

With such large numbers, the work-at-home trend is rapidly changing our economy and demographics and quietly impacting our labour force, our homes and families, our cities and communities, as well as issues covered by our public policy agendas. While most of the changes are positive and some not so positive, whether we are leaders, employers, families, colleagues or friends, we Canadians should not ignore the impacts.

Many challenges You should read Working@Home if you work at home now, or expect to in future, or if your work requires an understanding of the issues related to working at home. You should also read it if you manage, or plan to manage, remote workers, if you are a public policy decision-maker, or simply work at home yourself. Understanding the needs, challenges and opportunities involved with the work-at-home trend will help you better understand the impact on your environment.

While not everyone is suited to working at home, nor is every type of work or home environment conducive to this new form of work, most work-at-homers generally experience the rewards and joy of this lifestyle. However, work-at-homers are also faced with many challenges.

Whether its about setting up an office, deciding on the best equipment, dealing with the legalities, or simply looking at the overall impact on your life, there are many things you need to think about to be successful. Working@Home will examine some of these issues. We will deal with the impact of working at home on people, organizations, regions, and families. We will look at practical home office solutions, including hardware and software; home office set-ups; ergonomics, and practicing safe computing. We will also deal with lifestyle issues such as how to deal with isolation and stress, balancing work and life or work and family.

On the organizational front Working@Home will look at the business case for telework, help you recognize whether you are a good candidate for telework and give tips on how to manage a remote workforce. On a broader front, we will look at public policy issues, such as the impact of working at home on transport, environment, jobs, economic development and health.

Academic experts From time to time, we will interview selected guests, such as work-at-homers who have interesting twists to their working experience; CEOs who manage their companies from home; gov't officials who support working at home and telework, as well as association, business and academic experts who deal with work at home issues. Working@Home will also answer your questions on issues you wanted to know about, but didn't know who to ask. Towards this end, Working@Home invites your questions.

This November 4, the Canadian Telework Association is celebrating Canada's first-ever Telework Day - a nationwide telework education and public awareness campaign. An Internet-based celebration will showcase telework-related events and initiatives across Canada. It will also feature endorsements from Canada's political and business community as well as from the international community.

Nelson B.C. Distance Learning Program Opens Doors to Telecommuting (Aug. 27/98 News Release)

Human Resources Development Canada and Canadian Rural Partnerships have joined with several provincial and local organizations to create a program to use distance education to train unemployed rural residents to utilize technology to work from their homes.

Graduates of the four to six month program will have the skills to work from home over the Internet, either as employed telecommuters (aka teleworkers), or as small business owners, carrying out such work as web page design, consulting, and software development, or work for an existing organization located outside of the region, utilizing a computer, telephone, and fax. Thus, participants will be able to remain with their families and in their communities while working for employers, clients, customers, and companies located elsewhere.

Brandon Hughes, Program Consultant for HRDC, stated "This pilot is a collaborative partnership between different levels of government to better meet the employment needs of rural communities. It is a new approach to learning and working that has not been tried before here or elsewhere in Canada."

"The Canadian Telework Association fully endorses this project as a model for the future", says Bob Fortier, President of the CTA. He adds: "The nelson BC partnership shows how Canadians can benefit by the mix of distance education and telework. The savings and the job potential combined with the fact that the participant workers will remain in their communities, means that everyone wins."

For further information about the program, contact Tom Murray of the Community Futures Development Corporation of Central Kootenay, at (250) 352-1933.

Kiwanis International Magazine
Sept '98 Special Guest Editorial
'Telework' revolution: on-the-job, at-home

The Ottawa Citizen (Aug 12/98)
Bell Canada Chooses Mitel's Gandalf
New services aimed at teleworkers

The Gandalf division of Mitel Corp. said yesterday it has signed a deal with Bell Canada under which the companies will offer a portfolio of remote access teleworking products to corporate customers. The move is a big plus for Ottawa-based Mitel's Gandalf division, though the, parties declined to discuss the revenues that could be generated. A Mitel product remote access product will be part of Bell Canada's standard solutions package and will be sold through Bell's sales channels. Bell said it chose Gandalf technology over other remote access vendors as the standard for many of its Bell Advantage Teleworking programs after its own employees used and liked the technology.

Beth Patterson, Bell's teleworking portfolio manager, said the phone giant has enjoyed cost savings and productivity increases among its workforce as a result of using Gandalf's product and it hopes others will too. Mitel spokesman Kris Sherry said the partners are hoping to profit from a surging market for teleworking or telecommuting technology among businesses with fewer than 100 employees. "Our studies show that 65 per cent of the companies with fewer than 100 employees have requirements for teleworking technology," Ms. Sherry said.

Ms. Patterson said Bell's sales force has seen an increasing demand for teleworking technology from large and small businesses in Eastern Canada. Gandalf's Xpress product will allow Bell Canada customers the same access to their files and software as if they were working from corporate headquarters. Bell chose the Mitel product after conducting a six-month internal trial and it took another six months to hammer out an agreement. In a statement, Mitel chief executive officer Kirk Mandy said' the deal shows Mitel "is delivering on the promise of the virtual office today."