Telework media 11

In the last two weeks, millions of work-at- homers around the world celebrated the exploding global phenomenon of telework in dozens of different ways. And it's still not too late for you to join in!

Ironically, on October 27, Canadians were not invited to attend their own celebration -- Canadian Telework Day, at least not by car or bus. That's because it was an online conference.

Also on October 27, millions of American teleworkers in communities across the nation celebrated Telework America Day www.telecommute.org and were encouraged to demonstrate the benefits of telework by working from home or a telework center.

Europeans celebrated European Telework Week from November 1 to 8 www.etw.org by underscoring telework successes of some four million teleworkers across Europe.

"Telework helps attract and retain employees. In many cases mobile employees are better able to serve their customers," says IBM's John Wetmore

Interestingly, on Telework America Day, the International Telework Association and Council released new research indicating that one in 10 U.S. workers (19.6 million employees) now telework. The study also found that teleworkers can each save their employers $10,006 in reduced absenteeism and job retention costs.

Canadian Telework Day attracted strong support from many government leaders who focused on the benefits of telework on Canada's workforce, environment, transport and economic development.

Beside the usual political accolades, Ontario Premier Mike Harris noted: "Making use of the information highway, (teleworkers) provide highly-skilled service and greater flexibility while protecting our environment."

Taking a different tack, Alberta Human Resources and Employment Minister Clint Dunford noted: "Telework provides new opportunities to innovate and explore alternative ways to balance work and family responsibilities. It offers people with disabilities a new way to take an active part in the world of work, and it helps us reap increasingly greater benefits from our human resources."

The concept is really catching on, especially in high tech companies where there's not much of a quantum leap to adopting it.

John Wetmore, President and CEO of IBM Canada (where about 20% of employees telework): "The personal benefits of telework include improved productivity and increased control over personal schedules.

"Companies also benefit: In certain industries -- such as information technology -- where skills and talents are at a premium, telework helps attract and retain employees. In many cases, mobile employees are better able to serve their customers."

But the biggest boost is to the bottom line, says Wetmore noting that IBM's experience suggests employees can be as much as 50% more productive when they telework.

Monster.ca's new online telework job board follows the release of Monster.ca's own telework poll which found that the choice of 38% of Canadian job seekers would be influenced by the opportunity to telework.

Telework Confronts an Image Problem - David Howell, The Edmonton Journal

Teleworking -- working from home, via computer and telecommunications technology -- has an image problem.

In the eyes of many people, especially some unenlightened managers, employees who are supposed to be working at home are more likely to be found in their bathrobes, sipping coffee and watching Oprah. Or even worse, drinking Budweiser and playing Deep Purple CDs.

Wednesday was Canadian Telework Day, designed to promote teleworking and raise awareness about its advantages.

"It's a day that celebrates telework and telework initiatives," Bob Fortier, founder and president of the Canadian Telework Association, said in an interview from -- Where else? -- his home.

Statistics Canada says the number of teleworkers in Canada has reached one million and should climb to 1.5 million by 2001.

But too many employers and employees don't understand its benefits, Fortier said.

Teleworkers commute less, which saves them time and money and helps to preserve air quality in crowded cities. They spend less money on office attire. And they can be up to 30 per cent more productive working far from typical workplace disruptions.

There are downsides, too. Not all jobs, employees or managers are suited to teleworking. Some workers perform better at the office, where they can interact and socialize with co-workers.

Some managers with a Jurassic Park mindset feel a need to have their workers in sight at all times. "Finding the right person, the right job, the right manager and the right organization is critical," Fortier said.

While some employers, including the Alberta government, have adopted formal policies for teleworking agreements, informal arrangements are more common.

"Telework is almost like a silent revolution," Fortier said. "Most of the telework that's going on is of an informal variety where the boss and employee agree together that the employee will telework every Wednesday, for example."

The Alberta government has produced a booklet called Home on the Job, which describes its telecommuting guidelines. It answers frequently asked questions and gives tips on how to make telecommuting work. Its purpose is to help managers decide if telework is a good option from a business point of view, and to help employees decide if it is the right choice for them.

Clint Dunford, Alberta's minister of human resources and employment, supports teleworking.

"In Alberta, teleworking allows our knowledgeable workforce to compete in the global marketplace without geographical or time barriers," Dunford said. "It provides new opportunities to innovate and explore alternative ways to balance work and family responsibilities."

Fortier established the telework association two years ago. His first contact with the telework world came a decade ago when he was asked by the federal government to study its benefits.

"I just fell totally in love with it," he said. Now in business for himself as a telework consultant, his office is in the converted master bedroom of his home in Nepean, Ont.

"There's a seven-foot-wide picture window next to my L-shaped computer outfit that overlooks a park. I'm in heaven. I couldn't imagine a better home office anywhere."

Oct 27/99, Perfect day to stay at home - and work By IAN HARVEY, TORONTO SUN

Theoretically, no one is supposed to be in the office today. It's Canadian Telework Day and everyone is encouraged to stay home and work. Really.

The Canadian Telework Association, which is promoting today as a "conference you don't have to attend," says more than one million Canadians are already working from home and doing their part to reduce their employer's overhead and cut traffic congestion and pollution. "The only way to get to today's event is along the information highway," says CTA president Bob Fortier.

He says teleworkers are a growing group of employees who work for large and mid-sized corporations from their homes. Technology has opened the door for the phenomenon, he says, and economics is making it happen. Though they may work in their bathrobes, teleworkers are more productive because there are fewer distractions from co-workers and they help cut office overhead costs because they don't require space. Canadian Telework Day coincides with the U.S.-based Telework America Day, says Fortier.

"In a nutshell, telework moves the work to the workers, not the reverse," he says, noting that an EKOS Research survey found that some 30% of Canadians would prefer telework to a raise in pay, and almost 40% would quit their jobs if another employer offered them the same job, but allowed them to telework.

Liz Sauter, an IBM e-business consultant, was on the cutting edge of telework eight years ago when she volunteered for the then-new "flexi-location" program. "It was a big step," she says. "I had a 14.4 kbps dial-up modem and then it was cutting edge." Today, she says, it has become part of her lifestyle and that of her colleagues. IBM has Mobility Centres in 11 Canadian office locations to support mobile and telecommuting employees. "I don't think I could go back to a permanent desk job. I really love the freedom," says Sauter.

Vision TV's Skylight on Oct 25: host and media critic Barrie Zwicker featured telework and Canadian Telework Day. Here's the script:

Familiar with the term telework? In case you�re not, the simple definition is: work done from home, through the use of the telephone, fax, e-mail and so on.

As Skylight�s media critic, why am I talking about telework? What�s the media angle? And isn�t telework just a cutesy phrase for what we all know? For the obvious? And whatever the label, how important is telework?

Take obvious first. It�s not necessarily obvious that more than a million Canadians already telework to one extent or another. Then take importance. Is the environment important? All that teleworking means less travel. When people telework they put less mileage on their vehicles and they use public transit less. Bob Fortier, the volunteer sparkplug who heads Canada�s National Telework Association, [CUTAWAY: TEXT FROM FORTIER COLUMN OF 17 MARCH 1999] estimates those million Canadians teleworking an average just one day a week are saving, annually, 40 million dollars in fuel costs and 50 million hours in time. [END CUTAWAY]

Telework also provides [CUTAWAY: STILL TEXT RE BENEFITS] demonstrably higher productivity, less stress and sick time, better blending of home and work responsibilities, and many other benefits. [END CUTAWAY] On the other hand [CUTAWAY: TEXT FROM AN ANTI-] critics worry about the downsides of telework: of losses -- of the human touch, of shared values, of socialization, of the benefits of collective contracts. [END CUTAWAY]

As a teleworker myself, I think it�s a false debate. Only a minuscule number of teleworkers are hermits at the end of a modem. Veteran observers suggest a weekly balance of three days telework and two of direct human interaction.

But something�s amiss. First, telework has not attracted enough media coverage. And second, most of the coverage [CUTAWAY: TEXT FROM AN ANTI-TELEWORK PIECE] takes one side or the other, either gee-whiz or thumbs down. I�ve yet to see a major comprehensive feature article thoroughly exploring both faces and all facets of the telework story.

There�s your media angle.

Let�s turn to the Internet to take a closer look at this secret world in our midst. [BZ TURN TO LAPTOP, FIRE UP INTERNET]. First Telecommute Magazine or really �zine, since they stopped publishing the dead trees version. Helpful is the word here. Six transition steps. Ten steps to stay focussed. Now Canada�s National Telework Association website. What�s this? National Telework Day is the day after tomorrow! Okay, it�s not a coincidence. I love this �Please DON�T come to our conference. Save fuel and time.� At Telework Analytics International you�ll find a long list of pro�s and con�s. Unfortunately, however, not an in-depth look. [END INTERNET-ON-LAPTOP SESSION]. Investigating telework in depth in my opinion is what many more workers and employers should be doing. They could use more help from the media. Me, I think the pro�s outweigh the con�s and that the con�s can be reduced. Eventually telework can � without dehumanization -- make a significant contribution to solving traffic, environmental, personal stress and other problems. For instance, [CUTAWAY: STILL OF TEXT FROM VANCOUVER SUN PIECE] if Vancouver white collar workers started teleworking an average of just one day a week, the city�s downtown daytime population would be cut 20 per cent. That would be obvious, yes, and important, too. And welcome. And let�s hope it would make the news.

Oct 22: CTV's Webmania calls our site a top site of the week: OKAY TIME FOR THE TOP SITES.. THIS WEDNESDAY IS CANADIAN TELEWORK DAY. WHAT IS TELEWORKING? USING YOUR COMPUTER TO WORK FROM HOME.. AND IT'S A GROWING PHENOMENON ACCORDING TO BOB FORTIER, FOUNDER THE CANADIAN TELEWORK ASSOCIATION. "It has grown enormously.. we have about a million.. it's growing exponentially each year." YOU CAN LOG ONTO THIS SITE ON OCTOBER 27TH AND LEARN MORE ABOUT TELEWORKING. AND HOW ABOUT STUDYING FROM HOME.

CTV's Webmania for Sept 24, 1999: TIRED OF YOUR CURRENT JOB? LOOKING FOR A NEW ONE? WELL A GROWING NUMBER OF PEOPLE ARE FINDING THEIR NEXT EMPLOYER ON THE NET.. BILL HUTCHISON HAS MORE IN THIS WEEK'S WEBMANIA. "I think right now as we speak it's becoming the predominant way of matching jobs with job seekers." BOB FORTIER IS THE FOUNDER OF THE CANADIAN TELEWORK ASSOCIATION, ITS SITE HAS LINKS TO ONLINE JOB BOARDS. "here in Canada there are dozens of companies that offer this service. Monster.ca is one of the more recognized ones."