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CTA
members tell their stories: Part 13
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Long distance
telework to Calgary
work great! I moved 105 kms south of Calgary a few years ago and worked
through a combination of commuting and renting a bedroom near
downtown Calgary. I hated being away from home so much, cooking
food ahead to take with me and the cost of about $1500 per month
for rent, parking, gas and car expenses. OPTI rolled out a tele-work
program in April this year for high performing employees and I
was delighted. I work in Calgary a day every other week and the
rest of the time I'm working from home. I'm twice as productive
because there are so few interruptions. Sometimes I take a break
to watch a moose that's come to eat on the willows. I start an
hour early so I have time for more breaks to feed the horses,
cook meals and go for a half hour walk every day before lunch.
On sunny days, I do some yoga on my deck for 15 minutes then
head back to my computer rejuvenated. Now that I've experienced
telework, I'm 100% committed to it.
Lynn Fraser,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
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I am a
Psychic Advisor and have worked as a Phone Advisor
for 10 years, I have worked from home all that time taking
inbound calls for my Psychic lines.. as lines are slowing
because of the economy, I am looking for a change of pace.. I
love working from home and working at my own pace.. No Snow to
clean off the car ..Thanks.
Joanne Bakker, North Bay, Ontario |
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Telus
employee high on telework. I spend 80% of my work
week from the virtual office. TELUS has been phenomenally
supportive, and has a pro-teleworking slant. The majority of my
teammates aren't even located in the same province as me, and I
spend the better part of my day on conference calls, working on
complex customer solutions. My boss has even once said he liked
it when I worked from home: on conference calls, I can get up
and walk around my house, and really be in the *moment* when on
the phone. When I'm sitting at a *cube*, and can't move around,
it's too easy to *multi-task*, and sometimes it's obvious :-)
Julie Kivell, Telus,
Richmond Hill, ON |
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BC
teleworker has good advice for contractors. I started
with OBGYN.net in March, 1999 as a teleworker on a part-time
basis for $8 US per hour. I then was promoted to a supervisory
position overseeing the three-fold increase in content and size
of the company (a special interest website consisting of
original research papers, interviews and lectures from an
International base of world-renowned experts). I had a staff of
12 content coordinators who worked with me to proof, edit and
publish these materials.
During the next 8 years my duties and responsibilities increased
to include the design, creation and maintenance of the main
website as well as many more special interest, single use or
single focus websites for pharmaceutical companies and
professional societies and organizations. During the last couple
of years of my term with that organization I was employed as an
independent contractor in the position of Operations Manager.
The owners of the organization and all employees and independent
contractors have telecommuted solely for the past 6 years and
only in the very early years did they have people work in their
environment.
The downside to this situation is that as an independent
contractor working for one main client is that you are subject
to the whims and bad decisions of your client and when their
company suffers - you suffer. That is my #1 cautionary word to
others in my position - do not let yourself be cornered to
depend upon one single client if you do not feel that client is
stable in both business and personal life.
Lea Harth, CPPB Inter-Tainment,
Port Moody, British Columbia. |
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I run a
business that has a small office in Toronto, we have hundreds of
clients across Canada that we deal with. We have 11
full time workers and 6 part time workers. No one has to be in
the office to be productive. Other than team meetings, there are
few occasions when there are more than 3 people in the Toronto
office. We have team meetings on line and in person once a
month. We also use outsourcing to India. We are heavy users of
Teleconferencing and web meetings. We are leading edge in a lot
of business processes. We are known for our aggressive approach
to dealing with CRA and reducing tax burden for our clients. We
are developers of affordable technology solutions for SME. For
me, I live in the country on 200 acres, I look out my office
window to hills and forests, there are no neighbors that are
visible to our home in the forest. I am connected to the world
by satellite internet. I run the command centre of our
operations mostly from home. I go into the city twice a week.
Dan White WNBC, World Network
Business Club |
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Many
advantages to working at home Hello, I have been
working from home, doing systems business analysis for 11 years.
Initially, I was on location but when I had to move to Toronto,
Canada, the company offered me to work for a "trial" period of 3
months from home. This "trial" period turned out to be 11 years.
Unfortunately my contract ended last July 2006 and since then I
had a 6 months contract where I had to go into the office. I
must admit that initially it was difficult to physically
commute, however this became easier as time went by. The
most difficult part transitioning from home to office
environment was the ability to concentrate in the office. It was
then when I realized that working from home can be twice as
productive, given if you are organized enough as an individual.
The concentration level is way better at home because you are
not distracted by anyone. No one comes by your desk to ask you
anything. In my case, I had a lot of interaction with my
colleagues, however it was in the form of email, instant
messages and phone meetings.
What did I like best! It was
the easiness of “coming to work”. It was the fact that I did not
care if it would rain, snow, be hot or humid outside. It was the
fact that when I was going to see my colleagues, it was like a
holiday for me. It was the fact that I could take care of my
child, be a mother, wife and working force, one in all. And it
was the personal satisfaction that I can have the best
combination possible. What I disliked most! It was when my
colleagues had the Halloween contests or Christmas or a birthday
coming up and when I could not participate. Oh, I forgot to say
this: the company I worked for was located 4000 miles away. I
could not just drive there for the day :-).
Luana Mireanu,
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada |
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Big
productivity improvement for Winnipeg teleworker: I
started teleworking because I was having trouble concentrating
on projects in the office. My boss gave me the "go ahead" to
work from home. I currently work from home 3 days a week and
work from the office the other two. I get more work done now
than I did before! When I'm at the office, there are so many
distractions that I can hardly get anything done. I fully
support telework! Please don't publicize my contact information
or place of business as I value my privacy. (Name withheld
by request) |
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Telecommuting is an extension of my work as a
contractor/freelancer.
I see my professional role as information support for
organizations and professionals because I find information,
analyze information, write up information, advise on information
use, and I perform content editing. I still look forward to
challenges and each new contract is as fresh and exciting as my
first. My work is a lifestyle not a job.
Heather Vallance,
Information specialist, researcher, writer,
eMind Publications
Burlington, Ontario |
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Northerner from the Yukon interested in telework I'm
not actually involved in a Telework situation, but a recent
research assignment led me to your Website and opened my eyes to
a world of possibilities. My interest (and support) stems from a
corporate assignment I'm working on as part of a development
program run yearly for selected groups of Yukon Government
Employees. Telework is "uncharted territory" for this government
and my group's assignment is to prepare a brief presentation on
the subject for Sr. management. More or less it is to come up
with a draft policy in order to perhaps pave the way for the
Yukon Government to move forward on what is obviously becoming a
popular and viable option for organizations throughout Canada
and around the world. Your Website will prove very valuable to
us in preparing this presentation; very much appreciated. Thanks
a million! Michael Fraser, Facility Manager, Yukon Territorial
Government |
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Work-at-homer promotes telework:
I have been writing daily media headline reports from home for
the past three years. I really enjoy it but must keep a
full-time job (outside the home) in order to make ends meet. I
am interested in pressuring organizations to increase telework
opportunities, especially in the administrative and secretarial
fields. Our salaries are basically cut in half once we deduct
all the expenses involved in traveling to and from work,
parking, childcare, lunches, and work clothes. Telework also
promotes reducing green house gas emissions. There are so many
benefits to both employers and employees and I look forward to
hearing about the work that is being done to promote it.
Thank you. Shannon
Trudeau, Gatineau, Quebec |
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I had
resigned myself to a move some 2.5 hours from home into Ottawa
to find employment following the bankruptcy of my previous
employer. As luck would have it, the kindly new boss
was more than agreeable to my working from home because the job
was primarily telephone solicitation for a new federal
government programme. In my boss's words, "I don't give a damn
if I ever see you, just get the work done.".
What started out as a 20 week job turned into seven years and
would probably still be going on if Mr. Harper's government
hadn't pulled the plug on so many environmental programmes
previously rolled out by the Liberal government.
Working from home kept me close to
my family and allowed me to remain engaged in a number of
volunteer efforts within the community. From a financial
perspective, it also meant I didn't have to keep two residences,
pay the expenses of commuting within the city, parking, etc.
Further, it provided income on a part-time basis for local
students who helped with specific chores related to the trade
show aspect of my job. Always good to keep money in the
community and help young people.
While again contemplating a move to Ottawa, I am also working at
some self-promotion to get more jobs as a freelance writer and
photographer. Time will tell if I'm able to pull this off or
must move into the big city and become a cubicle rat.
Kent Waddington,
Combermere, Ontario |
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I am
currently working from home booking appointments for sales reps.
I was doing the exact same thing with my previous employer, but
for many of the reasons listed in the PRO's section of this
website, I needed to work from home to preserve my sanity. The
daily commute was getting to me and dealing with a lot of people
whom I would probably not spend too much time with, given the
choice, was another motivation to work from home. My precious
employer was not in a position to utilize teleworking as an
option, so I arranged with a couple of companies to do their
lead generation and appointment setting for them from home. I
love it and would have a difficult time returning to the rut
world. Darrin Burke,
Clarence Creek, ON |
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Niagara-based CFO writes about his company's experience and
offerings related to remote work. We are based in
Niagara, Ontario, however we now telework about 70% of our time
with companies based in the USA. We provide Finance and
Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) services to small to mid sized
businesses which use
www.netsuite.com business software. We believe telework /
remote work will flourish on the www.netsuite.com web based
business platform. We have had huge success, and have worked
with www.netsuite.com software since June 2000. We are some of
the early Canadian adopters of this technology. For more
information, and for a potential case study / article, please
contact us. Barry Boese,
CFO, Baac Office, Niagara, Ontario, Canada |
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