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Almost 14 million Canadians commute to work everyday, but 44% of them have telework-compatible jobs. If those that could, and wanted to, worked at home just 2 days a week it would be equivalent to taking 385,000 cars off the roads in terms of greenhouse gas reduction.

Employers would save over $10,000 a year per employee, too, from increased productivity, reduced real estate costs, and lower absenteeism and turnover.

Absenteeism in Canada is big problem too, especially among government employees (12.6 days per year). But private sector employees aren’t showing up for work either (8.9 days per year). U.S. employees average 5.3 days per year, and UK employees just 5, by comparison.

Canadian’s commute is 21% longer than the average U.S. commute, and 16% longer than commutes in the U.K.. Worse, a full quarter of Canadian commuters spend 90 minutes or more going from home to work and back—a 17% increase in the last 10 years. But 2-day-a-week telework could save them  up to $3,500 a year, and they could use all that wasted time in traffic doing something fun or useful."

The nature of the workplace is changing, and adopting a flexible work style for your employees is the new trend. Benefits of a flexible work style and why now is the time to change is now were discussed at a Vancouver Board of Trade event sponsored by TANDBERG and TELUS. The speakers highlighted challenges and rewards they faced during their switch to a modernized work style.

Mark Lang, president, M.G. Lang & associates: “The nature of work has changed,” said Lang. With Generation ‘Y’ entering the work place, employers need to find new ways to engage them in the business environment. Customers are using new technologies and finding new ways to connect themselves to other people, he said. “Companies need to keep up with that.” While going through university, students are given the responsibility to set their priorities, choosing between attending class and finishing an essay. This is a model the business world needs to adopt, Lang explained. As the new generation steps into the workplace, the environment needs to meet their expectations to get the most productivity out of them as possible. Telecommuting works, said Lang.
See presentation (438KB PDF)

Pam Aikman, director, community and family health, Vancouver Coastal Health: Aikman described both the successes and challenges Vancouver Coastal Health went through when they switched to telecommuting. They struggled to reorganize offices and move everyone into smaller cubicles, which reduced overheads and leasing expenses. She also purchased advanced technology that would allow nurses to complete their charts without having to come back to the office all the time. This keeps them mobile and reduces their commuting time and allows them to see more patients, she explained. Her vision was to “Enable staff to work where and when they can be most effective.”
See presentation (778KB PDF)

Karen Chown, director, corporate engagement, Calgary Economic Development: Chown addressed The Board of Trade on a video conference from Calgary. She runs a program at Calgary Economic Development called WORKshift, which focuses on changing work styles for the benefit of the community, the company and the employees. The community sees fewer cars on the road, which lightens rush hour, less greenhouse gas emissions and infrastructure savings, she said. Companies that adopt flexible work styles are more environmentally friendly and save on office space and rent costs. The employees have lower stress levels, a higher productivity rate and lead a more balanced life. By installing a “Think outside the office” work model from WORKshift, companies will enjoy the benefits it offers, said Chown.
See presentation (489KB PDF)

Flextime

A greater focus by more companies on improving their operations is creating more flextime opportunities for workers across Canada.

The objective to run more efficiently so as to boost business was behind a recent shift at Telus, which introduced an innovative new initiative to allow its employees to make the best use of their time.  “We had to get our team members to understand that the nature of work had changed, but the workplace hadn’t. Now, they are able to work when and where they are most effective,” says Mark Lang, architect of the Telus Flexible Work Styles program.  A former Capital One Financial Corporation executive who also implemented a flextime work arrangement at that company, Lang saw the need to update working styles at Telus as soon as he started working there four years ago.

“My first day on the job, I was greeted with an office, a desktop computer, a BlackBerry, a cellphone, a landline phone and a laptop. I didn’t want the office, because I wasn’t going to be there often.  All I needed was the laptop and BlackBerry. I took a look around the organization to see whether I was the only one who was mobile, but I wasn’t — it was pervasive,” Lang says. “People were working from home once in a while, or coming into work and not sitting in their chairs, but no one was talking about it.”

In researching the best ways to help Telus workers maximize their time, Lang discovered that about 65% of employees in most workplaces are mobile — they telework from time to time, but spend most of their time at the office, although in different spaces in the company, such as conference rooms, other people’s offices, the cafeteria, and so on.  The Flexible Work Styles program Lang devised makes more efficient use of Telus’ office space so that there are now more collaborative work environments, providing the company with the potential to reduce its workplace real estate by 30%.  Not only is the program more responsive to the way Telus employees work on site, it also makes it easier for them to work from home, when that is the best option.  Launched in 2007, the program is now being used by about 20,000 of Telus’ 32,000 employees, and about 16,500 employees work remotely about one day a week.  A key aspect of the program’s success is that it measures employee performance based on their ability to meet established business objectives and targets, rather than how much time they spend in the office.  “What does it matter if your remote team member is taking his dog for a walk, or making the kids a snack when they get home from school? As long as he’s achieving his objectives, none of that matters,” Lang says.

Telus’ new employment format has been well received by its employees, Lang says, contributing to a 9% increase in employee engagement, and helping to keep attrition rates low.  “It reflects the way work is performed today. It’s not about asking folks to work differently, but recognizing that they already are,” Lang says.

The way Dan Ondrack sees it, flexible work arrangements is a key business strategy that more and more progressive companies in Canada will embrace to stay competitive.  “If an employer has to cut back or downsize staff, and they want to keep staff but can’t afford the office space, rather than laying someone off, they can offer them the option of working from home. This way, they can hang onto that talent, and when they rebuild, their staff will still be there for them,” says Ondrack, an HR management professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, who has been studying flextime trends for 10 years and has consulted on the subject for companies such as Rogers and Bell.  Enabling employees to become self managers of their work schedules allows them to better balance their work with their personal lives, which, these days, Ondrack says, is a highly desired benefit, one that makes employees more loyal to their employer.

Ultimately, Ondrack says, the flexible arrangement typically has a positive trickle-down effect on customer service, and hence, business productivity.  “If a worker has to trek to the office in the morning before visiting clients, then trek back to the office at the end of the day, it can reduce the amount and quality of time they spend with clients,” Ondrack says. “Without that unnecessary travel time, a rep could visit more clients and provide better service.”