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How to make telework work for you – tips from 3 experts
Employees can benefit big time from telework, as can employers. But only if certain best practices are adopted, and pitfalls avoided. In this panel, hosted by Joaquim P. Menezes, IT World Canada's senior online editor, three experts talk about about what goes into launching a successful telework program.2/25/2010 7:00:00 AM By: Joaquim P. Menezes
Hello, I'm Joaquim Menezes, senior online editor at IT World Canada, and in today's panel discussion we're going to focus on a truly relevant subject: flexible work strategies.
We have an exceptional panel today.
On my right is Roberta Fox, president and senior partner at Fox Group Consulting, and a board member at the Canadian Telework Association.
And on my left are Ken Rigby, general manager of franchise development for Intelligent Office in Canada, and David Webb, a service manager at Ontario's Central Agencies I&IT cluster or CAC for short. Welcome to the program folk.
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Joaquim: I thought we could start with some definitions to make sure we're all on the same page. Roberta, you've developed a white paper titled Telework and the Virtual Organization. Could you give us a working definition of telework and what are the features of a virtual organization?
Roberta: Thank you very much. Telework is really where you're using telecommunications and network technology to allow your employees to work from wherever they need to, with customers in the organization ... so it could be home offices, branch offices, satellite offices – like what Ken has.
The virtual organization is an add on to that [exemplified by] organizations like Fox Group, which are totally based at different locations, that don't necessarily come to a central place and the overlay, the people, and processes of how to work together, which is sometime quite challenging.
Joaquim: From all accounts there seems to be surge in telework and virtual organizations today. What would you say are some of the enabling trends for telework?
Roberta: The economy has definitely driven a lot of need for telework, as companies are cutting back on facilities. Also the N-Gens, and even us baby boomers are getting more demanding of how we're going to work together. And if you don't offer telework programs, sometimes people will not come to work for your organization or they won't stay. So it's economic; it's environmental; it's attempts to try and have work-life balance.
Page Navigation 1) "The economy has definitely driven a lot of need for telework." - Page 12) "Employees and managers are saying we are as, or more productive, than we were before telework." - Page 2
3) "We've actually flourished through the whole recession." - Page 3
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