Workplace Issues
Workplaces adapt to changing nature of workFlextimeA greater focus by more companies on improving their operations is creating more flextime opportunities for workers across Canada. SHARON ASCHAIEK -- Special to Sun Media |
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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."
sharon@cocoamedia.ca
Have you ever slept while on the job?