better organizational citizen.” For a number of years at Deloitte Canada,


employees have been able to work remotely in cases of bad weather or for health or family reasons. But the company is now introducing updated guide- lines to expand the option. “First, we are laying out the rules of the road and establishing


mutual expectations — it is not all one way,” says Vancouver- based Jason Winkler, the firm’s managing partner, talent. “Second, we are providing employees with the proper tools. I am talking to you through my laptop — not a cellphone. We want to ensure that when our employees work remotely, they can do it in a safe, secure and protected manner to ensure that they can follow all of our security protocols.” Files stored on computers are encrypted so if laptops are lost


or stolen, data can’t be accessed, he says. In his view, the belief that paper documents offer greater security than digital ones is just a myth. “Third, we want to offer our employees more flexibility about


when and where they work to help them maintain a better work/life balance. For example, during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, we wanted to be sure all employees here could work remotely if traffic congestion or other disruptions prevented them from reaching our downtown offices.” Deloitte’s telecommuting initiative brought Majella Gorospe


back into its corporate fold. In 2013, the Toronto-based senior manager worked from home one day a week. The rest of the week she struggled with a three-hour total commute to and from the office. “That was putting too much pressure on me, especially in the


morning when I had to get the kids out of bed early. I felt I could not provide the quality work that the firm and I expected.” So she found a job at a company 15 minutes away from her home.


“However, my director leſt the door open for me


to return if I changed my mind,” she says. “Aſter three months, I decided to come back when the


firm let me work three days a week from home.” Gorospe is now part of a quasi-virtual team whose members work one, two or three days a week from home. But


there are anchor days when they all make an effort to show up at the office. “That allows us to dialogue and solve problems together. Usually we go out for lunch to keep up with what everyone else is doing,” she says. “These things may seem small, but they’re key to building and maintaining strong relationships.” She feels productive working at home because once the kids


are off to school she has the quiet time to focus on analyzing problems and write reports without any distractions. “I also have the flexibility to take my kids to the doctor in the middle of the day and catch up with calls and other things later in the evening.” Deloitte’s bold plan to open office-of-the-future facilities


across Canada is well on its way, with a new downtown Toronto office slated to open in early 2016. Although the initiative has already yielded real estate savings, Winkler doesn’t reveal any figures. “We’re not measuring the value of expanding the reach of our


remote working initiative in just dollars and cents,” he says. “We want to use it to attract different types of people — women with young children and those from various cultures and back- grounds — to diversify our workforce. It is tough to measure the value of that. We also want to ensure that all our employees can make use of our flexible working options so they can work pro- ductively when and where they choose.”


KEN MARK is a Toronto-based freelance writer


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