TORONTO – The concept of a virtual workplace appears to be gaining momentum in Canada.
Proponents of the idea say that the benefits are many. In addition to reducing costs, it can provide employees with more flexibility, strengthen collaboration, and expand a company’s talent pool. It also lets companies strengthen business continuity plans for emergencies, in addition to the environmental benefits like reducing employee commuting and corporate travel.
MTS Allstream, known for its eco-friendly approach to business, is taking the virtual workplace idea to heart. Over 600 of its workers in the Greater Toronto Area and Montreal are participating in an internal ‘teleworking’ initiative which the company says reduced green-house gas emissions by 550 metric tones in 2008 alone.
"Creating a virtual workplace for a multi-site organization with hundreds or thousands of employees, in different time zones, with many variables to juggle is complicated and difficult to deliver,” Dean Prevost, president of MTS Allstream’s enterprise solutions said in a keynote address at the Cisco Networkers Solutions Forum in Toronto on Thursday. “Allstream can make the virtual workplace a reality. We’ve done it ourselves, and we’re helping customers across Canada realize the same benefits."
A lowered requirement for real estate has also meant “significant” cost savings of about $1 million per year for the company, according to the press release, which continues to grow as the program expands and real estate consolidation increases.
And, 90% of the MTS Allstream employees taking part in the program say that teleworking has made them more productive.
