20 BCBUSINESS MARCH 2016 ILLUSTRATIONS: VICTORIA PARK
Let's Get Flexible!
D - I - Y M a n a g e m e n t
EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY
As well as Skype and FaceTime, Regus
increasingly relies on text messag-
ing because it is more immediate
and everyone has devices at hand.
"If an email server goes down, you
don't have to worry about sending
an email message," says Townsend.
Or, depending on your location, your
cellphone signal might not be great
for FaceTime whereas text messaging
is up 99 per cent of the time.
KEEP IN TOUCH
Scheduled daily and weekly
check-ins via conference calls,
Skype or FaceTime are critical,
says Townsend, but meeting
in person is also important to
build relationships and maintain
morale. "There's a big gap still
between a face-to-face meeting
and FaceTime," he says. "You
really want to bring them in for a
hug, if you will, and let them know
that they're still a critical part of
the team."
SET THE PARAMETERS
"This is not just a free-for-all where you can
come into the office twice a week and then work
from home and then get back to us on your
schedule," says Craig Townsend. "There's still
deadlines." Nina Rizzi adds: "Be honest with
yourself about what your boundaries are. If you
are not an organization that is going to let every-
body work from home whenever they want,
then put that out there. But make sure people
know what you will offer, and make sure that
people understand those boundaries."
SET WORKERS UP
FOR SUCCESS
Whether it's a home-based office
with all the technology and
proper routers, or the necessary
mobile devices and a laptop com-
puter, give the employee all the
tools that they need as opposed
to just giving them a
VPN [virtual
private network] and then telling
them, "Good luck at home," says
Townsend. "That's not how that
works."
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BE BRAVE
Flex work can potentially
cause problems, and you have
to be willing to deal with them
rather than just sticking your
head in the sand or revok-
ing the whole program, says
Rizzi. "There are going to be
people who abuse it, and you
are going to have to have dif-
ficult conversations. If you're
not prepared to do that, then
you're essentially penalizing
everybody and affecting your
ability to attract and retain the
type of talent that you probably
want to."
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Flex work is all the rage, but doing it right is tricky. Nina Rizzi, talent manager
at sister agencies 6s Marketing and Drive Digital, and Craig Townsend,
B.C.-based director of marketing in Canada for global workspace provider
Regus, offer some tips
by Felicity Stone
