By Erin Hintz

Holiday times can be trying for any company, as lost productivity and missed sales compete with employee family time. In this light, Family Day is no different from Christmas Day. No one wants to be a workaholic, but they certainly don’t want their business to suffer, either.

Flexible work arrangements (what we call “workshifting”) solves this problem by allowing staff to spend valuable time with their loved ones while maintaining a productive work schedule. With the right guidelines and technologies, people can work from anywhere – whether they’re at home, visiting relatives or traveling.

Family Day is a great time to take advantage of the mobile workstyles that many Canadian companies already embrace. Survey data indicates that when it comes to creating flexible workplace environments, Canada is ahead of the global average, at 71 per cent versus 61 per cent globally.¹

Workshifting guidelines
Clear expectations need to be set from the start if workshifting is going to succeed at your company. At Citrix, our workshifting guidelines explain who is eligible for a remote work situation and what conditions must be met in order for an employee to maintain the privilege.

• Remote workers should be able to do their jobs off site as effectively as on site;
• Colleagues and customers should be able to easily interact with remote workers; and
• All data must be protected in accordance with the company’s security policy.

We also maintain the Workshifting® blog to help us keep up to date with workshifting best practices.

Technologies that support workshifting
To achieve the objectives above, remote employees need technologies that make it simple for them to access information, programs and networks and to meaningfully engage with other people, anytime and anywhere. Cloud-based services such as those we provide at Citrix can be set up quickly and help ensure security protocols are maintained. Tools like Citrix GoToMeeting can even support face-to-face video meetings, so that remote workers can communicate more personally than over the phone alone.

Case Study: Avigilon
For Vancouver, B.C.-based Avigilon, a global provider of high-definition (HD) surveillance solutions, ensuring the company’s support lines are open 24/7 for its customers is always a critical need. Avigilon has a team of 200+ employees and its innovative systems provide protection for a wide range of corporations, government and educational institutions, retail stores, stadiums, casinos, hospitals and transportation stations worldwide.

The company has used cloud-based remote support technology since Avigilon’s inception in 2004, enabling technicians to securely view and assist with clients’ computers to deliver fast resolution and service excellence.

“When we first created our support organization, we recognized the value of remote support technology that could provide our teams the flexibility to respond to customers’ needs without location being an issue,” says Avigilon’s Amir Javidan, vice president of customer service & IT. “With our high customer service goals, we need to ensure our team can be responsive in or out of the office. Using a cloud-based solution like Citrix GoToAssist not only ensures our customers get fast, effective support but it enables our tech support employees to have more job flexibility throughout the year.”

Case Study: Teneo Inc.
The days are busy for the team at Teneo Inc. Clients of this Ontario-based sales training consultancy are focused on strengthening their sales teams and culture, and they depend on Teneo’s dedicated staff to provide training and coaching solutions to aid in the culture shift. Since its inception in 2003, the company has put a virtual work model and cloud-based technology in place to collaborate effectively with its distributed workforce. This offers a great advantage, allowing Teneo to hire the best trainers and coaches, regardless of where they are located.

“Since we are a mainly remote team, cloud-based technologies have allowed us to be efficient regardless of weather, holidays or where we are in North America,” Says Shannon VanDeByl, client services manager at Teneo Inc. “Solutions like GoToMyPC from Citrix allow us to easily access and share common files from one location without asking team members for help, and we’ve been able to meet with clients and hold group training and individual coaching sessions right from our homes. This takes the travel pressure off and helps us respond to client needs while giving us a bit of work/life balance.”

More family time all the time
A successful workshifting implementation for Family Day can establish on-going workshifting practices that can increase family time, flexibility and productivity all year long.

Robyn Bews is executive director for WORKshift, an organization working with Canadian businesses to drive flexible work programs. Says Bews, “Smart companies understand it’s no longer about accommodating employees for a particular holiday; it’s about creating environments that are consistently focused on results. While Family Day is a welcome reprieve in the middle of our Canadian winters, sometimes families would rather choose their own ‘days,’ even if it means working evenings or weekends to deliver the expected results.”

Erin Hintz leads the global marketing team for the Online Services division of Citrix, which offers simple-to-use cloud-based solutions such as GoToMeeting and GoToMyPC to enable people to collaborate and work from anywhere with anyone. She is responsible for the division’s marketing, eCommerce sales, and public relations around the world. Born in London, Ontario, Erin holds graduate and post graduate degrees from Queen’s University and Wilfrid Laurier University.

¹2012 Citrix Global Mobile Workstyles Index
Workshifting and Workshifting.com are registered trademarks of Citrix Online, LLC.