b'VIRTUAL WORKMaking Peace with Virtual WorkBy Matthew BradfordA s u r g e i n r e m o t e w o r k h a s e v e r y o n e a s s e s s i n g t h e p r o s , t h e c o n s , a n d t h e i d e a l s e t u pR emote work. Virtual employment. Home officeyears of preparation, especially for companies that traditionally arrangements. Regardless of the label, the work- relied on a paper-based business model. Ive seen law firms from-home revolution has transformed the lives ofthat were totally paper-based move over to electronic systems many working Canadians. On the one hand, thefar faster than they were planning to, says Isaac. Whether its shift has been a blessing, allowing organizationsa large company or small, the move to virtual work has given and their teams to stay active throughout the pandemic. Onemployers of all sizes the opportunity to make that change.the other hand, it has presented some unexpected drawbacks.EMPLOYEE ANGLEIt goes without saying that establishing remote teams andOn the employee side, being able to collect income while operations has helped a few businesses survive this past yearsworking from home has provided much-needed critical support lockdowns and business interruptions. Some entrepreneurs andfor many households. People have also benefited from shorter small business owners have been able to keep their venturescommutes, cozier offices, and the ability to share co-parenting afloat through online retail, and somelarger bricks-and-mortarresponsibilities with their partners.businesses have been able to maintain their operations virtu-ally, all while reducing overhead and day-to-day expenses.For many, working from home is far from new. High-speed When you look at it from a business perspective, the move- internet, cloud computing and collaborative online platforms ment to working from home has created a lot of efficiencies,have enabled professionals to set up home offices for some says Lisa Isaac, owner and senior HR consultant at Lisa Isaactime. Still, as noted by work-from-home veteran Lionel Drouin, HR Professional Services. president and principal consultant at LDC Solutions Inc., the onslaught of newcomers has resulted in a huge surge of people Adds Shannon Warren, founder and CEO of Matrix Labourdiscovering the perks, and the general reaction has been a Leasing Ltd., Companies can now feasibly expand into multiplepositive one. markets and develop sustainable multi-branch organizations with qualified talent without bricks-and-mortar overhead.I talk to a lot of people who just recently switched over to Everything is on the cloud and full, blue-chip organizationsvirtual work this past year. One of my colleagues in Montreal, can be created, managed and scaled virtually at a fraction offor example, told me he loves the change because he used to the cost of physical architecture. spend a couple of hours commuting every day before working from home. Now, he has an extra 25 per cent of his day, which Virtual work has also pushed a lot of companies to innovate andhe can spend developing his business and being more produc-try their hand at something that would normally have requiredtive, says Drouin. 52A CCAB PUBLICATION2021'