VANCOUVER – Business and productivity experts are touting a bold new initiative by a midsize Vancouver tech company that recently embraced a flexible hours model, allowing bosses to email employees not just according to a rigid schedule, but at times that are convenient for them.
“Post-pandemic, we really had to take stock of what worked for our people and what didn’t,” COO of VRicK Ted Vrieman told reporters. “And while getting back to the office was great for management morale, it always led to this sinking feeling at the end of the day when the people who work under you leave the office and aren’t there anymore. What if you need to ask them to re-send an email they sent you earlier that day? Or at least show you how to search your inbox so you can find the email?”
In response to these concerns, VRicK instituted an unorthodox but creative new policy, that frees managers from the old-fashioned constraints of the 9 to 5 and empowers them to contact employees at any time of day.
“When you think about it, this model absolutely makes sense,” tech entrepreneur and podcaster Leo Ulnek told reporters. “After all, traditional business hours are based on an agrarian timeline, when we had to work by the light of the sun. But now that we can work by the light of our laptop screen as we lie in bed in the small hours of the night, not quite awake and not quite asleep, why wouldn’t we take advantage of the chance?”
Supervisors at the company have given universally positive feedback on the new guidelines.
“It used to be that if I had a great idea for a new client outreach campaign as I was having dinner, I would have to make a note of it and call a meeting the next morning,” marketing director Stuart Smuth said. “Now I can just send a message to my team and tell them I need a proposal by 9:00 AM, and voila! It’s there.”
Other managers have said that leveraging new work-from-home technology can help them connect with their teams on a personal level.
“Before this new policy, I only chatted with our team coordinator when she was getting a coffee or eating lunch at the office,” CFO Diane Feal told reporters. “Now I can chat with her as she makes dinner for her family, or brushes her teeth.”
“You just feel a lot closer to your employees if you know their kids’ names, because you’re on speakerphone with them while they read them their bedtime story during an unscheduled Teams call.”
VRicK also boasts a suite of different apps so that in case an employee accidentally closes one, they will always be reachable on another.
“Forgot to download Zoom? No problem, just open WebEx! Not to worry – you can get an email from me when you’re out surfing the waves, on a date, or even at a funeral,” Vrieman told employees at a recent town hall, which was hosted at 4:37 AM after Vrieman woke up to pee and then couldn’t get back to sleep.
