Anticipating an Olympic-sized traffic jam in February, Telus has advised its Vancouver employees to try telecommuting instead of battling through bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to the office.
The telecommunications giant has 1,000 employees working out of the downtown core alone.
“It’ll help take a few hundred cars off the roads,” said Telus spokesperson Shawn Hall.
While he said Telus has a slight advantage because it already has technology for working remotely in place, other businesses can make the leap rather painlessly.
Workers need laptops with audio and video conferencing capabilities, and most importantly, a virtual private network to work remotely and securely from home, Hall said.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver School Board is exploring alternate forms of transportation — including job swaps — for its staff during the Olympics, said trustee Mike Lombardi.
“It’s a way to help them deal with a problem that’s going to be there,” he said. “We’re going to see what kind of interest there is.”
