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MONTREAL -- SiteSell Inc. president Ken Evoy happily admits he doesn't have a clue what his employees do during the regular workday. He's never seen most of his customer support staff in the flesh, and considers his Australia-based programmer a good friend, despite having never met him. Indeed, Dr. Evoy only knows the majority of his 36 employees as a voice on the phone, or a name on an e-mail.
"I don't know whether my employee is working at four in the morning, or whether he's asleep at four in the morning," the intense, ever-smiling Dr. Evoy said. "All I measure is one thing: output."
Since its inception in 1998, SiteSell has been a teleworking -- or telecommuting -- company in the truest form of the term. The company, which sells Internet business development software, has no head office. Dr. Evoy directs business behind three gigantic plasma screens at his home in Hudson, about 45 minutes outside of Montreal.
As such, he has none of the workaday hassles associated with your average nine-to-fiver. He doesn't wear a tie, he doesn't have to go outside in the minus-30-degree weather, and the only commuting he does is in his slippers -- usually from the office to the kitchen.
SiteSell employees, meanwhile, are scattered around the globe. There are software people in Australia, England and France. In Kentucky, an employee works for the company's telemarketing and e-mail sales -- a department headed up by a fellow in the tiny Caribbean island of Anguilla.
His employees "would get chewed up in a big company," according to Dr. Evoy. "They're not game players, they're not politicians, they're not strokers. They're the kind of people who get taken advantage of in a big company. They're self-motivated, they work hard, they put out good quality work, [but] they don't self-promote very well. This doesn't count when it comes to teleworking. All that counts is quality and quantity of the work you put out. It speaks for itself, there can be no game playing."
As a purely telework-based company, SiteSell is somewhat of an anomaly in Canada, according to InnoVisions Canada, a telework consulting organization.
"Most people have not clued in yet," said InnoVisions president Bob Fortier, noting that the lion's share of Canada's 1.8 million teleworkers work for larger, office-based companies.
Several companies are experimenting with telework, including Compaq Canada, Bank of Montreal, Nortel Networks Corp., Ontario Hydro and Imperial Oil Ltd., among others. Still, though, teleworking is in its infancy in this country.
One of the main barriers to implementing telework, according to Mr. Fortier, is the misconception that working from home is synonymous with slacking off. Another problem is what Dr. Fortier calls "Jurassic" managerial models -- old world managers "who like the idea of having their employees around them."
For someone like Dr. Evoy, though, the classic office setting is itself dysfunctional and rife with the kind of people who want to do as little as possible for their paycheck. "I've worked in a big company, and hated it," Dr. Evoy said. "I can't stand going into an office; I can't stand the games, the politicking."
When SureFire Commerce, a once high-flying dot-com, bought SiteSell in 2000, Dr. Evoy says he found it difficult having to deal with the gridlock of upper management that suddenly had a say over his company. Though he was (and remains) friendly with SureFire executives, he found the experience difficult.
"I used to think Dilbert was funny as a hypothetical construct," he said, referring to the popular comic strip that skewers the world of cubicles and water coolers. "After working in a company, you understand Dilbert on a very profound level."
Dr. Evoy bought SiteSell back a year and a half ago, and it is on its way to making "mid-seven figures" in revenue this year. The company sells Site Build it!, a product allowing small businesses and work-from-home types to get (and get noticed) on-line. SiteSell is ranked as one of the top 30 best business sites on the Web, according to Internet tracker Alexa.com.
Before the Internet game, Dr. Evoy worked as a general practitioner at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital. He eventually left, confounded by Quebec's medical system, but still does the occasional shift there. Medicine "became a hobby" while he pursued his lifelong dream of inventing toys. Pooch Patrol, a stuffed dog with interchangeable expressions, was a big hit for Tonka. He then got into penny mining stocks in 1997, before discovering the Internet.
He is a self-professed workaholic who goes on week-long binges in front of his computer. Once, after a lengthy vacation in Anguilla, he didn't leave the house for over a week. When he did, he drove on the left side of the road, an Anguilla-born habit that nearly caused a head-on collision near his house. "I hadn't been outside in a week, and it didn't even occur to me."
His workers, too, tend to be comfortable behind their computer screens. Dr. Evoy once sent a message to his Montreal employees, floating the idea of a Friday night meet-and-greet. "People e-mailed backed and asked 'Why?' " Dr. Evoy chuckles. Another party was akin to a first date, complete with awkward silences and flustered exits.
He has words of advice for people thinking of taking their show out of the office. "If you're a very social person, and you need that social interaction, then you need to be making a deal with your boss to come into the office some days, or you'll go crazy."
Not having an office, meanwhile, saves nearly $800,000 a year, he estimates. Employees supply their own computers and Internet connections. The regular staff meetings are done by way of conference calls and through a blizzard of e-mails. His wife -- "V.P. of Everything Ken Doesn't Do," Dr. Evoy says -- works at a desk a few metres away from his (though they don't face each other). The only time the computers are shut off is when the family goes on vacation.
Dr. Evoy admits teleworking isn't for everyone. "About 70 per cent of workers" aren't cut out for it, he says, noting the perfect teleworker is self-motivated and deadline-friendly. Like any job, balancing work and home is key. "Either you get the type who can't separate work from home, or you get the guy who can separate it too well and doesn't get anything done."
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